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By: Westane, Jeff Torres
Feb 21 2011 8:20am
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A Hole In The Wall

Ah, Flagstaff, how I do enjoy living here. The fresh mountain air, beautiful forests and lively college community. I moved here back in 2005 and, like many others with common interests, made sure my first order of business was to find the local card shop. It didn't take too long, as buried within the historic down town area of the city was a small place called the Little Shop of Magic. It was dim, rather quiet, and not terribly active. Our FNM's were light to say the least, and meeting the 16 player minimum proved difficult at times. Still, we had good people and the only memories I have from that place are good ones.

It was fun, at least, while it lasted. Flagstaff is a small town, with the college community making up a very sizable portion of its population. What happens, then, when said community dissipates for about half a year? As Little Shop closed down another card shop opened to take it's place, only to meet a similar fate. By early 2006, there was no where within 200 miles play Magic.

Eventually I would give up and sell my collection, and start playing online, and ultimately end up writing for this website. Playing MTGO was a decent substitute, but the memories of playing across from "real" people and experiencing the atmosphere of the stores was unforgettable to me, and undeniably lacking from my online experiences. Over the years, whispers of new shops and new playgroups would come and go, but nothing substantial would ever come of it.

Until just recently...

A like-minded coworker mentioned a new comic store he stumbled onto. When he walked inside, he said, the tables were full to the hilt of Magic players. The store was sanctioned, and regularly hosted FNM, draft nights, and other various events. I had to see it. The very next day I called up my seeing-eye wife and told her we were going out. We must have past the entrance (pictured above) to the place three or four times before finally finding it. I was impressed to say the least. I confirmed the times and costs of their weekly FNM, went home, and started window shopping for a new deck. Magic Online had hit a slow spot for me, and many others, at the time. I was anxious, bored, and fairly annoyed as I sat around waiting for Mirrodin Besieged to make its way to digital distribution. What better time, I thought, than now to cash out my online collection and start tapping cardboard again! And so I did.


Friday 18th, 2011

creeping tar pitjace, the mind sculptorgrave titan

Settling on a deck proved somewhat difficult. I tossed around various rogue ideas and "casual competitive" builds but ultimately I just couldn't contest my nature. I was a control player, and I liked to win. I went with UB Control, playtested online and goldfished for hours before finally packing up and heading out for my first sanctioned paper Magic event for almost six years.

As much as I love talking to people, I'm not the most outgoing socialite in the world, so the first thing I do upon my arrival is sit at an empty table and absorb the environment. My zen is quickly broken, however, as the "other new guy" plops down next to me and introduces himself as George. It's his first FNM, and we talk comics and goblins and the merits behind the idea that the original Star Trek is substantially better than the original Stargate (Hint: The are no merits behind this). Nearly a half hour later, the shop is packed with players, and we're starting. I get called to lucky table 7, which takes about two laps around the store to find, and settle in for my first game of Magic with pants in ages.

Disclaimer: My phone takes terrible terrible pictures.

Thoughts before the event were, "Maybe I should take a 'real' camera with me... nah I'll be fine..." Thoughts after the event, "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" In any case, my first round was against Terrance. Ah, Terrance... I can't remember the last time I've made it a point to note someone's name! Finally, free from xxMagicBroxx or TapDat69 of the digital realm! Right, losing focus. Anyway, the first round starts with me winning the die roll and not doing much else. I'm able to drop a lot of mana, but I tend to not do much with it. He opens with a Khalni Garden which leads me to suspect Eldrazi Green, until the white and blue mana start showing up. We draw a lot of cards, me with Jace's Ingenuity and him with Foresee, but things don't get interesting until he drops a (Venser, Shaper Sojourner). I have no answer at this point, using my counter magic to thwart a Sun Titan earlier. He +2's his Venser and passes the turn. Luckily, my Creeping Tar Pit is enough to keep his Venser at bay, and a timely Cancel saves my land from Condemn, but that just leaves me with no counters again. On his next turn he drops a Marshal's Anthem kicked for 1, returning both his Sun Titan and Mirran Crusader to the board, all getting +1/+1. He tries to Venser his Titan, but is met with a Go For The Throat. I'm able to land a Jace to control his draws, and my Tar Pit is enough to kill off Venser, but that crusader is enough to knock me all the way down to 2 life before I'm finally able to find an answer in the form of Black Sun's Zenith. Jace and Creeping Tar Pit are all that's required to end the first game.

I really didn't know what to sideboard, and I think all I pulled in were two Duress. Game two was a total lock down, with my Tectonic Edges keeping him off green mana, my Inquisition of Kozileks and Duress keeping him off of relevant spells, and my double (Creeping Tar Pits) taking him from 20 to zero.

The entire time I was playing this round, I couldn't help but watch the games next to me. It was a match between Kuldotha Red and UB Tezzeret Control, two decks I really did not want to be playing against tonight.


On The Other Hand

bloodghastviscera seermark of mutiny

I felt pretty good about going 2-0 in games so far, and equally as good knowing my next opponent had done the same. Round two was against Cory, an older guy who had just returned to the game after an extended break. He was a good guy, and we talked about how much the game had changed, and how Planeswalkers worked and about how much I didn't want to play against his deck, which happened to be BR Vampires. The first game was a whole lot of me getting the crap slapped out of me by Pulse Trackers, Bloodghasts and a Viscera Seer. In fact, he got me all the way down to 5 before I could finally stabilize with a Black Sun's Zenith and Jace. After that it was just a matter of keeping him off threats while I built up to Jace's ultimate.

I boarded out my lone Doom Blade and a couple Spell Pierce in favor of my 3rd Go For The Throat, 4th Disfigure and single Consume the Meek. Game two started out very aggressively on his side of the board with double Pulse Tracker and another Viscera Seer. I'm able to rid his hand of any other threats or burn he was packing, and being stuck on a single swamp wasn't doing him any favors either. I was happy to land my first Grave Titan of the night, only to see a Mark of Mutiny from him. I blocked my own titan and his Vampire Lacerator with my tokens, and watched as my 7/7 deathstriker was reduced to scry-fodder via his Viscera Seer. A Black Sun's Zenith wrecked the board again, and Jace came down to ensure he would never see a second black mana source.

I can safely say I've never felt bad for any play I've ever made online before, no matter how "mean" it may have seemed. However, as I sat across from an essentially new player, I could see his facial expressions change, knowing what the board position meant for him, and knowing exactly how the rest of this game was going to play out. It wasn't a feeling a relished.


Roll For Winner?

everflowing chalicesteel hellkiteleyline of anticipation

Sure enough my next opponent was again Andrew, the UB Tezzeret Control player from earlier. We both lamented the inevitably long match ahead of us and shuffled up. I won the roll, as was my developing routine, and he dropped a surprise Leyline of Anticipation. The first was a lot of draw-go, but I was able to keep him off of colored mana with my endless supply of Tectonic Edges and Disfigures for animated Inkmoth Nexuses. In the end, Creeping Tar Pit went all the way.

I brought in Doom Blades and Ratchet Bombs for this game, as well as Spell Pierce number four and two Duress. Once again, I'm able to Edge him out of colored mana and Ratchet Bomb his supply of Everflowing Chalices. This time, Jace goes ultimate for teh win.


SRSLY?

Round 4 was again Casey, the same Kuldotha Red pilot I saw from earlier. I already knew I didn't want to play this game, but I knew it could be won. Game one was brutal, as I got pummeled by a Goblin Guide which pretty much ended the game all by himself. Quick, and painful.

I bring in Ratchet Bombs and all the removal I could find. I start game two with some Inquisition of Kozileks and Spell Pierces, eventually creating an empty board state with nothing but a Jace on teh field. I make sure he draws nothing but lands for the remainder of the game, and we're off to the third!

I'm able to maintain the upper hand for much of game three, but in the end double Signal Pest and Goblin Wardrivers was all it took to secure my first round loss of the evening.

After round four I had enough time to step outside for a smoke, complain about Standard and run to McDonalds for a Spicy McChicken and a large Sprite. I don't really like Sprite, but I was fighting a cold... Right, moving on!


A Night to Remember, And Repeat!

goblin guidemox opalkuldotha rebirth

Round five really isn't worth talking much about. It was another Kuldotha Red deck, only this time my ass was handed to me quite promptly. The good news is that I've come a long way in learning how to deal with the deck, and will be much better prepared next time.

Yes, next time. My experience at that tiny, hole-in-the-wall card shop was a fantastic one, and my win-loss record had very little to do with it. Being able to roll out the playmat, stack shuffle, tap physical cards, strike conversations and make new friends are all things that simply cannot be recreated, at least to that level, through an online client. I was miserably sick and still managed to have an amazing time. I can't help but imagine many readers will see my reaction and not understand the "big deal" behind it, and I'd also imagine those people have places to play. Here, in my town, such sites are few and far between, and I can only hope and pray that Cab Comics in Flagstaff, Arizona finds a way to break the cycle of all of their predecessors, and remain open and successful so that nerds like me have a happy second-home for a long time to come.  They've got the right idea, holding a multitude of extra-curricular events including EDH tournaments and video game competitions, and the staff that maintains it all is a good one to say the least.

Even the thoughts of my three mile hike through the snow (uphill, barefoot, sick) to get home wasn't enough to damper my mood that night.

Until next time!

-Jeff Torres

10 Comments

I played UB Control at the by Raddman at Mon, 02/21/2011 - 12:29
Raddman's picture

I played UB Control at the SCG in Indy. Started off hot going 4-0, then lost, then won, sitting at 5-1 I felt good about my chances, thats when tilt set in. I ended up 5-4 overall on the day. UB just gets owned by kuldotha tbh. I faced it in Indy and can honestly say it's such a tough tough matchup. Good news is, the deck is easily hated.

I am going to be sleeving up cards this friday myself with the sole intention of destroying kuldotha and aggro decks. Look at this list see what you think.

Lands (25)
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Halimar Depths
7 Island
8 Mountains

Planeswalkers (7)
4 Koth of the Hammer
3 Jace, the Mind Sculpter

Spells (23)
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Slagstorm
2 Pyroclasm
4 Mana Leak
2 Stoic Rebuttal
2 Ratchet Bomb
4 Sphere of the Suns
4 Preordain

Creatures (5)
4 Inferno Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine

SB (15)
3 Arc Trail
2 Corrupted Conscience
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Ratchet Bomb
2 Shatter
1 Pyroclasm
1 Slagstorm
1 Stoic Rebuttal
2 Spell Pierce

6-3 online in 2mans with is so far. All 3 losses were to GW GlintHawk or Mono White Glinthawk. Luckily don't think my local meta has much of that.

SCG Indy by TheOrangeMitten at Mon, 02/21/2011 - 14:14
TheOrangeMitten's picture

I was there filming coverage of it but not playing. B/R vamps won it, though from our interviews even it struggled against kuldotha. The guy who won talked about trouble with U/W. I am not that knowledgeable about the current standard format but I think the vamps was kind of a mid range aggro deck where it used recursion of the blood ghasts to finish people off where other aggro decks would stall. I am not sure if U/W is something that could be quick enough to stop kuldotha or not but it may be a possibility.

I feel koth is stronger in a mono red or a ramp deck but I don't know about having him in a U/R deck. Seems a bit odd but I guess with the control you have you could stall out long enough to make strong use of him.

It has been almost 15 years by Leviathan at Mon, 02/21/2011 - 13:02
Leviathan's picture
5

It has been almost 15 years since I played in a paper tourney but articles like these that make me wish I still had a paper collection. A new shop opened up about 10 minutes from where I live and I have yet to step inside. Maybe I should rectify that. Good stuff.

I too enjoy playing at FNM. by darthibanezowner at Mon, 02/21/2011 - 13:17
darthibanezowner's picture

I too enjoy playing at FNM. The reality is that I have five kids so going every Friday is not an option. MODO is still where I devote most of my funds. I am actually grateful for Kuldotha as I can now play a real deck at FNM every couple of weeks since UW is out of my reach irl.

Did you liquidate your entire collection? Glad you found a place to play live!

Paper Magic by grapplingfarang at Mon, 02/21/2011 - 14:37
grapplingfarang's picture

I too enjoy the paper shops a whole lot more. So much of what is great about magic can not be recreated online. Hope you can go out and play more, possibly even get in a paper Commander game (which is a worlds difference from the cluttered, not very social, waiting every 10 minutes because some disconnected online version.)

Does this mean you are no by lumbydan at Mon, 02/21/2011 - 15:31
lumbydan's picture

Does this mean you are no longer playing online?

I did liquidate my collection by Westane at Mon, 02/21/2011 - 16:51
Westane's picture

I did liquidate my collection but I don't intend to fully quit MTGO. However, I don't intend to maintain guaranteed weekly articles as I've done for the last eight months or so.

Great playing with you! by Amnesiac_R at Mon, 02/21/2011 - 22:52
Amnesiac_R's picture
5

Hey, Jeff! It was great playing with you last Friday. Glad to hear you got back into the FNM scene.

Sorry to hear that you played against Peyson's Kudoltha deck, though. His deck was just ridiculous.

Hope to see you again!

-Casey

MAybe next time by kamahl555 at Tue, 02/22/2011 - 03:38
kamahl555's picture

Its too bad we didnt play against each other, I was running my UB aggro control infect. Maybe next time.

Brian

The last time I played paper by RCueva at Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:49
RCueva's picture

The last time I played paper was when M10 was released and that was a blast. I work nights so I do not get the opportunity to go but it was fun