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Taking A Look Back
So I was sitting around trying to com up with an
article for this week. That's when I realized that I
didn't have much. Well, obviously, since you're
reading now, I came up with something :)
I figured I could go through some e-mail and see what
fans wanted to hear me write about. After reviewing
my mail, I realized that fans ask us readers a lot
about what we think and what we like. This isn't a
bad thing. It's just merely an observation. I
figured I would spend this time giving my views on
different things of the past regarding Magic.
So, let's get to it:
The Pro Tour
I remember when the Pro Tour started. I was still
living back home in Beeville, TX. It was interesting,
because it is still only Pro Tour that you just had to
pay the entry fee to enter. There was no real
qualification for it. I so badly wanted to play in
it, but logistically, I just couldn't figure out how
to pull it together. I still remember reading about
the world championships and national championships
leading up to that event the year before. Names like
Mark Justice and Zak Dolan were still being thrown
around among the greatest players in the world. I
even remember reading of a play involving Mark Justice
where he was at 3 and his opponent is at like 20+. He
draws up a Zuran Orb and sacrifices all of his land.
Then he uses all of his life via Channel to fireball
his opponent. I'm so glad that doesn't happen in
Magic these days.
My First Pro Tour
Yes, believe it or not, I have played on the Pro
Tour. MY first tour stop was New York of 2000. I was
ill prepared, and I played a bad versions of a deck
that later became good in the format. Regardless,
that Pro Tour event was dominated by Rising Waters and
Lin Sivvi. It was not fun. However, the experience
itself was great. The event was handled well. There
was plenty to do. Besides, my opponent list included
such names as Darwin Kastle and Dirk Baberowski.
Funny as it is, when I played Dirk, he was telling me
about how bad his day was going as well. We faced off
when we were both 2-2 if I'm not mistaken. He said it
was great that he was splitting cash with Kai Budde,
because Kai was doing so well. As luck would have it,
Kai ended up winning the event if I'm not mistaken.
I've since qualified for three Pro Tours, but have
been unable to attend due to business arrangements or
financial issues.
Acquiring My Store
I know what I'm about to say is going to shock some
people...but I don't see getting my store as that
large of an event in my life. Believe it or not, it's
actually been a bit more of a burden than a boon.
Now, don't misconstrue the statement. I don't hate
what do or anything, but owning a business is an
extremely tough thing to do. It takes a lot of
patience. It did get me closer to the industry, so
that's a huge bonus. But otherwise, it's made life
more difficult. Honestly, it made getting my house a
lot more difficult.
Getting My First Article Published
I think the first nationally published article I got
was through a gig with Pojo.com. At the time Pojo was
still heavily printing Pokemon magazines. They wanted
to do a couple of articles about different games in
their Pokemon publication, so I got my chance to write
some Magic: the Gathering stuff for them. It was good
enough that we got a Magic one-shot magazine deal.
Unfortunately, the publisher hit financial problems
and closed up shop. However, it all worked out as you
can see and we are still writing articles for you
daily. Since then, I've had stuff appear in Pojo
magazines, Scrye, and even Undefeated magazine. I'm
also in the middle of working out the details on a
racing game and a hunting game. Neither is a
collectible card game. Both are family style board
games.
My First Large Tournament
This to me stands out as a very important point in my
life. It was Regionals 1997 and it was held in Ft.
Worth. I met several players there that I still stay
in contact with on a regular basis. As a matter of
fact, that's where I met fellow Pojo writer Jeff Zandi
for the first time. We also developed the game of
pack poker. I got my eyes opened to how metagaming
and playtesting can affect your performance. I played
one of the early 5cG decks. I built my version
through some help from then Pro Tour player, Matt
Place...who if I'm not mistaken was FatMaro on AOL at
the time. I built the deck and played it well. I
came up one win short of the top 8. That's OK
though. In hindsight, I made some mistakes and some
poor sideboard choices and didn't deserve to win.
Experience goes a long way and I didn't have it then.
I just had some luck and an amazing rogue deck.
My Favorite Color
I'm not sure why I'm throwing this in. I guess it's
here for general reader information. I think my
current favorite color is green. I've played it a lot
over the years at major events. I've had some great
amazing finishes playing green. Also, Wizards was
nice enough to give green some of the best cards over
the past few sets. It was long worth the wait.
Surviving Urza's Block
I think the Urza Block Experiment (TM) was really
bad. I think I saw more people leave the game during
that time than any other. The average power level of
cards was ridiculous. There were a ton of combo
decks. There were a ton of quick kills. The problem
is that we had just come out of Rath Cycle
(Tempest/Stronghold/Exodus) that had blazing speed.
Urza Block had amazing spell strength. When you put
those two together, that opened the doors to some
really lethal combinations. I hated it. I still
loved playing the game, but I hated the format at the
time. On the plus side though, I had two of the
longest winnings streaks of my Magic career during
that time period. They were each 30+ wins. I played
U/G Enchantress/Earthcraft.
Well, there's some insight as to may take on important
Magic related events in my career. I think I'll do a
long overview of myself from a Magic perspective next
week if readers want to see it.
Now, we have our standard fare to cover. This week my
card of the week is Naturalize. Naturalize is an
amazing card in the format right now. Artifacts are
EVERYWHERE. White weenie is packing equipment. Hell
even Goblins are playing Skullclamp. Naturalize kills
some of the strongest cards in the game. It's cheap
to cast. It's splashable. Right now, I seriously
feel that nearly every deck should have three or four
of these between their deck and sideboard if they are
playing green. I always felt that Disenchant was the
best card in the game, so that would make Naturalize
the second best card in the game.
While I'm on the subject, I would like to recommend
that every deck have lots of ways to deal with
artifacts these days. It will make your life int he
competitive Magic world a lot easier. There are a ton
of them. Just go looking for what fits your deck and
style.
We also have your favorite weekly segment, BAD PLAY OF
THE WEEK.
This week's comes to us from a reader known as
Phenotype:
I was playing a
casual chaos game with three friends of mine, and it
was nearing endgame--everyone had health in the low
single digits. The first to fall had been a blue/red
mage, who had gone down a few turns ago under the
assault from a green elf/beast aggro deck. I was
playing an old-school black control deck with some
green thrown in. I had two Sorceress Queens, an
Animate Dead-enchanted Timberwatch Elf, a Hypnotic
Specter, and a Royal Assassin whom I'd recently
enchanted with Instill Energy, and a Bad Moon in
play. Instill Energy was a new addition to the
deck--bear that in mind. I also had a Sengir Vampire
who'd grown to 9/9 by eating the blue/red mage's
fairies, but he'd been rendered useless a few turns
ago by a timely Arrest from the fourth player, who
had a white/red deck with Mobilization and quite a
few soldier tokens, two Myrs, and a Skyhunter Patrol
on the table. I tapped the Royal Assassin to kill
one of the green player's Llanowar Elves when he
tapped out to cast some enormous beast. He still
didn't have the combat power to get through my
defenses, though, so I wasn't worried. When the
white/red mage took his turn, he attacked me with
most of his forces. Both my Sorceress Queens and my
Assassin could do double duty, blocking and using
their abilities to stop another attacker, and I'd be
able to pump up the Hypnotic Specter with the
Timberwatch Elf so that he'd survive blocking the
Skyhunters. I spent a minute or two working out the
math, and while a few soldiers would get through,
I'd survive with two health. I reached over to untap
my Assassin when the "dead" blue mage stops me.
"Dude," he said. "You can only untap him a second
time during your own turn."
Not in the middle of
my opponent's turn, in other words. With the absence
of my Assassin, two more soldiers skittered through
and I lost the game. To add insult to injury, the
next card I'd have drawn was a Drain Life, which
would have let me kill the white/red mage and free
my Sengir to kill the green mage.
That's a fun one :)
Be aware that the team trios pro tour qualifiers
have started and ar probably happening somewhere
near you. You can find out all the info you need at
www.wizards.com/protour.
My tip of the week this week is a simple one: Read
Jason Matthew's deckbuilding article from this past
Monday. Deck building is definitely something that
many players can work on to make themselves better.
If your deck has issues before you shuffle up, you're
already at a disadvantage. Jason wrote a good read
this week. Take a look at it and take it to heart.
Keep sending on those good and bad plays of the week
and feel free tow rite and let me know what you want
to see in my column. I will always try to respond.
Until next time,
DeQuan Watson
a.k.a. PowrDragn
PowrDragn on IRC
PowrDragn on MODO
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