Quarter Century

Yesterday during a hallway meeting at work, one of my task leads announces to everyone, "Tomorrow is Hans's birthday. He will be a half century old!" Needless to say, that was a momentary slip of the tongue and/or mind, as she meant to say quarter century. Someone did jokingly remark how well I looked for being 50 though.

Anyway, I thought I'd write a post on everything that I should have written about in 2012 but neglected to. Basically a recap of interesting events in 2012, complete with photographic commentary in some cases.

TRAVEL

Traveled to Virginia twice for work. Got to see Kevin and the Mullers in the DC area both times. In June while I was in Virginia, there was a massive storm that knocked out power for a few days. The hotel had no electricity, which made the room very hot, the showers very cold, and being at work very desirable.

Went to Chicago for University of Chicago graduation. Also drove south to UIUC to visit the campus.

Went west into Utah for Labor Day weekend. Saw some lakes and a lot of dunes out there. Did a lot of impromptu hiking.

DRAGON BOAT

Raytheon Rowing Racers returned to the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival this year, this time with a Hong Kong team and a Flag-Catcher team. I had the privilege of being the flag-catcher hanging over the front end of the boat, which was interesting.

MISCELLANEOUS

Learned how to bake banana bread (or rather, found a recipe online and followed the instructions carefully).

Took the homegrown big-as-my-arm zucchini that my uncle gave me and turned that into 4 meals' worth of zucchini pasta (again, another recipe I found online).

Went out dancing at a country bar on a Wednesday night with some coworkers (they convinced me to join them). Had more than a few drinks, hung out with coworkers (including my team lead), learned the two-step and three-step, pretended to line dance with the crowd (also known as line dancing with your head cocked backwards to see what everyone else is doing so you could imitate that), and watched some mechanical bull-riding.

Saw the biggest bottle of Cholula I've ever seen at CB & Potts during Svien's last night in Denver outing. Sadly, the waitress told us the bottle wasn't for sale.

Met up with Brian in Minnesota during the winter holiday and played some Ascension with him and his friend.

Read some books. Stephen King's 11/22/63 was pretty good. Reminds me of The Butterfly Effect. Currently reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman since Ken told me I should. Still have a ton of books to read.

Saw some movies too. Silver Linings Playbook has to be my favorite movie of 2012.

MTG

I played in 5 Grand Prix in 2012, making Day 2 in three of them and cashing one of them (top 64).

At GP Lincoln in February, which was the first Modern format GP ever, I played Jund and finished Day 1 at 7-2 (which is the minimum record needed for advancing to Day 2), losing to Zoo with Kessig Wolf Run in round 6 and to the mirror match in round 9. Being my first GP Day 2, I had no idea what to expect on Sunday, but what I did learn was that GP Day 2's are rather rough. Starting Day 2 in 45th place and going 0-2 in the first two rounds (punting to Martyr and losing to timely topdecks from U/R Storm), I then won against U/W Control and Melira Pod before punting to Twin and losing to U/W Control to finish 71st in a 96-player Day 2 (note that top 64 makes prize) out of 716 total players. Highlights of the tournament include beating a Melira Pod player in round 3 on the verge of defeat (he was about to pod into Sun Titan to stabilize the game, but drew the one Sun Titan in his deck that turn instead while on 4 lands), having a U/R Storm player in round 7 so flustered after mulliganing to 5 that she cast Gitaxian Probe on turn 1 and forgot to play a land before passing the turn to me, and beating a Melira Pod player in round 13 for exactsies the turn before my own Dark Confidant would have killed me by revealing Bloodbraid Elf while at 4 life. Also, the 5 of us who traveled to Lincoln together decided that eating 6-packs and a pound from Taco Johns for 2 nights in a row was a good idea (to be fair, our options for food in Lincoln were rather limited).

About a month later, I played in a local Pro Tour Qualifier (also Modern format) to a 4th place finish, my first and so far only PTQ top 8. R/G Tron was the breakout deck of the week, having won an online PTQ the previous weekend, and I was convinced last-minute to put Jund aside and play R/G Tron instead. The PTQ was 120 players, 7 rounds of swiss before single-elimination top 8. I managed to start 5-0 (didn't drop a single game either) and drew the last two rounds into the top 8 cut. I beat U/R Storm in the quarterfinals, then promptly lost to U/W/R Delver, who ended up winning the PTQ. The deck was a blast to play - I mean, who doesn't like casting turn 3 Wurmcoil Engine or Karn, or Mindslavering the opponent? Highlights of this tournament include killing a Melira Pod with his own combo after Mindslavering him, and beating Tempered Steel while at 9 poison both games.

A week after the PTQ was GP Salt Lake City (Standard format). It was also the Gold Rush, which added a little more incentive to attend, as if having all of your friends attend wasn't enough. I decided to play U/W Delver, since it was the only Standard deck I felt comfortable playing that would give me a reasonable shot of doing well with. After opening a lousy Frankenstein's Monster in the Gold Rush (a friend opened a solid Mox Emerald, which he shipped for $300 to a dealer on site), I finished Day 1 of the GP at 7-2 again, losing to U/W Humans in round 6 and White Wolf Run in round 9. I then proceeded to fall apart on Day 2 again, going 2-4 for a combined 9-6 record and 104th place out of 1133 total players. Highlights of this tournament include locking in Day 2 in round 8 with Mutagenic Growth against a lethal trampling Inkmoth Nexus (then Dissipating his Elesh Norn the next turn for the rub-ins), as well as drunk karaoke on Sunday night in Salt Lake City.

GP Minneapolis (Standard format) was about a month and a half later, in May. I decided to play in it after a week of work in Virginia. I didn't do so well, started 4-0 with R/G Aggro and lost the next 5 rounds in a row. On Day 2 I decided to play in the Standard Sealed side event. Playing U/W fliers, I started 1-2 and won out, finishing 5-2.

In August was the Star City Open Series in Denver. I decided to play U/W Delver in Standard and Hive Mind in legacy, finishing 5-4 for no prize in Standard and 5-3 for 32nd place and $100 in Legacy. Highlights of the Legacy Open include having an opponent cast Show and Tell to put Emrakul into play, allowing me to put Hive Mind into play and killing him next turn.

GP San Jose was in October, a week after Return to Ravnica was released. The GP was Team Sealed format, the first time in several years that such a GP was held. My team had won a Grand Prix Trial, so we started the tournament with 2 byes. Our sealed pool wasn't the greatest - there was a nutty Selesnya deck with 5 rares and Guildmage (which I played), then the rest gave us a U/R/w Doorkeeper/Lobber Crew control deck and a Jund deck with no real focus. After the tournament we realized that we should have just played an aggressive Rakdos build as our third deck, but that's what happens when you play in a fresh new format that no one's really familiar with yet. The GP had 571 teams (1713 players), which meant 11 rounds on Day 1, with a 9-2 record needed for Day 2. Our team lost in rounds 4, 9, and 11. It kind of sucked to lose in round 11 to miss Day 2, especially because round 11 ended shortly before 1 am. However, 42nd place out of 571 teams wasn't too bad, we thought. I decided to play in California States on Day 2, which I quickly bombed out of. Highlights of this tournament include beating a double Collective Blessing deck, beating Mercurial Chemister two games in a row, and watching my teammate sideboard from U/R/w Control into Izzet Aggro and beating his opponents after they decide to play second in sideboarded games. We then went out drinking in the bars of San Jose that Sunday night.

GP Chicago (Modern format) came about a month later. I thought it'd be nice to visit Ken and play in a GP, which is what we did. I had not touched Modern since the PTQ in March, so I decided to play R/G Tron again, especially since it stayed relatively under the radar at Pro Tour Seattle and GP Lyon the previous two weekends, and Jund was still a popular deck. I finished Day 1 at 7-2 yet again, losing in round 4 to G/W Hatebears and round 9 to Robots. This time, I didn't crash as hard on Day 2 as I have before, going 4-2 for a total 11-4 and 49th place out of 1113 players for $200 and 1 pro point (first one). Highlights of this tournament include going 4-1 against Jund over the course of the GP, beating Robots through a Blood Moon (it involved his Inkmonth Nexi being turned off and me Ghost Quartering my land in response for a basic Forest), overloading a Vandalblast against Robots to clear his 4 creatures and his Glimmervoid, locking in Day 2 in round 8 by having my Infect opponent attack his turn 1 Inkmonth Nexus into my Nature's Claim (which he thought was a different card after seeing it with Gitaxian Probe) which left him stuck on 1 Island until I ate it with Karn a few turns later, and drawing a total of 7 Relic of Progenitus over the course of 2 games against Eggs in round 14 (he had a hard time fighting through those).

Overall, quite an eventful year for MTG for me, and I'm looking forward to more in 2013. I'm fortunate to have good friends and teammates.

Farewell, 2012

Just wanted to sneak in a post for 2012 before it becomes 2013.

2012 was a pretty good year, and here's to a better year in 2013. Made some new friends, got to know friends better, did some quality traveling with friends and for work, traveled to more than a few Grand Prix for Magic and even top 64'ed a GP. Not sure what the picture of a margarita bucket at The Rock has to do with any of this other than continuing the tradition of including a photo in each blog post.

Happy new year.

Farewell, 2011

Greetings. This blog has been neglected throughout 2011 in general. Here are some highlights of the second half of 2011:

• Participated in the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival with the Raytheon Rowing Racers. Got to eat festival food such as beer-battered jalapeno rings just hours before our championship race in the adult recreational division, which we won by a fraction of a second. Also bought a bottle of Dragon Fire Sauce (made with ghost chili) from a hot sauce vendor.

• Went to the Taste of Colorado festival during Labor Day weekend with family and relatives, and got to eat food such as alligator bratwurst, rattlesnake bratwurst, and cactus salad.

• Mentored a high school robotics team for the RMBEST Robotics competition. Got to do things such as teach students how to use a band saw, soldering iron, and Microsoft Word.

• Traveled for work, and followed that up with a trip to New York City to visit some bros. Got to eat all sorts of fancy food in Old Town Alexandria, and played the tourist role for four days straight in New York City.

   

• Played entirely too much Magic. Under the new Planeswalker Points system, I ground my way to the top 4733 in the world for the Fall 2011 season, which is good for all of 1 bye at Grand Prix events next season. Also, since the old ELO rating system will soon no longer be available for viewing, I shall capture a screenshot for posterity's sake.

   

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May the new year bring happiness and prosperity to all.

Tournament Report: SCG Denver 6/12/11

Since I actually took notes during my matches throughout the tournament and while it's still semi-fresh in my mind, I thought I'd make an attempt at writing a tournament report from the SCG Open in Denver. I only played in the Legacy Open that weekend as I had Dragon Boat practice that Saturday morning, and made somewhat of an attempt to repeat my Top 8 showing at last year's SCG Open in Denver.

The tournament venue this year was Invesco Field. After spending my Saturday morning paddling on the lake and getting splashed on repeatedly, I battled my way through weekend traffic on I-25 and arrived at Invesco Field mid-afternoon to play in the Legacy Challenge to test the waters for the big event. During the weeks leading up to the tournament, I playtested decks such as Team America, TES, Merfolk, Zoo, Burn, and Deadguy Ale, but that Friday night right before the tournament I playtested with a guy piloting Hive Mind, and it seemed like a solid deck that was also crazy fun to play. As a result, I decided on a whim to play Hive Mind that Saturday. I looked up Eleyet's list from GP Providence as a basis, and modified it a bit to suit my tastes (-2 Misdirection, +1 Slaughter Pact, some sideboard changes). After hitting the dealer booth to trade for the cards I needed for the deck (which happened to be most of it), I took Hive Mind to a 3-1 finish in the Legacy Challenge. I used the same decklist the next day for the Legacy Open, and can be seen here.

(Note: Being the terrible player that I am, I failed to use Pact of Negation on my own Pacts correctly throughout the tournament, and didn't realize it until after the event. This misplay will become evident in the feature match coverage that I was in, and I may have blew my shot at Top 8 because of it)

ROUND 1: Belcher (2-1)

I win the die roll. Game 1 he takes a Serum Powder mulligan, and after checking with a judge regarding if I could see the cards he exiled (the answer is yes, they are face-up), I recognize he's playing Belcher before I take my first turn. Turn 2 he plays a Tinder Wall which got Mental Misstepped, and follows up with a lone Lion's Eye Diamond. I had the turn 3 Show and Tell to put Hive Mind into play with multiple Pacts to kill him during his upkeep, but he had the Goblin Charbelcher to deal 68 damage to me before my turn ended. Oops.

Game 2 he takes a Serum Powder mulligan, followed by a Paris mulligan, but things became awkward when he accidentally drew 7 cards on his Paris mulligan and picked up his hand. The judge ruled that two random cards from his hand gets shuffled into his library, and the game proceeds with him having 5 cards in hand. After we keep our hands, I had turn 1 Ancient Tomb into Grim Monolith, turn 2 fetchland into Hive Mind into Pact...the stone cold nuts.

Game 3 was more interesting. He keeps his original 7 while I mull to 6. He tries to combo off early (maybe turn 2?) with Chrome Mox imprinting Elvish Spirit Guide, Tinder Wall, and Rite of Flame, but I Force of Will his Rite to keep him off of the 4 mana needed for a potential Empty the Warrens. All he has left was another Chrome Mox imprinting another green mana source and rebuilt his hand slowly while I feebly attempted to sculpt my hand with cantrips turn after turn. Eventually I stuck a Hive Mind in play with nothing to follow up, and he stuck a Xantid Swarm and Lion's Eye Diamond. When I built up to 5 mana, I cast Pact of the Titan, giving us each a titan and forcing him to break his LED and discard his hand (which had a Charbelcher and no Empty the Warrens) in order to stay alive. I place a die on top of my library as an upkeep reminder, which was the only reason I didn't lose to my own Pact (I untapped, reached for my deck to draw my card, saw the die sitting there, and then remembered to pay for my Pact). I rip a Pact off the top to win the match.

1-0

ROUND 2: High Tide (2-1)

He wins the die roll. Game 1 started with some cantrips for both of us, and a Merchant Scroll for High Tide for him, but the next turn I had the Show and Tell into Hive Mind with a Pact to kill him.

Game 2 he combos off and fights my permission with his superior permission. Eventually he cast multiple Meditates, multiple Turnabouts, 3 Time Spirals, and 5 High Tides with 3 Candelabras in play before killing me with Blue Sun's Zenith for 60-ish (with 20-ish mana floating). I figured my only chance once he started to combo off was to draw the nuts (read: permission up the ass) every time he Time Spirals, but unfortunately on that last Time Spiral I draw all sorts of combo pieces but no permission.

Game 3 began with a single-digit number of minutes left on the clock. On turn 5, my opponents untaps and time is called. He proceeds to combo off (interrupted briefly by a Pact of Negation war, which he "won") with 2 High Tides, a Time Spiral, lots of Brainstorms and Ponders, and a Blue Sun's Zenith for 9 targeting himself in an attempt to recharge his depleted hand. At that point, I had a Volcanic Island, Grim Monolith, and 2 Ancient Tombs untapped. I decided that I needed to fight that Zenith, so I tap my Volcanic Island for 3 blue mana and Brainstorm into the absolute nuts: Force of Will, Mindbreak Trap, Mindbreak Trap (comment from spectating judge after the game: "best Brainstorm ever"). Putting some combo pieces back on top, I Trap his Zenith, which got Pacted (his second one that turn), so I Trap his Zenith again with Force of Will backup. His 2 Spell Pierces can't stop it, and he concedes the match. Interestingly, he decided to eschew the Brain Freeze line of play entirely due to me having Emrakuls in my maindeck, but I actually sideboarded them out for games 2 and 3.

2-0

ROUND 3: Budget Zoo (2-0)

He wins the die roll and starts Game 1 with a fetchland into shockland into Steppe Lynx. My opening hand wasn't the nuts, so I had to find the combo real quickly with cantrips. Turn 2 he fetches up a shockland again and bashes for 4 before sticking another Steppe Lynx. All I have is City of Traitors to join my turn 1 Island. Turn 3 he fetches another shockland and bashes for 8, putting me at 8 and dead next turn (Kird Ape joined his team). I Intuition for a combo piece during his end step, and Show and Tell a Hive Mind into play (he puts in a land). Pact of the Titan almost sealed the deal for him, except he had a Path to Exile during my end step to find that 5th land he needed to stay alive, but Pact of Negation on his Path killed him.

Game 2 he starts with Forest into Wild Nacatl. Then turn 2 he plays Mountain into Stoneforge Mystic, getting Batterskull. It wasn't until turn 3 when he tried to sneak Batterskull into play that I realized he didn't have white mana to play Stoneforge in the first place - I had always assumed that the Zoo player has access to all colors of mana at all times. One judge call and 2 issued warnings (1 for both of us) later, he Lightning Bolts me and attacks me to 12 before I Intuition for Show and Tells to put Emrakul into play the next turn. He scoops.

3-0

ROUND 4: Dredge (2-0)

As we were chatting before the round began, I find out that he was the Standard Open finalist from the day before. We also talk about the prevalence of Dredge in the room, with me saying how I think it's a good matchup for me.

I win the die roll. I had a turn 1 cantrip, while his turn 1 consisted of draw, discard Golgari Grave-Troll, go...awkward. I didn't have much action on turn 2. His turn 2 dredging put a Cabal Therapy into the graveyand and a Narcomoeba into play, and he Therapies me naming Trinket Mage. Seeing my hand full of Hive Mind combo pieces: "oh, THAT deck." Ancient Tomb the next turn allowed me to Intuition for a combo piece, and after his next dredge didn't hit any Therapies (but I did see a Woodfall Primus hit the 'yard), I put Hive Mind into play and Pact him to death.

Game 2 I start with a Leyline of the Void in play. He starts with Undiscovered Paradise into Putrid Imp, which got Mental Misstepped, even though I probably should have let that resolve and save the Misstep for the potential Nature's Claim, which is exactly what he used to get rid of my Leyline a few turns later (slow combo deck on my part, eh?). Shortly afterwards, I find the 3-piece combo. I play Show and Tell to put Hive Mind into play, and he asks a judge a rules question regarding enters-the-battlefield triggers (Woodfall Primus, anyone?). He puts Primus into play, targeting my Hive Mind with the trigger, but instant-speed Summoner's Pact will still get there.

4-0

ROUND 5: Merfolk (0-2)

This was my first feature match of the day, which wasn't anything more than us playing in the feature match area - no coverage nor cameras. This was his first Legacy event ever, which he will go on to Top 8. I win the die roll, and know he's playing Merfolk by watching him play during the previous round. Unfortunately, I mulligan to 4 before leading with Ancient Tomb, go. 5 turns later I died to a school of fish, and all he saw from me that game was a single Ancient Tomb - I drew all sorts of colorful Pacts with nothing else.

Game 2 we both mulligan, except he kept at 6 and I went down to 5. He missed his second land drop, but Force of Willed my turn 2 Grim Monolith and played fish after fish after resuming his land drops while I attempted to cantrip my way to a combo or a Llawan. A few turns later, with lethal on board, he attacks me and I Slaughter Pact his fully-leveled Coralhelm Commander to buy me a turn, even though I knew there was nothing that I could draw to save the game.

4-1

ROUND 6: Blue/White Control (1-2)

This was a feature match that is covered here (note: typos aplenty in that article). Game 1 is an example of my misplay with Pact of Negation (hint: he had 9 lands in play that turn). Game 3 was probably the most fun game I played all day, even though I lost. The tension at the end was epic as I played cantrip after cantrip to no avail.

4-2

ROUND 7: Combo Elves (2-1)

I win the die roll and start Game 1 with a cantrip. His turn 1 consisted of Windswept Heath into Forest into Fyndhorn Elves. The next turn he resolves Birchlore Rangers, and I immediately recognize how awkward this match will be for me. My hand consisted of Show and Tell, Intuition, and far too many colorful Pacts, but when he went for the Glimpse of Nature, I had to Intuition for Mental Misstep and counter it. With a Priest of Titania and Gaea's Cradle in play alongside a table full of elves, I recognize that my two lines of play (Hive Mind and Emrakul) are both useless, and my only chance of winning this game was if he fails to pay for his Summoner's Pact, which got Regal Force. Mirror Entity and random elf put me from 17 to 5 life before he remembered to pay for his Pact the next turn and attack me for near-infinite damage.

Game 2 he assembles a few elves before going for Glimpse of Nature again, except I had the Intuition for Mental Misstep again. He then plays Birchlore Ranger and gets the beatdown going to put me at 7 life before I Intuition (putting me at 5 from Ancient Tomb) for Pact of the Titan/Pact of the Titan/Slaughter Pact (he wisely lets me have a Pact of the Titan). I put Hive Mind into play, followed by 2 Pacts of the Titan and a Pact of Negation. He only had to pay 7UUR during his upkeep due to my Pact of Negation misplay, which was still too much mana for him.

Game 3 started as time in the round was running out. He had the turn 3 Glimpse of Nature with a great board position (Nettle Sentinel, Birchlore Rangers, Wirewood Symbiote, Forest, Horizon Canopy), but I had Island and Ancient Tomb to cast Intuition for Mental Misstep yet again (third time this match!). The next turn I cast Ponder, trying to find Show and Tell. I find it and keep the cards on top, drawing Show and Tell. "So you like them, eh?" my opponent asks nervously. "Oh yes. Actually, only one of them," I replied with a smile, as I crack a fetchland and go for the win via Show and Tell for Hive Mind, and he puts a second Birchlore Rangers into play. Analyzing his board position, I think that he can generate only 3 mana, 1 of which being off-color, so I cast Pact of the Titan followed by Pact of Negation without passing priority like a noob, and he ends up needing to pay 3UU during his upkeep or loses the game. He untaps and says he can pay 2UU due to Wirewood Symbiote's ability (I facepalm), and spends the next 5 minutes agonizing over how to pay that last mana needed to stay alive while a crowd gathered around to watch our game. After being asked by a judge to proceed the game state, he decides to convoke Chord of Calling for 1 to see what he could find, as his board position couldn't pay the upkeep. Unfortunately, his library couldn't get there either.

END RESULT: 5-2 matches, 11-7 games, 12th place out of 117 players

PROPS: Playing Hive Mind on a whim - it really is a fun yet solid deck to play. I don't think I've ever had as much fun playing a deck as I did that day. Maybe it has something to do with killing your opponents with Pacts. Also, SCG for coming out to Denver for their Open Series. It's unfortunate how there's no Legacy scene here, but SCG brings that with them, albeit for one weekend out of the year.

SLOPS: Me not knowing how to pass priority when using Pact of Negation on my own Pact all day long (told you I'm a terrible player!). Also, mulliganing into oblivion during the critical Round 5.

One Year

One fourteen-hour drive later with my parents, I moved to Denver one year ago on this day. Clueless as I was at the time and despite the relative low points along the way, I think it's been a good time overall so far. I feel fortunate to have family in the area (even if I didn't know about them until after I decided to live out here), to have met some cool and nice people around Denver, and for old friends from far away - I'm grateful for those. Thanks everyone.

So yeah, having people in your life turns out to be a good thing, regardless of how introverted one can be.