FNM Preview for 2/29/13

I figure to hold myself accountable I will do write ups for what deck I'll be playing before the FNM as well as posting what the charity of the week is.  For those of you that don't know, I typically donate 25-50% of my winnings from FNM to some charity that I select.  This week will be the Catholic Relief Fund.  I promised a friend I would give to them a couple of months ago and I actually haven't won a significant amount of money since then so I figure I owe that charity some money.

So...to the actual blog

Charity of the Week

Catholic Relief Fund.

I believe in the Catholic Church and what they do for the world.  They give so much and help so many.  This organization is exactly what I imagine when I think of giving money to a group of people.

Check them out here: http://crs.org/

Deck for 2.28.13

Going to be playing some Naya Human Aggro.  This deck is stupid, cheesy, and oh so fun.

Here's the deck:

4 Experiment One
4 Boros Charm
3 Frontline Medic
4 Boros Elite
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Ash Zealot
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Lightning Mauler
2 Clifftop Retreat
4 Champion of the Parish
3 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple Garden
4 Sacred Foundry

Sideboard
2 Fiend Hunter
2 Nearheath Pilgrim
2 Pillar of Flame
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Volcanic Strength
3 Mark of Mutiny

Obvious plan is to just overrun the board with either a turn 1 champ or experiment one and then just throw burning tree emissaries on the board and finish it with a lightning mauler.  Ugh.  The deck is so dumb.

I went 3-1 with it in a casual event while at Charlotte (see earlier blog) and I think it'll really get a rise out of FNM tomorrow.  Standard SCG OI is on Saturday and I probably will play in that.  Look for reports come Sunday or Monday!

If you want to suggest a Charity

Hit me up on twitter @imjorman and tell me what charity you'd like to see added to the list!

Goals for this Next Season

Goals need to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.  I'm going to come up with a  couple of goals (honestly, I'm probably going to type what I think) and then try to make those goals SMART compatible.

What do I want to achieve?
Honestly, I want to make it to the pro tour.  That's my goal.  Does that meet SMART's criteria?

• It certainly is specific (I want to make a specific tournament)
• It is also measurable (I'll know I've achieved it when I play in the Pro Tour)
• It is not attainable - I'm not a good enough of a player to make the Pro Tour, most likely.
• It is timely - I could conceivably make a Pro Tour with a win at a PTQ

Ok, since I know I probably can't make the Pro Tour, why not?  The reasons I come up with are going to become our new goals for the PTQ seasons - what we're going to try and do to make ourselves ready to be on a pro tour.

Problem: I play to quickly

• I play far to quickly.  I need to slow down, think through my lines of play and make the most mathematical, strategic, and correct play.
• I find myself sitting at the table, shuffling my cards, and not actually doing any thinking.  I need to be constantly thinking and running the game in my head.
• I also find myself, in an effort to play quickly, picking one line of play, and setting myself to that one line of play no matter how correct or incorrect..

So let's take our problem, playing to quickly, and make a SMART goal:

Goal: I want to sufficiently evaluate all lines of play at all times and make my play more sound.

Let's smart check this goal

• Specific: Evaluate all lines of play at all times?  What does this really mean?
• Run through each possible scenario given my current hand, board state, and all other relevant factors.
• Take into account both what I have in hand, but what opponent could be holding and COULD DRAW INTO
• Measurable: How will I know when this goal is accomplished?
• When I begin to actually evaluate these plays.  I feel like this goal will require the most honest self-assessment.  Am I actually thinking about plays more or not?
• Attainable: Can I actually slow down and play more sound Magic?
• I sure hope so.
• Relevant: Is slowing my thoughts process down relevant?
• Yes.
• Timely: Is this something that can be accomplished this upcoming PTQ Season?
• I think I can make great headway these next final three weeks of the season

So that's my first goal of this upcoming PTQ Season.  Honestly, that's the biggest one for me, and the others will be a little less detailed.......I think.

Goal: I want to play in at least 5 PTQ's this upcoming season

• Specific: 5 is quite the specific number
• Measurable: I'll know when I hit 5 PTQ's
• Attainable: This is the only one I'm unsure of.  When the PTQ schedule comes out, you bet I'll be tracking the distance and the potential of being able to attend these events.  I'm thinking four hours is appropriate for a PTQ - any more and you're probably just vomiting value.
• Relevant: Playing in PTQ's is important for grinders who want to be good.
• Timely: Depending on how many PTQ's are withing 4-5 hours this next coming PTQ season, yes, it is timely to make 5 in three months.

Goal: I want to become better at deck selection

What does this actually mean?

For PTQ's that aren't limited, you have to select a deck that you think is good for the meta-game.  That means changing your deck potentially at the last minute.  I want to be able to evaluate the meta-game and pick a deck that will conquer it.

• Specific: To improve at evaluate the meta-game and picking a suitable deck.
• Measurable: This goal is largely un-measurable and a pretty bad goal because of this.  One can think they read the meta-game perfectly and just be completely wrong.  However, beginning to ATTEMPT at reading the meta-game is important.
• Attainable: Players can't get PERFECT at evaluating the meta-game, but they can be good at  it and make strong inferences.
• Relevant - Evaluating the meta-game certainly matters
• Timely - This is a career long skill.  However, while I can't be perfect by the end of this PTQ season, I can become significantly better.

GP Charlotte Recap

Alright, I want to recap my thoughts, feelings, and emotions from my experiences at Grand Prix Charlotte.  This blog will contain my play results, thoughts on the Grand Prix experience, and some other stuff.

Play Recap
I played in three total events this weekend, including the main event: GP Charlotte.  Friday night, I played in a Standard grinder which was designed to give its winner three byes into the main event.  These are 32 man, single-elimination events.  So, a 5-0 in this event means you start GP Charlotte at 3-0.  That's a pretty big deal!

Before I go any further, I should delineate the structure of a GP.  Anyone can sign up to play in these, and many people come from around the world to play in them.  After a long and grueling day 1, players who have a record of X-2 or better make the "cut" into day 2 (think golf).  In day 2, everyone plays more swiss rounds until Swiss play is over (typically after 6 or so rounds on day 2).  The top 8 players after these rounds are placed in a single elimination bracket and this bracket determines the winner.

So, 3 byes means you don't have to worry about 3 rounds of Magic that everyone else does, and that is a huge advantage.

Well, in this grinder, that cost me $20 to enter, I went 0-1.  Lost the first round (which is played as a best two out of three) 1-2.  Not a good day at the office.

I was pretty tilted (poker term that essentially means mentally rattled) after this round 1 elimination.  I went to get something to eat, chilled a bit to relax in my hotel, then went back to the venue to play in another event.

This next event, this time $10 was called "FOILED Again".  In this tournament, there were four rounds of play and or every win, you received a foil promotional card, and if you went 2-2 or better, you got packs as a prize that you could either open or sell to a vendor for like $2 a piece.

I went 3-1 in this event.  Felt pretty good and lost to a really cool guy from Pennsylvania.  I got 3 foil promotional cards (not including the one you get for signing up) and 7 packs that I opened because opening packs is fun business.

Happy, satisfied, and tired, I went back to my hotel, grabbed a shower and a coke, and went to sleep ready for the Grand Prix the next morning.

The Grand Prix

Holy. People. Batman.

2,693.  That's the number of participants for this GP.  To compare, the largest Magic: The Gathering event ever held before this was at GP: Madrid in 2010.  That event had just above 2,200 people.  We CRUSHED the old record for largest single tournament ever.

It felt packed, there was excitement in the air - I as a part of a 20 year old game's history.  Pretty  cool.

Because of the logistics running a ~2,700 person event, the tournament that was supposed to begin at 10:00 Am began at 12:30, and play didn't begin until about 2:00.  Pretty late start considering I got there at 9:30 to scope out the venue some more (I preregistered and didn't have to stand in an obnoxious line).

It was mildly overwhelming, to be honest.

Anyway, on to my play.  I won round 1 in a really close three game set.  I wasn't prepared for the matchup and the deck I had opened wasn't the greatest.  The format for the GP was sealed.  This means that I got six booster packs from which to build my deck.  The cards you get are random and you don't have control over the pool.  I didn't open any bombs and had to splash for a third color (typically you wan't two).  I ended up with a boros deck, splashing green for Gruul.  The deck was okay except for the lack of bombs.

I had a couple of other color options like black/blue/splash Green, but the mana-fixing wasn't the best and I barely had any creatures in that deck.

But anyway, I win the first round.  I lose the second round to an opponent who had a bye round 1, he was pretty cool, but his deck pretty much stomped mine.  In round three, I lost as well to another opponent.  This is where I began to doubt my deck and my ability to pilot it to a day 2 finish.

Round 3, my opponent was a no-show.  He meant to drop from the event but failed to do so before the next round begun.  I'm now 2-2 at GP Charlotte and have to win my next 5 to make day 2 - a daunting task to say the least.

I lose round 5.  Not much to be said.  It wasn't pretty.  My opponent was really nice, but man it sucked being done from the event I practiced so hard for.

I ended up totaling a 5-5 record for the weekend.  Nothing I was to thrilled about.

My Friends and Family
Holy Support.  You guys are awesome.  So many texts, tweets, and other kind thoughts during the weekend made it so much fun.  I want to shout out to a few specific individuals for making the weekend amazing:

• My dad - paid for literally the WHOLE trip and was a great companion the whole time.  How awesome is that?  I wouldn't have been able to have such an enjoyable experience without him.
• Funniest Tweet Award - Jonathan Oty.  I tweeted that there were more people in the event than there are at MVNU's campus.  His response? "More virgins too, ironically."  Hilarious.
• Biggest fan - Jessica Knight.  Favoriting so many tweets, retweeting, etc.  She's fantastic.
• Most loving - My sister, Kalene.  She's wonderful.  Kept sending me texts telling me I'm doing great and she knew I could do well.  That's a good sister for a.
• Most motivating - Colby Layton.   I was doing pretty bad and focusing on the fact I had to go 5-0 to day 2.  He texted me saying to focus on one match at a time and things look easier.  Such a great motivating message and it was what I needed to hear in the moment.
• Guys at my store: For letting me borrow cards for side events, sending me motivating things throughout the day, and reminding me that there are more tournaments to come.  Team Capital!

Next Blog

Goals for Magic, how I plan to improve, and where I plan to be this time next year.

Thanks for reading :D

Nature and Purpose

Hey everybody! I wanted this first post to outline what this new blog is going to be all about. I really just want to write freestyle more. Because of classes, I do a lot of structured and tough writing, and really, I just want to think out loud.

I figure I'll be writing a lot about the card game Magic: The Gathering. It's a game I'm really competitive about and spend a good deal of traveling to play. My first "actual" post will be a recap of GP Charlotte and describe my first BIG trip for Magic.

I'll also want to write about theology. Because I'm getting my theology masters online, I won't have anyone to converse with. Being able to think out loud is absolutely going to help my educational experience. 

Theological topics will be self explanatory. I'll be reflecting on devotions (sparingly), thoughts from classes (regularly), and random heresies that I craft in my head (near daily).

Magic topics, however, are going to be a bit more reflective in nature. I'll post about tournament results, how much I suck, how well I did, team practice recaps, deck ideas, and more. I really want to be a great competitive Magic player and being able to just reflect on here would be great.

Also, want to give a BIG shout out to friends and family for supporting me this weekend at GP Charlotte. My sister was a constant source of good wishes and I had several friends going out of their way to tweet back, send texts ("give them Hell Jordan" or "dude just take it one match at a time"). My dad for driving down there and paying for LITERALLY the whole trip. SO awesome.

I'm in full nerd mode, can't stop thinking about school and when I'm not thinking about that, I think about Magic. It's pretty nice. I am looking forward to a break from large tournaments though. I want to spend some time with the friends who made this weekend so enjoyable from so far away.

Anyway, an actual GP Charlotte recap and future of me in Magic coming up. I'll let you know!

Follow me on twitter: @imjorman for live details and things :D