66 players, 6 rounds, and I played the last round at table 6 and ended up in 6th place overall. Hail Satan?
13 May 2024, 7:05 AM CST, Houston, Texas
After dropping my kids off at school (~7:05am), I headed back home to check-in for my work flight to California (~7:10am). My original flight was scheduled for 2:45 PM, but I discovered the flight was overbooked, and the next available flight was at 9:20 AM. Despite the rush—50 minutes drive from the airport, not showered, and not fully packed—I quickly threw together some clothes and Magic: The Gathering cards, booked an Uber, and managed to squeak through security just in time. TSA pre-check saved the day. My work necessitating me to be in California was the impetus for letting me “sneak” a Magic trip which wasn’t originally planned.
14 May 2024, 8:30 PM PST, Los Angeles, California
I met up with Austin, an old MTG friend. We enjoyed some good food and drinks but were disappointed to find our planned visit to a tiki bar thwarted by its closure.
16 May 2024, 5:15 PM PST, Los Angeles, California
After a long workday, my dinner plans with Aaron West fell through at the last minute. Seizing the opportunity, I rescheduled my Friday morning flight to Thursday night. I hustled to pack, checked out of my hotel, navigated LA traffic (no easy feat), returned my rental car, and made it to the airport in time to grab a salad—prepping for an unhealthy weekend diet. While waiting at the airport my wife called to let me know they were under Tornado watch! Thankfully my family was all ok but ~7 people died in Houston! One saving grace was that they didn’t lose power so that alleviated some of my stress. I used the flight time to get ahead on some work.
16 May 2024, 10:50 PM PST, Seattle, Washington
Eric Martin graciously picked me up from SeaTac amid the airport’s construction chaos. We took a slight detour so I could get some milk for my morning tea. Unable to access my Airbnb initially, we went back to the airport to pick up Wheel, whose flight had been delayed. Thankfully, I received entry instructions for Airbnb and got in around 1 AM or so and went straight to bed.
17 May 2024, 3:30 AM PST, Seattle, Washington
The two-hour time difference had me up very early. I enjoyed tea (with last nights milk) and got a few hours of work done before meeting my Airbnb roommate, Kevin. After a power nap and a shower, I met up with Aland and Schwartz for a late lunch at Pike Place. The weather was stunning, and we enjoyed wandering around before the evening’s event. Although I wasn’t planning to play, I helped Shawn out and later joined Jason, Flint, and Ken for dinner at a nice Italian restaurant. Post-dinner, we headed to the Beast’s house for some MTG games. I played my first AAA game against Eric and won a Jeweled Bird. Exciting. I also jammed Ante 40K against wheel and we split games but he definitely got the better of me winning a Lion and me winning a birb….After more drinks and hanging out, I returned to my Airbnb late.
18 May 2024, 5:30 AM PST, Seattle, Washington
I woke up at a slightly more reasonable hour, had tea (milk is doing work), and did a tiny bit of work before heading out for breakfast with Mike and John. Despite the Seattle drizzle, we enjoyed our meal. I needed cash to pay Wheel for a Juzam I bought from him, so we made a quick ATM stop.
Match Summaries:
- R1 vs. Cam: I enjoyed meeting and playing against Cam. Lost the first game to his Atog but won the next two when we were both jamming Su-Chi’s in a mana burn format. Relic Barrier > Mana Vault.
- R2 vs. Dan North: Dan struggled casting Serra Angel in a 4-strip format. My Relic Barrier and Strip Mines gave me the upper hand.
- R3 vs. UBR: [Details Needed]
- R4 vs. Aland – Robots: I lost the first game when I was stuck with no white mana with 2 Disenchant in hand, I finally get an Ancestral off but am still mana constrained and then Aland Timetwisters away all my good stuff. Always good to see Aland and can’t be mad that he beat me with my own shops list from Festival of Friendship earlier this year…
- R5: UBR [Details Needed]
- R6: James Portello – UR Orc Dib Moon: I was quite late to my match…I was busy talking to the vendor (Munroe) who had me sat down with a box of misprints and I was in my own little world. After being summoned for round 6 by Shawn I made it to my table – Table 6 which has the best table number…I promptly crushed James in two non-games. Game 2 was particularly brutal – Mox, Sol Ring, Plateau, Lotus, two Dib, and Atog—winning swiftly. Needless to say jamming 2 Dibs on Turn 1 was a bit much for him to handle. Note – winner should have gotten the table number but I did feel bad for being late. I would have scooped to him if we had gone to time or orb flips but the match only took ~15 mins for both games.
Final standings – 66 players, 6 rounds, and I played the last round at table 6 and ended up in 6th place overall. Hail Satan?
Without much time to prep I ran back my NEOS – 4 Strip SWE list but switched up 2 sb cards from my NEOS deck – 1 Geddon, -1 Su-Chi and +2 Dib.
19 May 2024, 7:15 PM PST, Seattle, Washington
A small group of us head out for Ramen at a spot recommended by Danny.
Perfect for a cool and drizzly evening.
19 May 2024, 1:29 AM PST, Seattle, Washington
Left the Beast’s house late at night, so I can try and get a couple hours of sleep before my flight.
Prize pool was great! Leaving space for your placing is A+
19 May 2024, 5:10 AM PST, Seattle, Washington
Despite a rookie mistake of setting my alarm for the weekday rather than weekend, I was awake early. Packed quietly to avoid waking John. He is snoring his ass off so I’m pretty sure I was successful in my endeavour. I don’t think I left anything behind which is some sort of miracle considering the rush, time and darkness.
19May25, 5:12am PST, Seattle, Washington
My taxi ride to the airport was cancelled, leaving me waiting for an Uber while witnessing a lobby drama. Her phone was dying, she didn’t have any shoes on and clearly had an ever rougher/later night than I did. Uneventful flight but some chance to again get caught up with some work for a few hours.
19 May 2024, 1:45 PM CST, Houston, Texas
Happy to be back home, I made a cup of tea and caught up with the wife and kiddos.
Swag
Tournament Highlights:
- Props:
- Finally met Cam in person. We had a fun match, both casting Su-Chi.
- In the last round, I drew an incredibly strong hand—Mox, Sol Ring, Plateau, Lotus, two Dib, and Atog—winning swiftly.
- Great swag.
- Great stamp.
- Insane artist lineup.
- Slops:
- Gonster drink meme gone wrong; I tried it out of obligation but won’t be having it again.
Cheers,
@mtgmisprint
Falling Stars 