Somehow "Oh Fiddlesticks!" doesn't have the same ring to it when playing this game.
-- from a recent conversation
Word of caution: this will be a longer than a normal entry and pretty boring for 98% of the audience. Its a long winded story and I'm doing this so I dont forget.
You have been warned. Heh.
This past weekend, I competed in a Magic The Gathering Standard Constructed tournament. The last time I did something like this was over thirteen years ago. The primary reason for even attending this time was not only in my renewed interest in the game, but because some new friends really wanted to have a strong showing of our group.
The whole experience reminded me of why I loved going to these sort of things in the first place. There is always that nervousness of competing, even if you know everyone there. For such a simple thing, there is always alot of intensity involved.
So here comes the semi-technical stuff.
I've described the game in the past, but for those who arent familiar with Magic The Gathering (or actually have a life), its simply a fancy card game. Combine a variety of 60 cards in order to make a deck. In a tournment setting, you also have to pick another 15 cards to put to the side for special situations.
Think of it like a cooking competition. You have 60 ingredients to combine to make a certain flavour, then another 15 ingredients are set to the side and used for a specific audience.
There are 2 ways to win the game:
Option 1) damage your opponent to force them down from 20 life points to 0
Option 2) force your opponent to use up all their cards until they can not draw any more cards.
A tournament is set up very similiar to how tennis matches are set up. There are several 50 minute rounds with players matched up at random in order to compete in the best 2 out of 3 games. The players that win the most rounds go on to the finals.
Since it had been such a long time for me to have competed in such a serious environment, the card flavour I had chose was the first option. My hope was to beat my foe(s) with as much offense as possible, as fast as possible, and with no defense. I figured if I even won a single match I would be happy. If I made the semi-finals, then my night would be complete.
My first opponent of the night, JD, played a deck where his flavour was the second option. He had all defense, no offense, and things that would add life. Lots of it.
His job was to take as many cards out of my deck as possible and put them in my discard pile. Now that doesnt sound like much, but when he could force me to put anywhere between 13 to 20 cards in my discard pile in a single move, it wouldnt be long before I was dead.
Of course, I didnt realize that until JD forced me to discard over 36 cards in two turns and I lost the first game.
My hands were already shaking at the intensity of the hard fought game, but now, in-between games, players are allowed to swap ingredients out with the other 15 side ingredients. Now I had to sit there and think what the hell I could use to fight such a deck. Not only that, but now the strategy had to change because JD had similiar thoughts. Instead of going for a fast, speedy kill, I figured I would have to be as sneaky as possible.
The biggest idea that dawned on me was that I actually had weapons that I was allowed to use from the discard pile. When JD was forcing me to put cards into my discard pile, I had more toys than I normally would have in my hand.
The second game was more in my favour because I was able to do alot of damage early while my foe's defense took too long to set up. He wasnt able to counter the last 10 points of damage that finished him off.
It didnt matter that this game went as expected. My right leg was bouncing up and down furiously at the sheer excitement.
The third game took longer. Much longer.
Everyone else had finished their match and we only had 20 minutes to finish our match. So there are twenty two other players crowded around to watch this madness that has gone from a cooking contest to a Magic based boxing match.
Punch, counterpunch. Attack, defend.
I hit him for 6 points of damage. He counters and gains 8 points of life.
He forces me to discard 3 cards, I shoot him for 3 points of damage.
I hit him with 10 points of damage, he attempts to prevent the damage. I counter his attempt and force him to take it. Then I add another 5 points for his trouble.
He forces me to discard 13 cards, I fire at him for 4 points of damage.
I hit again for 6 points, he counters it. I sneak in a quick jab for 3 points.
JD fires a haymaker and forces me to discard 20 cards. I shoot for 2 points to get him down to his remaining 7 life points.
The crowd senses the end of the fight because now its a race to the end. Whispers go around like "He's out of cards the next turn" and "He's going to blast him. I know it!"
I am forced to draw the last seven cards in the entire deck so either win now or its over. Ironically enough, the final card is the same counter punch I used earlier to force JD to take damage.
Using weapons from the discard pile and one from my hand, I shoot at him for 8 points of damage. He attempts to prevent it and again, I counter his attempt, praying that he didnt have another counterpunch.
JD stares at his cards for a moment, then extends his hand across the table, and says "Excellent game!" I shake his hand and respond "Damn good game, sir! Thank you so much for an excellent match!"
Small cheers rise up for the both of us as well as for a well played and hard fought game. Then shoulder clapping and more hand shaking.
The entire match was mentally fatiguing, but even before either one of us could get up, the tournament judge said it was time to get on with the next round. We had finished the last game with only a minute to spare. So before I could even catch another breath, it was off to the next opponent.
After that first match, I didnt care what happened for the rest of the night. I did eventually make it to the semi-finals, but that didnt matter as much any more. Its matches like the first one that night which ignited my passion for the whole Magic thing.
People using various ingredients to present different ideas, using them to the best of their ability and fighting to the bitter end. Put everything on the table and do your best, regardless of the outcome.
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