Friday Night Magic @ So Cal Magic

 

Jack & I went drafting with some of his friends to So Cal Magic in Anaheim.

On the way we saw yet another terrorist with a Strom Trooper helmet sticker on his car--Jack was able to get video which includes the license plate number.

The draft was cool--mostly laid back...there were some Spikes, but in general a very casual draft.

 The shop had plenty of space in a very nice environment

Jack & I picked up new mats with the Shadows over Innerstrad theme

Kahns of Tarkir @ Comic Quest

Jack and I went to Friday Night Magic @ Comic Quest

We got there a bit early and hung out--lots of Long Beach Comic Con talk--Geoff Johns gave a insider talk that the comic kids got invited to & they were STOKED.

There were also a suprising number of people who had never drafted at Comic Quest--some had not played in a while & were getting back into it with the new set, some had recently moved to the area, and some were just checking it out.

The lack of Local Grinders made for a very fun draft!

There were about 24 people there last night

Some arrived later so Level Two Judge Eric had to set up a fourth late start Pod--he handled it like a Pro!

I drafted clueless crap--not really sure what I am doing with this set...basically, I played a Black White mid-range deck with no bombs.

Drew on time against Mike--he was having much more fun than I was!

Second match against Arad was a slaughter--he just butchered me.

My third match against Julian was awesome

he was playing a rather quick deck and we matched up well with neither of us really having much by way of closers

Week One Preparation of D&D Encounters Hoard of the Dragon Queen.

1.  Read the EnWorld updates.

2. Get a mini like this




3.  Encourage the Players to select a Party theme on GroupMe.
    They are leaning towards Halflings, Doctor Who, and Bronnies. All rather awesome selections.

4. Ensure that we can roll our characters

If you see magic items of very high rarity or strange arrays of
ability scores, you can ask a player to provide documentation
for the irregularities. pg.3

    Looks like we are good. But the Adventure League Players Guide has:

Determine Ability Scores
You can generate your character’s ability scores using
one of the following methods:
• Standard set (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8)
• Customizing ability scores variant (Player’s Handbook chapter 1)
After assigning ability scores, apply your racial benefits to derive your starting ability score

    I have opened a case with WotC & taken the issue to social media.

    I have lost this argument on Social Media--still waiting for the WotC &
    Twitter responses--but it is not looking good...

5. Validate the Appendix A backgrounds

6. Listen to the Tome Show podcast from GenCon--Ready Set Play

7. Read up on Inspiration from PHB.

8.  Listen to the GenCon Panel When Kobolds Meet Tiamat (Kobold Press Tyranny of Dragons Panel; GenCon 2014)

9. Read the Module

M15 FNM @ Majestix

Jack, Alexander, & I went to Majestix in Costa Mesa for Friday Night Magic M15 Draft.

We started out holding hands with Garruk--this picture does not really capture the passion.

We bought a new mat  for Jack--I got my old mat back, which is considered by many to be the worlds worst mat 

I am still digging my dice

Though they betrayed me on the first game with a three! SHAME!

First I played Joseph.

I got my Jace out early game one & one the match 2-0.

I was playing in the wrong Pod--my first FNM rule violation. Basically, Jack & I got our names mixed up--I drafted in Pod 2 and Played in Pod 3. Jack drafted in Pod 3 and Played in Pod 2. For whatever reason we did not realize this until AFTER the first match--so things were kind of hard to correct. We decided to just play on, but I am curious if there is a formally correct answer to this mistake.

Game two I was crushed in the Mirror by a much better player. He also had a much better deck--I went into Blue after I got Jace--I was trying to draft WR until then.

Alexander and Jack made me a custom Spirit Token which totally rules.

Round three I played Xander--who had this amazing token generating mono white deck. I lost game one which took 20 minutes. Game two took 30 minutes & I won--so we drew game three. Xander got two packs which was awesome.

Also, Alexander got disciplined by the shop owner for asking someone if they wanted to buy his Nissa for $20. You can trade cards, but you cannot offer cash at this store. Not sure if that is a universal rule or not, but clearly something we did not know.

It was officially rule number four.

M15 Draft Preparation.

So my prep work was horrible for M15 Prerelease--lets see if I can do better for Drafting!

1.  Post request for help on Google+ Magic Community.

2. Tweet at Chapin, LSV, & WotC asking for advice.

3. Read Confessions of a Games Master M15 thoughts

4. Watch the Star City Games Review

These are all one hour long--I am going to be busy for a long time...

5. While I am watching that, I started reading the LSV reviews--looks like Red is way better on average.

6. Take some notes. 

7. Watch Wedge on Best commons & uncommons.

7. Simulate some drafts

Actual Play Dead in Thay--D&D Encounters S18 S4

FNM @ Majestix

Jack, Andrew, Evan, Dylan, and I went to Majestix for some Born into Nyx release draft.

Evan had a blast & bought a lot of tokens.

Dylan had a great time at his second FNM.

Alexander also had  blast--he had not been playing for a while, but was still able to draft a Storm-breath Dragon and go big with red! 

Jack crushed me in round three. Andrew & Dylan were in the same pod and also had an epic battle. Evan was solo in pod two which was very challenging.

It was a great night.

Deck Tech Friday Night Magic 02/07/14

Friday Night Magic 02/07/14

Friday Night Magic at Mercenary Market in Costa Mesa was a blast. It started with trying to solve this puzzle from the Hero's Path:

Luckily I had cheated and looked it up on bing, otherwise I would have never figured this out--I think that these puzzles need to be a whole later more simple.

We drafted to Born of the Gods & one Theros which was awesome.

 Jack was in the other pod and built  a strong UW Heroic deck. He crushed me during play testing before things started.

However my deck was fairly consistent in other games and I was able to pull out a 3-0 [6-1] record and take home a few packs.

My deck was mostly a Wolf Pack which I am likely going to try to build out as a Standard Deck this week.

Born of the Gods -- White -- Destined to Lead

Big Dumb Two Headed Creature goes 1-2

Another fine Friday Night Magic at Majestic Card Shop in Costa Mesa.

I was at the kids table where the drafting was all over the map & I got tricked into drafting for value. again. Largely because of this card handed to me deck 2 round 4...up until then I was in Red Green and this changed my strategy completely...and late round draft changes are generally not a good move for me.

Jack went with a Green White Heroic deck that did very well--I think he went 2-1 loosing first round to a red deck when he did not draw very well.

Derek was at his first FNM and of course won! He was playing Green Blue and did really well in all of his matches.

The adult table had some very strong players this week--Aggro decks are winning in draft--crusing mono black and mono blue strategies.

My promo card was a Swan Song--so the night was not a total waste!