Pseudo Newb and the Month of July - Winning and it's Opposite

Here is the thing I know - I have dutifully recorded all of the decks I've played and the various draft and sealed events, but the reality was not as much playing as I'd like

I played in every pre-release sealed event during a weekend my two friends were with me and took first place in the last one. I had a fantastic time playing two headed giant with Anna and frankly that weekend was the girliest weekend I've had in a while.

I then drafted in one Avacyn Restored, and I've done two Magic 2013 drafts.  I think I drafted well but my playskills for draft aren't sharp. If I were playing a sport I would say my follow through is weaker than it was.

What I haven't gotten the chance to talk about is what I've been doing for FNM. I've been trying to play new decks and haven't played the same one once this month.

I played a red/blue block that was called Delver but really just played like it had Delvers in it. I like that deck which is set up around the idea of having creatures with evasion and pumping them up with unexpected spells, but it died a horrible death to any deck with Lingering Souls. I tried to give it some sweep with some Slagstorms but what it really wanted was Corrosive Vale.  I couldn't help but notice that I was the only one at FNM playing any form of Delver at all. There were lots of artifacts, werwolves and vampires.

I tried it again with the stronger removal suite but didn't do much better. I don't think I'm using counter spells properly which is why I liked the Red/Blue better.

Then I really, really like the Quirion Dryad Card and art - M13 art review coming soon - and I really, really wanted to play it.

The Magic Game Plan Blog had a build that I had all the cards for so I ran that:

UG Quirion Dryad
Creatures (15) 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Quirion Dryad 4 Snapcaster Mage 3 Talrand, Sky Summoner Spells (25) 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Gut Shot 1 Mutagenic Growth 4 Vapor Snag 4 Ponder 3 Thought Scour 2 Dismember 3 Mana Leak	Lands (20) 4 Hinterland Harbor 3 Evolving Wilds 3 Cavern of Souls 9 Island 1 Forest Sideboard (15) 3 Phantasmal Image 2 Thragtusk 1 Mana Leak 4 Negate 3 Mental Misstep 2 Sleep

And the reality was that in practice it ran pretty much like a Delver Deck that just used Quirions where the delver was supposed to be and Talarands instead of Geists and Lingering Souls. That should have been a good fit for me but really it felt like it was just the answer to other Delver Decks and Humans. It was weak and Gut Shot was frequently a dead card for me. The Quirions have to stick in order for them to grow and my local meta seemed to be either control or ramp.

I still liked Quirion and was developing a real appreciation for Talarand but at least for my meta I think I need more spells that do things. This should have been fine and fun for me after all I was playing Delver from the get-go but it really wasn't. It was all the things I tolerated in Delver without any of the fun and very few answers if I had no counterspells. The dismembers never showed up when I needed them. On the other hand I did change one cavern of souls to a swamp because I hate having cards that cost me life when I could actually cast them. In an environment where life gain is a viable and played strategy voluntarily giving up the resource for some removal that can be brought back isn't as "worth it" as all of the articles imply. YOU have to be able to play that fast.

Then I saw this

Jamison VanLoocke's Green-Blue Omniscience

Standard

Main Deck 60 cards
9  Forest 4  Hinterland Harbor 9  Island 22 lands 4  Archaeomancer 4  Birds of Paradise 4  Quirion Dryad 2  Snapcaster Mage 3  Talrand, Sky Summoner 17 creatures	2  Make a Wish 1  Omniscience 3  Rampant Growth 4  Revive 3  Talrand's Invocation 4  Think Twice 4  Vapor Snag 21 other spells

And I was able to put all of it together after I got the Revive Cards ( which I loved having). I had played against and Archeomancer and got a feel for how it should work so I was ready to take this to FNM.  The Spells DID THINGS instead of strategically keeping things from happening.

And I was really looking forward to playing it, but I got to FNM and they had recently started doing this thing where you could draft OR play standard, basically running two different types of tournaments concurrently. Which is great for the people who draft as their main thing, but I draft basically to learn how to play cards so I can play better standard. I was there to play my Omniscient Quirion deck.

Also I'm heading into serious "start promoting" for the consultation business, and that means money and that means that I have a hard time justifying spare cash for draft because let me just tell you that "living the dream" of small business is exactly like "living the dream" of pro magic - a lot of investment, an uncertain environment and the amount you need to invest vs the amount you'll see in return is disproportionate unless people are willing to pay you for things other than what you thought you'd get paid for.

Drafting twice a week is money I could be saving for Gencon, and probably should, or money I should be using to promote my mad consulting skillz ( which are awesome and full of awesomeness) but part of the reason I'm good at those skills is because frankly I'm very, very conservative with risk in core budgets. Investing in draft was good for developing skills and confidence in the first six months but now it seems almost like it's eroding my constructed skillset. I'd rather pay to make sure I have playsets than risk drafting like an idiot. I'm sure someone can tell me why I'm wrong but lack of income makes drafting feel indulgent. I know I'm not a hang out in bars and drinking kind of person, but frankly everytime I came out of a draft this last month my thought was that if we were still on the Elo system I probably would have stopped playing competitive Magic altogether because it would have felt like I'd never recover. Score all my money in June and July to Planeswalker Points system!


But as I got there to pay in my 4$ they were one person short for sanctioned draft. And I had promised my Old School Friend the store owner that if he were ever short for sanctioning he could call me and I'd come. So I would have been called anyway.

I drafted a great deck and was able to go mono-green but I managed to have the worst time playing draft in a very long time because frankly none of my opponents were fun to play.  Ist guy just had one of those super blank personalities and because my head was in standard, and the draft kept getting backed up because one person was having trouble deciding things - seriously there were two points during that draft passing left where I had 6-7 pack piles lined up for him - I ended up being less focused playing the first guy who was also being literally helpful about when I blended upkeep triggers vs draw. Please understand that he wasn't wrong, and he wasn't an ass about it but I wasn't really playing the game that I had come there to play and so I was friendly and polite back but I was kind of irritated that I was making that kind of sloppy play and that he was being so pointed about what "other people might do" that he wasn't doing. I also lost that 2-0, the next game was better but dude was kind of hyper, and then the third round came and I played literally against the most unpleasant person I have ever played that wasn't an asshole.

He was angry and on the verge of tilt the entire time. we both had an 0-2 record. I was now firmly in the "project manager" space where I'm just trying to keep things humming along but he STAYED angry and OCD when he won. I tried pointing out to him that he'd beaten me, that his deck had worked but I was MISERABLE after playing him. The worst part was there wasn't even enough time to play any decent side games ( just one) so I'd never even gotten to try my Quirion Omniscience. I came home and basically begged Perfectly Normal Husband to play with me.

Here's the reality- the decks I play best are white weenie variants with token strategies - but that's because they're my safe space. I NEED to play more standard. I need to be able to focus, and I'm also not the kind of person that does well playing a different deck everyweek. I think if I care about winning in tournaments I might need to build a specific tournament humans kind of thing but I also think I need to brew some of the "fun" decks that have been kicking around my head like the Mad Scientist deck and my Slumbering Dragon Deck idea.

I feel like even though July gave me my first first place finish ever, I've fallen behind in a couple of other ways. Also I realize that if I'm going to play for fun, it's more fun to to that if you enjoy the company of your opponent. I realize my focus is probably spread too thin because of the business stuff and I also think that I need to finish up Duels of the Planeswalkers on IPad at Mage level to see how I do at the higher level. Playing with the DotP 2013 game at least gave me use and exposure to the cards so I'm making informed decisions.

I also seem to be having a kind of sense of being overwhelmed with the cards coming out and new expansions needing to be acquired before I've even really absorbed the last expansion. I could see where this point (3/4 of a year) would be a turnoff for some casual but competitive types because it feels less like it's attached to the competitive space and a bit more like a money grab. If you can only play 1 or 2 times a week you're not "getting sick" of those cards like pros and grinders. It's another point of making you feel less connected to the community really.

Also - I don't know if anyone realizes how incredibly uninviting these " casual " format articles are. Everytime I read them I feel more lost aftward than when I started. Kaalia Deck forever because I don't have the time or money for any of the other Commander decks .