2018 Magic Year in Review

(This is the fourth one I’ve done, but they’re usually just on my Facebook feed.)

Things I wish went better:

• 62-42 (59.6%) in 15 Constructed events: 1 PT, 2 GPs, 3 PPTQs, 3 RPTQs, 1 PTQ, 4 1K events, and 1 Pro Tour. Down from 65.6% last year.
• In Constructed practice, I became less and less diligent about tracking results. And when I did notice why I’m losing in game, I wasn’t great at generating ideas to combat that in deck construction and sideboarding.
• I still suck at Limited: 10-10 over 2 PPTQs and the Pro Tour. But I rededicated in M19 and started doing not terribly.
• I don’t know if I’m a good team member. In actual team events, I don’t do anything to make my teammates play better and I’m not able to keep people positive and falling into the pit of despair and loose play. In preparation, I’m not sure I bring any novel information that my teammates don’t already know or can’t easily figure out, and I don’t trust that the information or insights that I think are new are valid. And I personally hate the stress of losing for my teammates and justifying them as learning experiences as I would for myself.

Things that went absurdly above expectation and aren’t supposed to happen to players who have stats and gaps like the ones above:

• Won a Grand Prix, going undefeated and defending home court.

Yea, that was wild. Obviously I should be proud of it, and I am, but specifically:

• I’m proud that I stayed relaxed the entire main event and didn’t let the stakes ever get to me.
• I’m proud that I mostly got through without getting punished for any giant mistakes. I certainly was lucky, but I was also lucky I played without a doubt the best Magic I’ll ever play in my life that weekend.
• I’m proud that I got enough quality practice for six months and that that enabled me to stand toe-to-toe with the best players in the world and have a shot. Among the people I beat: PT Champion Ari Lax, World Champion Brian Braun-Duin, Gold-pro Legacy master (who built my deck and whose videos I watched to learn to play my deck) Noah Walker, three-time PT Top 8er and Constructed master Sam Black, and PT Champion and PotY Jeremy Dezani. Like, are you fucking kidding me?
• I’m really proud that I defended home court, and that I showed to the Seattle community that it could be one of us. I moved here 10 years ago and began trying to qualify in earnest, but I was far from a natural at the game. I got better very slowly every year, and I was able to keep at it because I think Magic is insanely deep and interesting in its own right, and I love the environment and community of tournaments. I stuck it out long enough for variance to swing hard in my favor.
• I’m proud that I didn’t try to act like I’d been there before when it was all over. Maybe pros think it’s no big deal because of their experience, or they have such a perfect poker mindset where it’s truly just another match to them, or maybe some folks just don’t express emotions like that. But to me it was a big deal: Magic is a big deal to me, and succeeding at Magic is a big deal. I didn’t cry (that was when I first qualified and that almost was right before the first draft of my first PT), but watching the Twitch VOD I was definitely more celebratory than most and Chat seemed to take to that. I was certainly also encouraged by the applause and cheers when it was all over.

So now what?

The uncertainty of competitive tournament offerings feeding the most elite tournaments had me insanely crabby on Thursday night. So many of my goals over the years involved doing better at whatever my next Pro Tour would be, but now that there may not be a reasonable path to the Pro Tour (or whatever stupid fucking name it is now), how do I measure my progress? Where’s the reward for my efforts?

And if I had to resign myself to FNM, I’d put zero effort into the game outside of events, or just quit. But I think there are suitable replacements for the PT for me. Seattle has a myriad of competitive tournaments already – Mox Boarding House’s Legacy series, Geek Fortress’s Modern series, smatterings of Modern and Pauper 1Ks. Great players play in those, and I truly believe if you’re great in Seattle, you’re great anywhere in the country. (And on not-the-West Coast, SCG is already a literal replacement for the Pro Tour for a lot of talented players.)

Part of me also pondered if I had anything left to prove and if I’d want to focus on giving back to Magic since I’d gotten so much out of it. Either through content or community building, or something. But I knew if I just attended tournaments and didn’t participate, the Fire was going to burn.

So that being said, here’s what I’d like to get better at:

• No seriously, learn to draft: This was on my list last year. I did abysmally at the Pro Tour. M19 went okay – my approach changed to thinking most about what cards are going to make my pile better and less about an abstract raw power level. But I’d love to be great at Limited.

• Understand deckbuilding: I perpetually have copied decks. I avoid the first week of a PPTQ season because I want to wait for an established deck to copy. I have such an aversion to experimenting because for me it involves trying it out in events, i.e. purchasing cards and potentially spinning my wheels on a bad idea. So I’d love to get to the point where a spoiler can come out and I can actually brew and have the toolbox to tune it up. I think this also will help me sideboard better.

• Get better with different archetypes: I gravitate toward similar decks – ones where sequencing in the beginning of the game matters the most and ones where you can get ahead and stay ahead. The most basic combo decks and aggro control I think. Decks like Snake and Grixis Delver. I want to branch out so that I can be ready when those decks are not viable. I can do this by just picking those Constructed decks to play, but I can also do it by (shudder) Cube drafting more.
• Share more knowledge: Especially with the Pro Tour potentially going away for us amateurs, what good is mastery at the game for myself? I’m going to try to share more of what I’ve learned over the years and what I keep learning. Not sure what the right outlet is for that. But this would be rewarding not just personally, but it’s a way to demonstrate skill and knowledge besides tournament results, and it’d help me be a better team member should a team event come up or another Pro Tour comes along.

I’m definitely looking forward to a little more balance – even if I had the results and the skill, attending four Pro Tours a year would be hell on my personal life. But as many have experienced, there’s still too much out there to quit Magic forever.