4:23am
Joe is playing at the final table of a multi-table on Party. There were 2200 entrants, so it was exciting to get this far. We figured this was a perfect time for a barbecue. Don goes outside and fires up the grill. Face and Drew make a run to the store to get the munchies. Don throws the meat on the grill, and the fire goes out. We’re out of propane. Out go Face and Drew again to get a tank. They get back, Joe spikes the tourney in no small part due to the Four of Clubs. The barbecue finishes. I am so tired that I head upstairs to fall asleep before I get to sample the tasty food, but we’ve barbecued so many times, I’m meated out.
12:45pm
Cinderella can’t go to the ball. Last night I was a bit too embarrassed to mention it, but it’s a funny enough story to convey. We were sitting there trying to beat the boss that you need to use Crash Bombs on, but you can’t take out three of the walls or you’ll run out of bombs before you defeat the boss. This boss is extremely frustrating, so I decided to let off some steam by hitting the heavy bag. Well I wasn’t standing quite close enough, and I didn’t hit the bag full on, and that was not what my ankle wanted. Now I can barely walk, and it’s almost 24 hours later. It is slowly getting better, so I am hoping I can go tomorrow to at least hang out.
Last night we were trying to figure out a matchup. We decided to ask Constructed master Ben er, um, I mean Kyle… Kyle Goodman… sorry man… anyway… this is awkward… So, um, we asked him about the matchup. He spouts off a 50/50 number that Cak and I simply laugh out of the room. He then proceeds to tell us the matchup is maybe 35/70… And we trust our Constructed future to this man.
9:12pm
Not much happened today as far as I know, I was napping most of the day trying to heal my foot.
No one from our group ground in, but Crosby is playing in Nationals. He has his deck. Let’s hope the testing was effective for those actually participating. If you have any interest in charting our progress, I’m sure y’all know where the coverage is.
Rodman played in the Limited grinder and wants me to share his deck with you that he lost with round 1. I assure you, he is not proud. I won’t bother showing you the card pool, as the deck speaks for itself. Just keep in mind kids, no matter how good your Sealed Deck is…. Man, I can’t believe he punted this:
Gruul Signet
Boros Signet
Terrarion
Bottled Cloister
Stinkweed Imp
Skeletal Vampire
Disembowel
Seal of Doom
Strands of Undeath
Elves of Deep Shadow
Fists of Ironwood
Scatter the Seeds
Siege Wurm
Utopia Sprawl
Absolver Thrull
Belfry Spirit
Conclave Equenaut
Freewind Equenaut
Drooling Groodion
Grave-Shell Scarab
Streetbreaker Wurm
Golgari Guildmage
Minister of Impediments
Rakdos Guildmage
Selesnya Guildmage
Golgari Rot-Farm
5 Forests
5 Plains
5 Swamp
Legend of Zelda arrived in the mail today. A bargain at any price, but it’s especially cheap on eBay. If any of you has some spare cash and is feeling nostalgic, they have brand new game systems that run original Nintendo games for sale on eBay as cheap as 20 bucks. The games are insanely cheap as well. I cannot recommend a better, or more fun gaming exercise. The things I have learned about gaming in general by applying new strategies to these old games has been astounding. It’s hard to quantify it here or explain exactly what I mean, but you attack the game in a completely new way. It’s also an amazing exercise to play these games with several friends in the room. When you are all playing one side of the game it’s easy to see the strategies flesh out and you can learn a whole lot. This experience happens with MTGO all the time, but it can be a little more stressful when packs are on the line. Sometimes, a laid-back gaming experience can be the most efficient learning tool.
I guess for me the moral of this whole blog is that if you want to be a serious gamer, you really need to play as many games as possible. Zelda, Poker, Draft, Worlds Decks, Megaman, Survivor, Standard… they all expand your capacity for strategic thought. The more strategies become second nature to you, the faster you can make correct decisions.
I hope I’ve been able to convey the atmosphere of a gaming household and how you can derive benefit from almost any gaming experience. It’s all about your mind working in a way that’s problem solving and executing strategies and tactics.
I also hope you enjoyed the stories of the social experience of a gaming household.