Ah, the memories. This week?s tale takes us back roughly three years; Jan Willem Barends (you might remember him from Wacky Wednesdays Part 1) shows you what judges do after a weekend at the Pro Tour. It was my first Pro Tour, and it was a great experience. At the bottom I included some nice misplays I still remember, hopefully you?ll enjoy them. Now let?s get on with the show?
No-Land, All-Common, Iron Man Crap Magic by Jan Willem Barends
Rome 1998, home of the pizza, the pasta… And back then, the Pro Tour.
It was here that I judged my very first Pro Tour (together with my fellow judging buddies from the Netherlands Jaap and Gis), and it was also the location for a wacky multiplayer greatest.
First, let me start by explaining some events that led up to this wacky moment:
While in Rome, we noticed that the pro players were only interested in the rares and in the better uncommons, which meant that there were a lot of left over cards in the side-event area. Since we could use those cards to supply new players to the game, we all took a pack of them back to the hotel. That Sunday all the judges got invited to the judges dinner, which led to us getting invited for some drinks back at the hotel. The group now consisted of the following people: Thomas B., Cyril C., Jaap B., Gis H., JWB, and Jacub W. Then Jacub surprised us with a few bottles of vodka and apple juice. Of course, we had a few sips of the infernal stuff?. Well, maybe more than just a few sips…
Okay, we left when there was nothing left.
Back in our own room, we decided that we were going to play a game of Magic. We sat down at the table and decided on some multiplayer rules:
- No land – You could play any card in your hand as a land of its color.
- All common – We had all these left over commons, remember?
- Iron man – Whenever a card is put into a graveyard, rip it up instead.
- Crap – As soon as somebody?s hand was empty, Wheel of Fortune!
We also kept track of our life by writing it on the top card in our library, so we always had to draw the second card. What exactly happened during play is sort of a blur, but I remember it as being extremely funny. What I do remember is that we overslept and really had to rush to catch our flight the following morning.
We tried playing no land, all common, iron man crap Magic on some more events, but it never had quite the same "making it up as we go" feeling as it had in Rome.
Next week:
I?ll see if I can get a special story for next week; it?ll be part 10 already, and I feel that is special (ten being my lucky number helps!). Until then, please send your stories and comments to [email protected].
Bad plays
At Pro Tour Rome, combo was the way to go. Urza?s Saga had just been released, and High Tide and Academy decks were Stroking people left and right. I was wandering between the tables when one of the players called for a judge. When I came to the table it was an obvious situation, Sligh versus Academy, the Academy player ready to go off. For insurance, the Academy player wanted to tap (with Mind over Matter) the last two untapped mountains of the Sligh player. The Sligh player added two red mana to his manapool. The academy player wanted to know if he could announce his attack phase and have the other player burn for two. I confirmed this, and he announced his attack. His opponent then asked about the ten blue mana the Academy player still had floating and his nine life…
At one of the Feature Matches, a judge had been called over and had ruled in favor of player B. Player A was pretty upset about the fact that B had called a judge on him and went for revenge. He didn?t want to just win, he wanted to humiliate him. He played Stroke of Genius for exactly B?s library with seven mana left, he just went on and on and eventually played a Library of Leng, so he could discard his hand to the top of his library and not die of the Windfall he played next. Guess what? Player A had only twenty-seven cards left between hand and library, while B was holding thirty cards in his hand at the time of the Windfall?OOPS!! So that game ended in a draw.
Hope you enjoyed this week?s stories ??til next week, have fun,
Gis