Mono Blue Control

So this mono blue deck plays a lot like a control deck whereas the original mono blue deck played a lot like an aggro deck that curved out beautifully. Traditionally, I will always say “Don’t force an archetype.” And I've been dying for a mono color list to really come together. That said, I've been really torn on whether trying to rationalize a mono blue deck was something that was doable or if I was simply stuck in a phase of hopeful wishing. So I have been toying around with Mono Blue for about two weeks now.  With my two daytime jobs, I haven't had time to hit my LGS for tournament play as much as I would like. And I've been studying for Limited than I have been for Standard. The beta version of this deck was very aggressive and relied on evasion. The problem being it was simply too slow in terms of getting a good amount of damage through, and there wasn't enough tempo cards to answer all the big nasties that put you on a fast clock. So here, we rely on stalling the board state, tons of card advantage and a bunch of cards that can blow the opponent out. So let’s take a look at my list:

Creatures: 13

2 Dakra Mystic

2 Jeskai Windscout

1 Thassa, God of the Sea

1 Illusory Angel

4 Master of Waves

2 Prognostic  Sphinx

1 Pearl Lake Ancient

Spells: 23

1 Thassa’s Ire

4 Singing Bellstrike

2 Turn to Frog

1 Bident of Thassa

3 Encrust

4 Dissolve

2 Crippling Chill

4 Dig Through Time

1 Set Adrift

1 Curse of the Swine

 Lands: 24

2 Temple of Deceit

1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

21 Island

Sideboard: 15

1 Swan Song

1 Curse of the Swine

2 Nullify

1 Icy Blast

2 Disdainful Stroke

4 Negate

1 Mercurial Pretender

2 Quickling

1 Prognostic Sphinx

Stalling the Board State:

Thassa’s Ire is a card that was really popular for Limited players but it never really saw any Standard play. I like it because it only costs 1 to play and it’s an enchantment.  I only run 1 of it because I don’t want to get stuck with more than 1 in my hand, and it can be a mid to late game card. I also like it for the fact that I don’t have to tap it to activate its ability. In the late game, I can easily sink my mana into it during their turn and get more value out of Singing Bell Strike and Encrust.

Singing Bell Strike and Encrust. Some people might thinking Singing Bell Strike is only good for Limited. I really like it though because it’s cheap to play, and it forces my opponent to use up their mana. Some might argue that it’s weak because all they have to do is pay the 6 at the end of my turn to untap it. Which is true, however, the by leaving that much mana open by the end of their turn, or even using all 6 during their turn to get an attack in, it makes their lines of plays much more predictable, and I can formulate my  lines of play much more methodically.  Encrust is great in this deck because it adds 2 to my devotion and while it’s not as good as Claustrophobia,I have some mechanisms that can help me tap their creatures down.

Curse of the Swine was some questionable deck tech I threw in. I have 1 in my mainboard and 1 in my sideboard. I play it similarly to how I would have played Rapid Hybridization, its biggest flaw being that it is cast at Sorcery speed. Still, it gives me a couple of cool options. I don’t mind using it to get rid of big threats and giving them 2/2 Green creatures. When you think about some of the best threat creatures in the format right now, like Brimaz, Mantis Rider, Siege Rhino, Butcher of the Horde, etc., the idea of giving them some 2/2’s in exchange isn’t so bad. In tight spot, I can sink my mana into it after Combat, and exile my own tapped creatures AND their creatures at the same time, so I now have blockers and have basically proposed trading 2/2 creatures if they attack next turn. As one other note, if people are playing Mistcutter Hydra, especially after Game 1, Curse of the Swine provides blockers for me.

Card Advantage:

My deck tech here is Dakra Mystic. I’ve been trying to find a home for it since its release in Journey Into Nyx and everyone called me crazy. But I think it may finally have a home. Dakra Mystic reveals both my top card and their card. Again with Singing Bell Strike on the battlefield, I’ll be able to evaluate the value of their top card a little bit more versus mine. Even setting aside the Singing Bell Strike if it’s not on the battlefield, I don’t mind making the tough decision A.) Because the cards that I’ll be revealing typically provide card advantage or are well-timed bombs. And B.) Filter unneeded cards from my library while still giving me more Delve fodder.

Crippling Chill, Thassa, Prognostic Sphinx, Bident of Thassa, and Dig Through Time all play their predictable roles in this deck as well.

The Bombs:

Master of Waves is pretty self-explanatory. Unlike the original Mono Blue list, I don’t have the same consistent beautiful curve that it has. We have a lot of control permanents that sit on the battlefield for Mono Blue. Also, with the amount of control that we have in the deck, it's not unreasonable to have multiple Master of Waves in hand, or to hold off on casting Master of Waves until we can afford both it and a Dissolve if they try to get rid of it. Most of the time, I think we just cast it and see what happens in Game 1.

Pearl Lake Ancient is a card that I have liked a lot because it has Flash and it’s cannot be countered. And sure, if my opponent tries to threaten Pearl Lake Ancient, I can bounce it back to my hand. Even if that’s a possibility, it works great with Singing Bell Strike because I’ll be able to read my opponent’s line of play if something like that is viable for them.

Like any mono color deck, this deck’s mana makes it easier to perform consistently. Last night, I actually considered the possibility of splashing black. The idea of having access to Polluted Delta, Thoughtseize and possibly Hero’s Downfall was appealing. But I don’t think it’s necessary. The deck as it is right now has enough answers that as a new deck currently wouldn't be as predictable. Adding the presence of black to the deck would make it much more viable for my opponent to play around certain cards whereas, I would prefer to baffle my opponent while there is no demand for a mono blue list.

The Humbling Enlightenment #DoBetter

This past weekend, I scrubbed out at the Sealed PTQ. I ended up staying around to see how local Steven Mann would do in the Top 8. I also played in a side event Win-a-Box with Mono Black. Overall, the entire day was both exhausting and humbling.

So let me take you through the lessons I've learned:

Although we can learn tons from the top pros like Tom Ross, or Owen Turtenwald, or reading material from Brad Nelson and Patrick Chapin, I personally absorb more watching my friends and acquaintances because I spend more time comparing myself to them on a peer-to-peer level. That said, watching some of them was very humbling. When I watched certain players who have had mild success from my area in big Comp REL events, I see them playing much more methodically. and thoughtfully despite the fact that they understand their decks almost perfectly already. Steven Mann, for instance, is a prodigy when it comes to cards in front of him, and adapts very well in any situation. He takes his time every step of the way even when the line of play seems very obvious. The same can be said for Logan Mize who has been on Mono Blue since day one that came to fruition. And while I don't think Mize adapts the same way to random cards as Mann does, I believe Mize can easily master any deck given the opportunity, and he is persistent with it. Despite the plethora of experience Mize has with the Mono Blue, he does not feel obligated to rush his play. You can see the gears turning inside his head and even when the line of play seems obvious, Mize still calculates all the possibilities before confirming what he's going to do. That's not to say these players slow-play. It's just to say, he's very precise when acting, and that's imperative. Doing it in an timely manner goes without saying. When clearly playing Master of Waves is the move to make, and it's the only card in hand, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to turn the lands sideways and cast it. However, as I watched some of these individuals thoughtfully playing their cards, it made me realize how much I don't think before I play. I have a very linear style of play. I see what appears to be victory, and often pursue that path rather than calculating the other possibilities. Don't get me wrong, do I know how to play around certain cards my opponent has? Absolutely. Do I know what's going to happen 2 or 3 turns ahead? Pretty much. I fault myself most the time simply for not seeing the entire board state and acknowledging what my opponent's potential truly is.

I share this self-criticism with all of you because I believe this is a problem that several players have. We get caught up in thinking we are good enough, or that we deserve to win, that we often lose sight of getting better. Winning and being the best are not the same thing. Winning is something that can occur on a whim and give us a false sense of skill. How we connect ourselves to winning is really what makes us a better player.

In the local area, when it comes to Friday Night Magic and other Casual REL events, I'm very consistent with hitting Top 8. Again, back to my earlier point: This can create a false sense of power. When it comes to the Comp REL events, my success is not quite as good. Why? Well, first off, obviously there's a higher volume of skilled players that I'm not conditioned on playing against at Comp REL events. At Casual REL events not only is the skill average much lower, but the atmosphere is completely different. So it's very inaccurate to use success at FNM events to measure our overall skill level. Another variable is lack of confidence when I play against players I know are better than me. Even when it comes to Friday Night Magic, I've mentally come to accept the fact that I'm going to lose John Bolt who plays the same deck as I do, but he simply plays it better. This mindset is incorrect though.

After lots of self-observation, I came to the conclusion that I simply needed to be honest with myself. I think a lot of players hit plateaus because they find excuses for why they are not being successful. "I'm so tired of Thoughtseize, Pack Rat, Go" -- is not valid excuse for why we are not getting better. If we use the metagame to justify why we hate a format, or why we lose, then we're not playing to get better. We would just be playing the game because it's fun and enjoyable which is fine, but we shouldn't expect to level ourselves up as competitive players if that's the case."My deck just hates me," is not a valid excuse for why we are not getting better either. When we can become honest with where our skill level currently is, then we can properly address what we need to do in order to excel.

If I'm being honest with myself, I'm a slightly above average Magic player. On a scale of 1-10, if Reid Duke is 10, then Mize and Mann are probably 8's or 9's, and Bolt is probably a 7 or 8, which probably puts me in the high 5 or low 6 range. I might argue that my immediate potential is to play at a 7 level, because I think I have glimmers of high level play that show through occasionally, but until I can tap into it on a regular basis, I can't say I'm there.

Now the question becomes, how do I get better? How do I get past this plateau where I can't take my game to the next level? I've reached the point where being one of the favorites at Friday Night Magic is no question, but winning Comp REL events like IQ's, Opens, GPTs, etc. is still just out of reach. What do I do to put myself in the same class as the guys I've been making references? Obviously, #DoBetter

When I first began asking myself this question months ago, I thought maybe it was trying different decks out. I went from Mono Blue to Boss Sligh to R/W Burn then back to Mono Blue and most recently, I've become pretty content with Mono Black. Needless to say switching decks regularly was not the solution. Rather, sticking with a deck for more than a month until I felt like I had mastered was a much better solution.

For me personally, it comes down to a lot of things. Despite having played years off and on since Exodus, I never had a super competitive environment to condition me to a higher level of play until very recently. So I asked myself a series of questions and again, it really came down to being honest with myself.

How many different competitive decks do I understand?

Right now, before rotation I effectively understand 8-9 popular decks. Understanding decks helps you see what line of play to watch for from your opponents and after rotation, I would say it's in my best interest to play a gauntlet of decks. It also helps you understand how to sideboard. Now, understanding and mastering a deck are two different things. I don't think I have "mastered" any deck, or else we wouldn't have this article today. But I can comfortably sit down with R/W Burn, Mono Black, Mono Blue, and Rabble Red and comfortably play at an above average level, but by no means would I expect to hit Top 16 with any of them except possibly Mono Black, depending on what the metagame looks like.

How many different formats to I understand?

I can comfortably play Standard and Limited, and I adapt okay to Modern. However, with Limited, I've caught myself a number of times having to call a judge for rulings entirely too much. Really, to go anywhere as a Magic player, you need to have Standard, Modern and Legacy under your belt.

How many matches per week do I play?

It seems to fluctuate right now having just moved and started a new job. I would say I play at least around 18-24 matches a week, possibly more if you want to count practice matches.

How many do I win?

If I play 20 matches, I'll probably go 15-5 or 16-4. It wasn't until very recently, I started performing exceptionally at Comp REL events. Again, it's hard to speculate on how relevant this is since rotation is around the corner.

How many of them are Casual REL and how many are Comp REL?

All of them are Casual REL with the exception of Saturdays if I can make it to a PTQ or IQ.

How well do I understand the rules?

Fairly well. When it comes to playing Standard, most questionable scenarios have already been asked so it's never become an issue for me. This might change after rotation, who knows. I know that during the Sealed PTQ this past weekend, I made two rule errors though just due to lack of knowledge.

So where are my gaps?

I need to be more conscious of my triggered abilities as well as watching for what kind of activated abilities my opponent has available to them.  I need to practice more, and play against all the tier 1 decks I have an opportunity for. I need to play more against good players. My local group of Magic players actually has a small crew of players that I would consider above average. But I don't spend enough time committing myself to play with them unless it's during a tournament. I don't have enough confidence in myself when I sit across the table from someone with a reputation for success.

Now obviously, we can recognize these gaps to create a formula on getting better. If I begin to consciously think more methodically, and mentally commentate my way through games, I can be more aware of what's going on with each game. If I grind myself through a gauntlet of tier 1 decks for each format against quality players, I'll naturally condition myself for a higher level of playing on a regular basis which will ultimately give me a higher average of confidence sitting at the table during Comp REL events regardless of who's in front of me.

Becoming a better Magic player isn't an easy feat. Lots of players end up giving up once they reach a certain point because they are discouraged at the lack of success once they hit a certain point. It's a lot like working out - when you first start lifting, you have your immediate gains, and it's exciting to see how quickly you've progressed. But eventually, you hit a plateau where you stop making gains and all you can do is maintain. When this happens, we re-evaluate our routine until we figured out a calculated and sensible way for us to overcome our obstacles. With rotation around the corner, it will be interesting to see how I personally adapt. I took a break from Magic when Return to Ravnica came out due to work and moving and then came back to the game during Born of the Gods. By then the metagame had already started taking shape and I didn't have to study nearly as much to break myself into the format. Regardless, I hope my personal testimony and experience is something others can utilize to get better as well.

Life, Magic, and Other Updates

My bad for lack of updates recently on my quest for Magic stardom. It's been a crazy two weeks both in Magic and life.

With life as our brief subject, let me give you a brief breakdown. After I left the game store I was working for I was looking for a new job. Within a week, I had a job offer. I accepted it, and showed up promptly for my first day of orientation. The same day another job offer with substantially more money was offered to me. So, now  I was torn. I had Job A which I had already started, and now Job B which was offering me more money. I ended up telling Job A that I had another offer with more money on the table.

I show up for Job B, filled out my paperwork and I am pumped to start. It turns out though.... years ago, I had applied for Job B back in Indiana. Similarly to my job offer with Job A, I had accepted it, and then found a better job offer that was more money and closer to home. As a result they had put me in as "non-rehireable".  The final outcome here was me not having either Job A or Job B.

The lesson to be had here is that you take what is given to you and you are grateful for it. You can't accept a job offer, start it, and then just leave it for something else despite however many job applications you have out.

Fortunately, I was offered another job Friday which I promptly accepted, and start on Monday. I was upfront that the job was something to help me stabilize until I figured out what path I was on, but I was committed to it and welcomed any career growth opportunity they had to offer, but I also wanted to keep my options open for higher paying careers.

So at least a job was landed. But now, I still have until Monday to find a new home for myself and my friend, and her dog. I have scouted out some options but it being Labor Day weekend, no one really wanted to make an appointment with me.

Moving on.

Magic Talk. Our Happy Time. The past two weeks have overall been fairly successful. Since my last entry, I have played in 8 tournaments. I've only missed Top 8 in one of them, so overall, I am doing fairly well. My winnings from playing Magic is now up to $155. So, I have a lot of catching up to do in order to hit my average for the first month. If I don't I am confident I'll make up for it next month, but I still have a week to go, and tomorrow is a cash tournament at The Game Academy which is also a GPT for Orlando.

Currently for the state of Indiana, I am ranked number 2. This is just a momentary glory seeing as there was both an Invitational in Jersey and a WMCQ in  Indy, both of which offer multipliers and I will most certainly drop in ranking. Fortunately, I have an opportunity to catch up with a x3 Multiplier tomorrow at the GPT.

I'm still playing Mono Black. During the  IQ yesterday, I actually decided to mainboard 2 Duress. This was a metagame call, and overall, it paid off fairly well. The additional look at my opponent's hand was not only helpful, but almost all the decks that I played against had plenty of non-creature, non-land cards I could pick from. 

My match-ups went as followed:

Rd 1: 2-0 vs RW Burn

I wasn't expecting to see this deck at the event, but I was fortunate. After game 1, I didn't have a lot of obvious cards in my sideboard to put in. I took out most the removal spells, and put in my extra Duress, and Erebos, God of the Dead for Warleader's Helix. Then I put Pharika's Cure and Devour Flesh to replace the Hero's Downfalls. I figured, if I'm going to have removal spells in my deck without a choice, I'd rather have removal spells where I can deal 2 damage to my own Nightveil Specter in response to his Lightning Strikes, or Devour Flesh for my own Desecration Demon so I can try to throw off his sequencing. It ended up paying off with the help of Gray-Merchant and Pack Rat.

Rd 2: 2-1 vs Rabble Red

Rabble Red is scary deck for me to play against because if it explodes early, I'm just dead. In game 1, my opponent stumbled sitting on a Mutavault and Mountain as I Nightveiled into his third land for the whole game. In Game 2, I stumbled missing my land drop on turn 3, which would put me way behind. Fortunately Game 3, I think my opponent had a hard time making the best decisions which ultimately cost him the game. Such as, "When do I Bloodrush Rubblebelt Maaka for damage, or when do I use it to ensure my creature's survival and kill the one blocking it." People definitely underestimate amount of thought it takes.

Rd 3: 1-2 vs Slivers

I played against a new take on Slivers, and I legitimately didn't know how to respond. In Game 1, I managed to plow through with Lifebane Zombies. But in Games 2 and 3, I probably didn't play my removal spells correctly. Being unfamiliar with the slivers, I had a hard time picking what was going to be the most imperative for the match.

Rd 4: 2-1 vs Rabble Red

Similarly to Rd 2, I felt like a big underdog here. Losing Game 1, I thought it was an inevitable loss. But I muscled through Game 2, and my opponent rushed through a sequence in Game 3 where he thought he had a guaranteed victory, which technically he did, but because he didn't think twice before acting, he misplayed. He had me down to 1 life with a Mutavault on his side of the table, and I had a Desecration Demon and a Mutavault on mine. He played Goblin Rabblemaster, and as when he went to Combat, he sacrifices the token to tap Desecration Demon down rather than the Rabblemaster. In turn, he wasn't able to attack with Rabblemaster because of Summoning Sickness. So I activated Mutavault and traded with him. Had he sacrificed the Rabblemaster instead, the 1 damage from the token would have been lethal. But instead, I had a removal spell next turn to handle Rabblemaster and take the game back.

Rd 5: Draw in to Top 8

In Top 8, I lost to a unique B/W Enchantment deck that just out-aggro'd me and I went down quickly 0-2.

Tomorrow at the GPT, I expect to see a lot more Rabble Red  and Jund decks. While I think Rabble Red is super strong, I feel like it also runs of gas quickly if you have answers for it.

In my Mono Black deck, my list currently consists of

1 Ultimate Price
1 Doom Blade
4 Hero's Downfall
2 Bile Blight

I'm considering adding 2 more Bile Blights to my main board, and 2 Pharika's Cure to my sideboard. I think winning Game 1 against Rabble Red is much more important than winning Game 1 against Jund Walkers or Monsters, and I think I have a better shot at winning Game 1 against Jund based on explosiveness if anything, whereas Rabble Red can blow me out by turn 3 or 4, so having guaranteed trump cards to slow it down are more important to me. 

We'll see tomorrow. That's it for today though!

My Weekend Coverage August 15 (FNM) and August 16 (IQ)

My Friday Night Magic this past week at Learn 2 Play Games in Brandon, FL was a success. I easily drew in to top 8 after 3 rounds of Swiss. Being on the Mono Black train right now, my only weak match-up was the G/W one which I managed to stabilize both games with digging with Underworld Connections into Gray-Merchant of Asphodel.

My IQ story also at L2P Games was not as successful.  In the first round, I beat Maze’s End during Time and Round on Turn 5 with a Gray-Merchant for the win due to a slight misplay and him also missing his Kiora emblem trigger.

On the hill against G/W, my opponent had to mulligan down to 5 cards and I had 3 Thoughtseize, 2 Swamps, a Bile Blight, and a Pack Rat in my opening hand so I felt pretty good about the match.

He was on the play, so he went Turn 1 Experiment One.

My Turn 1, I Thoughtseize and strip away his Fleecemane Lion so he has no pressure to put on the field next turn. His next turn he follows with his second land but no spells, and passes turn.

During my next turn, I miss a land drop but I play Pack Rat, knowing that his hand currently consists of Loxodon Smiter, Ajani’s Presence, and Advent Wurm.  That’s fine.

His next turn, he draws, and plays Experiment One, and then attacks.

I draw, and once again I fail to hit a land. But I still have 2 Thoughtseize in hand. Here’s where I made a major misplay I believe:

I know he still has Ajani’s Presence, Loxodon Smiter, and Advent Wurm. There’s no reason for me Thoughtseize here. He’s still two lands away from Advent Wurm being a threat, so I should save the Thoughtseize to get more value out of my glance at his hand. But I Thoughtseize anyway stripping away the Advent Wurm. Now, however, all he has is Ajani’s Presence and Loxodon Smiter which kills the value on my other Thoughtseize.

His next turn he draws a land finally, and plays it.  He attacks, and I accept the damage. During his main phase 2, he doesn’t play Smiter though. I assume for two reasons:  1. He wants to leave it open for in case he wants to protect Experiment One, not knowing I currently have a Bile Blight in hand making his Ajani’s Presence null and void.  2. He wants to see if I’ll absent-mindedly play Thoughtseize where he can respond with Ajani’s Presence and force me to pick Loxodon Smiter so he can get it for free and force me to lose 2 life. It’s only round 2 so if he’s thinking the latter, I can’t blame him for testing me.

The following turn is pretty much the sad tale of how the rest of the game goes. I miss another land. He draws, plays Smiter. I go ahead and Bile Blight the Experiment Ones. But at this point, I’m dead in the water. For the rest of the game, I never drew a third land to start generating Pack Rats.

Going into Rd. 3, I’m 1-1. I get demolished by Rabble Red. It’s simply too fast for me to keep up with and my opponent finds all the answers he need to keep me off Pack Rat. It’s just a terrible match-up for me.

At this point, I know I’m pretty much dead to Top 8 now. I’m 1-2 going into Rd. 4. Depending on the circumstances, there’s a slight chance that one of the 3-2’s will get in off tie-breakers but very, very slim. I go ahead and play it out because I’ve only been playing seriously again for slightly over a week. I need the practice, and with the season deadline being August 24^th, I still need 97 Planeswalker points to get at least one bye for GP Orlando.

My next match is Mono Blue. This was an interesting version because it runs Steam Vents for Turn & Burn. Normally, the only removal spells are Rapid Hybridization and Cyclonic Rift, so it took me for surprise seeing Turn & Burn. But we got there.

My final match was a Rakdos brew which seemed to revolve on getting Master of Cruelties out and quickly bring me to 1 life. Fortunately for me, with plenty of removal spells in my deck, I think this is just a bad match-up for my opponent and I proceeded to win 2-0.

I ended up in 10^th place.

The list I ran for Friday and Saturday was this:

Other Spells:  (19)

1 Ulcerate

4 Thoughtseize

3 Bile Blight

1 Devour Flesh

1 Ultimate Price

1 Sign in Blood

4 Hero’s Downfall

3 Underworld Connections

1 Whip of Erebos

Creatures: (16)

4 Gray-Merchant of Asphodel

4 Pack Rat

4 Desecration Demon

3 Life Bane Zombie

1 Nightveil Specter

Lands: (25)

4 Mutavault

1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

3 Temple of Malady

17 Swamp

Sideboard: (15)

2 Dark Betrayal

2 Nightveil Specter

1 Lifebane Zombie

1 Devour Flesh

3 Brain Maggot

3 Duress

1 Drown in Sorrow

1 Erebos, God of the Dead

1 Doom Blade

So my big changes from the traditional Mono Black were Ulcerate, Temple of Malady, and Brain Maggot. Ulcerate’s presence was hit and miss.  It was strong early game against Mutavault because no one expects it. It was also great against Fleecemane Lion. Late game, Bile Blight is still better. Temple of Malady was a big success. I have seen most Mono Black decks running Deceit, but I picked Malady because of the green meta, so if I happen to hit with Nightveil Specter, I’m likely to get a little more value. Brain Maggot was my MVP in several matches, specifically against Mono Blue, G/W, and Mono Green. The ability to exile any card from their hand is huge, and the removal those decks have is minimal. Sure, Mono Blue has Rapid Hybridization, and Cyclonic Rift, but that’s fine. If my opponent is at the point where they’re willing to give me a 3/3 for my 1/1,that means I’m in a good spot. If they Rift it back to my hand, it means I get a fresh look at their hand again or I bait out a Dissolve.  The G/W and the Mono Green decks really have no removal for Brain Maggot aside from possibly Polukranos or Banishing Light.

This week, I’ll probably take out Ulcerate for a different removal spell. Everything else will probably stay the same. My weakest match-up is Rabble Red which I have concluded 8 times out of 10, I’m probably going to lose to. I’d rather accept that loss, and focus on the matches I have a better shot at beating. I'm also looking forward to the PTQ hosted by Armada Games in Tampa. Unfortunately, it's Modern which I'm pretty much going into blind. So we'll see how that goes.

After this past weekend’s events, my winnings are up to $67.50 and I am 86 points away from my bye at GP Orlando.

Setting the Tone...

Lately, I have been at a huge fork in the road with what I want to do with my life. A lot of bad luck, and hard times have come my way but I am grateful for the friends and support network that is in place to ensure success.

Let me paint you a picture:

Sometime towards the end of June: My two roommates who have known each other for a very long time get a sweet deal on a new house through one of their family members. Unfortunately, since said family doesn't know me that well, I'm kind of out of the picture and stuck looking for a new place.

August 7: I was unexpectedly told that it would be best if my last day at work was that day. I had given a notice that I was looking for a new job that could accommodate my needs a little more comfortably because of the fact that my rent was going to go from divided by 3, to just me. But for the sake of the business and relationships, that Thursday was my last day instead, rather than being able to secure a job first.

So, there I am unemployed.

A week or so goes by. 

August 11: I nail an interview at a job that I am not super thrilled about, but I need income at this point. Landlords generally won't rent to you unless you have stable income. So, there we go. My background check takes some time to clear, and then we'll be good to go. If a different job offer comes up, then I'll do what I feel is best.

August 12: Short notice: it turns out I need to have new housing arranged by the end of August. With no new income, and not a lot of money saved to my name while still paying other monthly bills and debts, I am now expected to move out by the end of this month.

If you can imagine, it's been a stressful month, but there's your picture.

So, there were two major reasons that I was searching for a new job outside of the game shop.

1. I needed more money. The job itself was fine, but the wages weren't going to pay for an apartment if I was footing the bill by myself.

2. I wanted to commit myself to more Magic. It's been a dream of mine to go pro, but without the support to do so, (time to practice in Casual REL tournaments to prep more for Comp REL, and so on), I didn't feel good about it.

But in order for me to justify my commitment to Magic at this stage in my life, I needed to give myself a measurement for success.

So, last week I made this commitment to myself:

If by January 7th, I haven't made at least a grand total of $2,000 playing Magic, then I'll move back to Illinois.

You heard me. You see, Florida is a great stage for Magic players to grow and develop. And there are even a few big names in the area that I get the pleasure of playing against on a regular basis. There's no reason I shouldn't be able to be one of those names. 

Now, I've made this goal attainable, and once I reach this goal, we'll set a new one. $2,000 isn't a lot of money, and with all the tournaments in the area, it should be easy to reach by January, even once I have a full-time job set in motion.  It averages out to be $400 a month. I want to give a full disclaimer that making a living off playing Magic isn't the immediate goal. Making $2,000 by January 7th to make myself feel comfortable that I can reach certain level of consistent playing is the goal here today. 

I've given myself a little incentive to succeed by agreeing that if I fail, I'll move back to the Midwest where the cost of living is substantially less. If I fail, the move probably would not occur until some time in March, or April - aka when it's not freezing balls in Illinois. The only variable that will keep me in Florida if I fail is if I have a career that is legitimately making leaps forward for me. I'll keep everyone posted on that.

Now, this is how this blog will work:

Each tournament I play in, whether it's Casual REL, or Comp REL, I'll write about my match-ups, my plays, and how much I won, if anything. 

As of right now in tournament play since I made this commitment to myself, I have grossed $37.50. This is after three tournaments of play, Friday, Monday and Wednesday, (one was a GPT, which after chopping Top 8, I was the number one seed, and declared the winner, but I have no intention of flying to Salt Lake City). All of which I successfully Top 8'd, but I took packs on Friday instead of Store credit, which I immediately regretted. But my collection was at ground zero again, and I needed some trade fodder for post-rotation.

The blog I hope to accomplish a few things:

1. Advice. After  I disclose certain specifics, match ups, lines of plays that I distinctly remember, I look for your feedback.

2. Obviously, if I win store credit, and buy certain cards, I expect this blog to be a great way to advertise it.

3. Support. I think for the most part most my friends in Florida would love to see me stay as long as possible. And I also think that my friends and family back in Illinois would love to see my succeed in something they know I am passionate about.

4. Set the example. I want to be a role model that despite the hardships we face on a regular basis, nothing should outweigh our determination to chase our dreams.