The Heat, The PTQ and Clearwire.

So it's been a while since I updated this thing. Did a lot since then. Went to Hawaii, had a blast. Went to Canada, also had a blast. Took a break from Magic that was severely needed. Met a lot of new people and got myself a job.

This weekend is the first attempt of 2 that will determine what my future in Magic is going to be. If I can q for Austin and get my rating high enough via Austin to Q for Worlds, I'll go. If that doesn't happen, I will be taking a large break from competitive Magic. The drive is slightly fading and I need to focus more on school. Too many distractions are just going to hurt that and I can't have that at all.

I'm pretty set on the deck I'm going to play. I have a few tweaks that I think will give me a huge edge on the field. Some talk with Yurchick and a few other people should really help out as well. I was able to find 4 Stags, so the deck is complete, which was one of my first worries. Hopefully all goes well.

It's currently 104 out. I do not have A/C. This means the heat is not very fun. Now I love warm weather more than most, but this is just too much. If I was out in a lake or the river, I would soak it up. But sitting inside when it's this miserable is not fun.

I've had Clearwire internet since I moved into this building. We got the service from my roommate's friend who was quite adamant about the service. It has easily been the worst service I have ever used. We're supposed to be getting 6MB down/1 MB up speeds and I haven't gotten better than 1.5 down/.6 up. Ever. Taken many a speedtest to document this etc. I have called them 5 times to try to remedy the situation. The first time I called, they said they had set up the modem incorrectly. That took 2 weeks to "fix" and didn't change anything. I called them multiple times after that, but after about 15 minutes into the call, it would drop. This pissed me off to no end. I would have Comcast right now, but I'm waiting on my lazy ass landlord to fax/mail me a letter giving Comcast permission to install a cable jack in my room (building is REALLY old). This means I have to deal with these terrible speeds that don't allow me to do anything other than basic browsing. Download music? Takes forever. Stream something on ninjavideo? Takes 2 hours. I hate this so much. I need to force them into cancelling my service for free and without the early termination fee because this is just ridiculous.

Once I get that handled, I will be much happier. That and if I can get people to go to the lake/river. I really just want to jump into a large body of water for about 10 hours.

The Importance of Good Pairings

So my matchups affected me more than ever yesterday. In the past it wasn't such a big deal. I had a ton of tournaments with varied matchups and it just didn't matter in the format. Extended in Berlin was a perfect example. I didn't play my best matchup until the last 3 rounds and in LA I played a plethora of decks.

Regionals was far different. I went into the tournament thinking that token based decks were going to be 20-25%~ of the field and red decks probably another 15-20%. Elves making up probably 5-10% and rest would be a smattering of Fog, 5C, Faeries, GW Kid Beatdown and random junk.

My matchups on the day, including the Mox Tournament I won, went like this:

UW Lark
Elves
Turbo Fog
Faeries

drop

GWr aggro
Grixis Control
Something that escapes me, but I know didn't have tokens
UW Lark
GB Quillspike combo

So in 9 rounds, I didn't play any of the major decks in the format, be it Boat Brew, B/W, GW tokens or Rx.

It didn't affect me poorly in the second tournament, partially because of the deck I played. Which makes me realize that in a somewhat open format, playing a specialized deck can sometimes be disastrous. Had I played against Tokens all day in Regionals, however, I probably would have X-0d.

/shrug

Nationals

So I've never actually qualified for Nats. Isn't that crazy? I've almost ground in, but Regionals has never really been good to me. Not really sure why...

I feel like my game has stepped up lately, however, so I feel quite confident in my abilities this weekend. I have a great list and people won't really be ready for it. The edge is huge.

Unreal

So I was linked to a video by a friend on facebook.  It was simply unreal.  

Road Trip!

Today:

I can't wait.  Seattle then Hawaii.  Oh man.  So much work has gone into making sure everything is in place for both of the trips.  It's going to be such a blur, I hope I remember it all.

Seattle should be a great time.  I really hope I can make a strong push and top 8.  I need it if I'm going to make Level 5 this year.  That and a top 32 in Honolulu.  I feel that my game has progressed to that level, as well as my networking to get knowledge of formats.  Something that I think is really key to high level success in this game.

Hawaii is going to be a blast.  Barbeques, beers, beaches, friends and drafts.  With the ocassional party thrown in.  I just hope nobody gets hurt.  I also hope I don't forget anything before I leave for Hawaii.  Nothing like going on a trip and realizing that you left your iPod charger or something similar at home.  I know there's going to be SOMETHING I forget, because you always do.  I just hope it's something of minimal consequence.

Summer, where are you?

May Whenever:

I am quickly growing tired of the weather here.  I know I know, I've lived here my whole life.  But it's really starting to get annoying.  Summer teases you constantly.  Yay it's 70 and 75 and 76!  Wait, it's 50 and raining.  Ugh.  I can't wait to graduate and move down south.  I know some people think I'm selling my soul for sun, but I don't care anymore.  I need warmth.  Skinny people are not made for the cold.

Once Summer hits, however, there will be plenty of things done to take advantage of it.  Joel's pool, I'm looking at you.  That and the lake and camping trips and the beach and blah blah blah.  It's going down this Summer.  You're all invited.  Yes, all of you.

A rant on Standard

May Whenever:

For those of you that don't play cards, you're going to be very confused, for that I apologize.

So I've been playing a ridiculous amount of Magic over the last few months and I don't really have the luxury of letting up, not if I want to actually make it on the train this year and try to make a real push.  

That said, I hate Standard right now.  With a passion.  I've played it for so long and it's ridiculous.  My friend Ryan put it very well last night.  Standard is basically Wizards handing everybody decks.  Here's Elves, here's Kithkin, here's Faeries, here's some great RG Aggro cards, here's the ability to play any card in your deck that you want (lol Vivid Lands and Reflecting Pool) go play.  What happened to the days of ingenuity?  There are a few decks out there, like the Swans list from the Japanese or the Sanity Grinding lists, but it's just not the same.  Decks seem to come manufactured.  I can't WAIT for M10 and the next block to come out so that I can stop playing with tribes (although Shards is a bit manufactured in that way, I'm sure there will be more creativity involved).