FX '98 Tourney Report

[Melody Alder]

How I broke my curse at FX '98
by Melody Alder

The preliminary bull
Getting up at 5:30 in the morning is tough-even if it is for a Magic
tournament. But since the flyer for the tournament at FX said 11:00,
my boyfriend Adam Maysonet and I decided we'd better be there by 10:00
to register. And with a three-hour drive to Orlando ahead of us, plus
pit stops and time to get lost, we wanted to leave by 6:30.
So I rolled out of bed long before any sane person would on a
Saturday morning, all the while telling myself I'd be fine after
coffee. And while Adam and I were getting cleaned up, I'm wondering
whether I should play white weenie or blue/red. Adam assures me that
the white weenie deck he constructed-complete with Crusades and lots
of protection-from-color and shadow creatures-rocks, whereas I'll
probably end up with my usual mana screw if I play blue/red. So I take
his word for it, since he is-after all-a Magic god.
Adam, meanwhile, is planning on playing Sligh with Cursed
Scrolls and feeling fairly confident since he's kicked butt with it at
Sunshine Roleplayers in Miami. I, on the other hand, have my own curse
to deal with: At every single tournament I've played in (and I've only
been playing in sanctioned tournaments for four months since I wasn't
allowed to when I worked at WotC), I've had what I call a "half-in
half-curse." That means I've always won exactly half of my matches.
Most everyone at Sunshine Roleplayers is aware of my curse, sometimes
to the point that before they play me, they ask me what my record is
so far to determine whether they'll win or lose. If I've only lost one
or no matches so far, it's a safe bet they'll win, but if I've lost
too much, they get nervous, because they know it's time for my curse
to take effect. Of course, some would probably say my curse is just
mediocre play, but I like to think of it as a curse. (Yeah, yeah-think
what you like.) Besides, it sounds dramatic to say I'm cursed.
Anyway, I decide to play the white weenie, and Adam switches out the
protection-from-black Soltari Monks for protection-from-red Soltari
Priests, since I already have White Knights and since red has
dominated the field at our local tournaments. So I've got my deck,
Adam's got his deck, and now we're just waiting for Al Sousa and Karen
Roche to pick us up on their way from Miami. They arrive relatively on
time (amazing, considering they're always late), and we're off, with
Al and Adam immediately falling into a Magic strategy conversation and
Karen and I discussing whether or not we'd rather be dirt poor and
with the one we love or filthy rich and never anyone to love us. (We
both opt for being poor and in love.)
The trip to Orlando goes fast, especially after I finally get my
coffee, and despite making one wrong turn and two bathroom breaks, we
arrive by 10:00. It's then when we realize that registration starts at
11:00, but oh well. That just gives us more time to practice.
Adam and I play for a bit, with me playing white weenie and him
playing the blue/red deck I'd abandoned. Karen, meanwhile, has decided
that she doesn't want to play Senior Stompy after all, and now she's
looking for something else. She tries out the blue/red, but doesn't
like it, so Al makes up a Sligh deck very similar to Adam's.
While this is going on, Adam's still not sure which format he wants to
play in. This year the tournament at FX featured a choice of playing
in Type I, Type II, or Sealed Deck, with the top players in each
format making it to the Top 8 (a booster draft with Arabian Nights
packs). First place wins a complete Arabian Nights set, second gets a
Mox, and third gets a box of Tempest boosters. Adam's checking out the
players in each format and, for the life of him, can't decide whether
to play in Sealed or Type II. I suggest he flip a coin, which he does,
and Type II wins the flip.
But then the tournament organizers start splitting us up into our play
groups, with Type I going off in one corner, Type II to another, and
Sealed Deck filling up the back of the room. Even though there are
more players in Sealed than any other format, Adam is suddenly
positive that he can beat all the competition, since he sees only a
few players he recognizes. He ends up switching to Sealed just moments
before the tournament starts.

Round One
Finally, at 12:30, the tournament begins. My first opponent is Denis
Pizza. (And yes, it's his real name-I asked him.) He's a really nice
guy who seems to be torn between finishing his Stephen King novel
between rounds or socializing with the Magic freaks (myself included).
Denis is playing a phasing blue/white deck that uses Mana Vaults. The
first two games go about the same: I pound him with Crusaded White
Knights and shadow creatures while he continues to take burn from the
tapped Vault. A Disenchant ends up sitting in my hand both games, but
I use Tithe and make up for the card. Then a well-timed Armageddon
finishes the job, and before we both know it, I've won the match 2-0.
For the hell of it, we play the third, just so-as Denis put it-he can
find out if his deck really sucks or if I got lucky. I think we both
conclude by the end of the third game that his deck-well, it was a
deck that hadn't seen much competition outside his circle of friends.
And did I mention that Denis was a really nice guy?

Round Two
My next opponent is a much more serious-looking Magic player. His
name's Gavin Nguyen, and though he's nice enough, I can tell he thinks
I'm going to be an easy win. Gavin's playing black/blue with
Nekrataals and counters. He wins the first game, but now I have a
better idea of what's in his deck and what he finds most threatening.
As a result, I'm able to bait him and get some decent stuff out
without it being countered or outright destroyed. Perhaps it was luck,
but I win the next two games.

Round Three
Okay, so I've won my first two matches, and since there's only five
rounds, I'm pretty much expecting my curse to take effect. Now I'm
matched up against Stan Woodall. Stan's friends note that this should
be an interesting match, since he's playing white weenie too. The
first game we take turns pounding on each other with an Empyreal
Armored White Knight, but he's playing cards before he attacks, and
I'm dealing more damage. Then I top-deck the Disenchant and it's all
over. The second game, it's all about Armageddon-because as soon as I
get a creature advantage, I destroy all the land and finish the kill.
It's now that I realize I've broken my curse, and I can't help
shouting to the four corners of the room-to Adam, Al, Karen, and
anyone else in the fourth corner who will listen. And what do I shout?
"I broke my curse! Hey, I can't believe I broke my half-in-half
curse!"

Round Four
But how long would my good fortune last? As soon as I sit down across
from Kelsey McNair, I have a sneaking suspicion that it won't last
much longer. And I'm right. Kelsey's playing black weenie with Cursed
Scrolls. And though the Scrolls never come into play, he has the
advantage over me because he has creature removal, and I don't. Plus,
he's a better player than I am. As he Terrors and Diabolic Edicts my
Soltari Priests, I'm wishing for those protection-from-black Soltari
Monks. It also doesn't help matters that I'm stuck at two mana for a
few turns while he's able to kill one of my creatures and lay a new
one every turn. Oh well. The second game goes pretty much the same as
the first, only I do actually get control of the game-only to have him
blow up the board with the Disk. Sigh.

Round Five
Well, I'm 3-1 now and feeling a bit discouraged at my loss, but I'm
determined to win the next match, just to say that I not only beat my
curse, but beat it nice and proper-like. This time my opponent is
Joseph Crosby, and he's playing Big Blue. After my Master Decoys shut
down his two Waterspout Djinns…and after my Aura of Silences take care
of his Legacy's Allures…and after my Crusaded weenies give him a
proper stomping…, Joseph concedes that he's never seen a white weenie
deck that did so well. (All right, I confess: Adam made the deck, not
me. Big surprise, eh?) I win the second game as well, but to his
credit, he was a bit mana screwed at first.

The Round of 8
At this point, Adam's undefeated in the Sealed tournament, and he
draws into the finals. Likewise, Al is undefeated with his Type II
Merfolk deck, and he also draws in (along with Kelsey). (Karen dropped
out of the tournament early on.) There's one slot open for a Type II
competitor to get into the Round of 8, and there's four of us waiting
to hear how the tiebreaker turns out. I'm not expecting to get in, and
it's a good thing-because I don't. Even so, this Arabian Nights
booster draft is going to be fun to watch, since Adam and Al are both
in it. Of course, everyone's hoping for a Juzam Djinn, since you get
to keep the cards you draft. Adam drafts a Bazaar of Baghdad, but
doesn't use it in his deck. Both he and Al end up drafting
green/white, and though Al thinks his deck is decent, Adam isn't at
all confident.
But of course, Adam does better than he thought he would.
While Al gets mana screwed, Adam takes care of Andrew Pacifico. Then
he plays the guy from the Type II segment who made it in. (I forget
his name), who is bordering on being obnoxious with his "fucking
this," and "fucking that" attitude. This guy's so tired that he's
punchy, and Adam ends up winning the match. By now it's getting late,
so Adam and the other finalist (Tim something) split the first and
second prizes. They immediately sell them back to Jose Cintra of TNC,
who provided the prizes, and Adam and I go home rich. Well, maybe not
rich, but we go home with more money than we came with. And
that-combined with breaking a long-standing curse-made both Adam and
me as happy as a grinning Juzam Djinn about to eat its next
victim-maybe even happier.

[Kendall Redburn]

Very enjoyable. Glad you beat at least one curse. ;-)

Kendall