Grand Prix Madison

As Spring dawns on Iowa, my impending wedding and move to North Carolina cast a long shadow from the horizon of Summer. I'm starting to see things that I've taken somewhat for granted in a new light, with the prospect of leaving them moving closer to reality. Big things, like time with friends, to little things, like visiting old haunts and favorite restaurants, are getting worked in as much as possible before I become overwhelmed with wedding and move preparations.

When I heard there was a Grand Prix in Madison, I was a little excited, thinking it would be a good chance to visit a town I'd previously lived in and see some old friends. I got a little disappointed when I found out the format: three man team Standard. I haven't really played MtG since last summer, when I got into Game of Thrones, and there's no way I'm splashing the cash for a competitive Standard deck, let alone convincing two competent players that I'm worth risking their third team slot on. However, I figured, even without playing in the main event, I could just play in sides and spend time with people. Realistically, I thought, this might be my last trip to Madison.

I took off work for Friday, and started up to Madison around 9. I got in at noon and spent some time talking to Courtney and admiring the Maher twins, Hadley and Aiden, while Bob picked up his teammate Eric Froelich from the airport. A significant number of my old friends have created offspring now, and they (kids and parents) always amaze me. It's wonderful to see how people adjust to raising children, when they just seem to grow in spirit a little whenever the little ones are around. I also have to say I'm impressed with the toys infants have these days... the Maher's living room looked like a specially designed, comfy laboratory designed to expand the minds of children. When Bob and Eric got back, we all sat around and talked about life, MtG, and poker for a while, and had some subs for lunch. Bob took Eric to his hotel, and I went to see Danny and Rich at ACD.

It's always fun to visit ACD and find out about goings on in the gaming world. Danny and Rich took some time out of their afternoon, and we talked about the inception and success of Rio Grande, what games were hot, and the expansion of Rackham products in North America, among other things. I got to meet reps from Rackham and FFG, and hear a little bit about the plans of both those companies. The new Dogs of War book for Confrontation sounds like a great product, and will fit right in with the impressive organized play plans Rackham is developing, expanding the possibilities of league formats. FFG has some great stuff on the horizon, but I had to miss out on the part of the conversation I most wanted to be involved with, which was the discussion of their upcoming CMG for the Mutant Chronicles license. I have a few of the old Warzone products from first ed., and I've watched the license get batted around the gaming ballpark for years. I don't think that this has inspired a lot of retailer confidence, and it's going to take a little more than a movie and some 36mm figures to convince people to push this game. By the way, does anyone else wonder, "why 36mm?" I guess they don't expect people to use these figs with other minis games, but it seems to me like old Warzone players, and sci-fi minis gamers in general would have been much more interested in acquiring 28mm figs. I wrapped up my visit to ACD with a talk with Rich about life in general, and drove off thinking about dinner.

Az Spear called to let me know he was in town, and I went to meet him at Dan Bock & Jim Hustad's store, Netherworld Games, on Mifflin St. in Madison. Az and I had been talking about going to the tournament, though neither of us were going to play, or even judge. We figured to spend a fair amount of time just hanging around. When I got there, I found Adrian Sullivan playtesting for the GP, and got to spend a few minutes talking with him. Unfortunately, it turned out that there was nothing behind his "double dog dare" for me to come to Madison. Netherworld is a decent little store. It has an impressive array of MtG product, as one would expect from anything that Dan Bock (dabock of ebay fame) has to do with. The store also has a decent roleplaying selection, but the majority of the area in the store is taken up by board games. The store also has an excellent selection of demo copies of games, so you can get inside the box and check the game out before you buy it. A play area with a couple tables makes up the back of the store. We were about ready to leave for dinner when we found out they were going to have Friday Night Magic, but could only have it if we stuck around to make 8 players. So, it was time to draft. As I stated, I hadn't played MtG in some time, and haven't even seen most of these cards. I ended up with a passable, though unimpressive deck with no real outstanding cards. I won't bore anyone with too many of the details. My first round oponent, Kyle, totally outdrew my in game 1. In game two, I had him low on life, but I had only managed to draw two casting cost creatures. He played a guy that could be used to stop creatures of a certain casting cost from getting involved in combat, I didn't draw an answer (or many other creatures) and he came back into the game and to the win. Second round I played Levi who didn't draw enough creatures to compete, I guess. Third round I ended up facing Az. I blew him out in game one. In game two, I had him on the ropes and looked on track to decking him, but copies of my decking creature and a guy that could untap them, along with the guildmage that could make me draw cards, just gave him the game. It was a nice, tight match, and I learned a little about the format. After drafting the rares, we called up Fred Hooper (NIU grad and Ravensoft/Wizards/Fasa/Etc. illustrator) and headed out for a late dinner. We ended up at Tutto Pasta on State St., and had some pretty good food and a few beers. Late in the meal, Adrian caught back up with us, just as a DJ started spinning some loud and, to my hearing, somewhat unhip dance music. It was kind of strange, and we walked out laughing at the incongruity of the music in the pasta restaurant, as well as the hilarity of someone hanging up a "no cover" sign (you had to be there, I guess). There are lots of entertainment options on State Street, one of the most vibrant streets in the entire midwest, but we opted to walk up around the capitol to an old favorite, the Paradise Lounge. The 'dice is a great place to hang out, drink a couple beers, and eat a wonderful cheeseburger, if you're among the somewhat punk affiliated. At the tavern, we ran into the weekend's TO, Steve Port (also the owner of Misty Mountain Games), and a couple of his judges. After a half an hour or so of stories about various MtG events, everyone had to take off except Fred and I, and we talked about old times and Fred's current projects, which is always cool.

The next day I awoke to the sounds of the Maher twins playing with Grandma downstairs. I followed Bob to the tournament site, met up with Az, and went for breakfast. Az vetoed the Denny's across the street, and we spent half an hour driving around the suburban sprawl of the Western Madison area, before settling on a different Denny's, in a much busier location. As Az said, "don't people around here like breakfast?" Unfortunately, aside from being slow and not very tasty, I think something here wasn't quite right, and adversely affected my, well, waste system, say, for the rest of the weekend. 'Nuff said. After breakfast, it was Starbucks and the tournament.

Back at the Convention Center, I ran into a plethora of old faces, as well as familiar ones from Iowa. Whitey, Chris, Matt Severa, Mike Hron, Brian Kowal, Rob Castro, Dan Bock, and a list that goes on and on. Perhaps most importantly, my old friend David Lehman was there. I know David from DeKalb, and we moved to Madison from there at the same time, for different reasons. We lost touch a while after I left town for Columbia, and it was a real pleasure to run into him and hear that he is doing so well, and has a 3 year old son named Drake. After making sure we got to talk with everyone we knew, Az and I sat down to play some Alpha Magic while we waited for the Urza's block sealed deck to begin. Alpha always draws a few onlookers, and, at one point, we had about fifteen people watching, mystified by the difference in the rules and the age of the cards. Bob senior showed up and chatted for a bit, and then it was time for the tournament.

How many years has it been since Urza? I don't even want to think about it. This was a blast from the past, and probably good for me, since I knew the cards to a certain degree. My deck was all right, black/white/green with a fair amount of removal, decent but unexceptional creatures, and a rancor. The real downside was not having enough good creatures in black/green to make it two colors. My rounds went by in a flash, and I won't go into them too much. Third round I was paired against Az (again), and, at 1-1, we had to play. We agreed to a prize split, and I ended up edging him, evening the weekend at 1-1. One note is that I drew first, whenever I had the choice, which seemed to work out in the format. With my mana distribution, I figured I really needed the extra card. Fourth round my opponent forgot to pay echo twice. He was young enough that he had probably never seen the cards new... Fifth round I id'd into top 8. The top 8 booster draft was a bit of a nightmare. I first and second picked black, but the Vile Requiem that I picked up second was a killer, as the woman to my right had picked a black card, and proceeded to cut me hard. I went with two good white cards next, and then that dried up, too. There weren't good enough cards in the packs to make me switch, though, so I took mediocre/poor cards trying to cut to get rewarded in pack two. The 2nd pack went a little better, but I was starved for creatures. I probably should have switched to green at some point, but there was just no real incentive. Pack three gave me some random creatures to round out the deck. Similar to Friday, I had a playable deck with no real bombs, unless you count the Requiem. My quarterfinals opponent was pretty confident, letting a friend know that "there's no way I can lose unless I get mana screwed." He proceeded to wreck me in game one, but, I thought, his deck didn't seem that great. Game 2 he blew up the board with Planar Collapse on turn four or five, even though it was his 3 cards for my 2, I guess one of my creatures, Sanctum Custodian, was pretty good. After that, we went back and forth, and then he got on top for a while. However, I was able to stabilize and, with no time, limit, deck him. He was a little salty about this, and we went to game three, in which I proceeded to smash him with, basically, one creature and a lot of removal. He showed the composure that has, in part, made MtG unsavory for me, choosing to point out something I'd done that he thought was a mistake, and saying that he'd "drafted the best deck at the table" before leaving. I refrained from analyzing his own play. My semi's opponent was much more amiable, and was just happy to be playing. We had a nice time, in the two short matches in which he totally dominated me with blue fliers and bounce. I got two Italian Legends packs for my time. Forgetting my prize split with Az, and not thinking that the dealers would give much for them, I popped them hoping for the Mana Drain lottery win, but it was not to be. The only non-zero value card I busted was a chain lightning, which went to Az when he reminded me of the prize split. It was almost midnight by then, and the evening was rounded out sharing stories with Bob, Scott Lewis, Aaron Mechtenseimer, and Kyle Mechler. Aaron amused everyone by filling the Legens wrappers back up with worthless cards, and leaving the packs laying around.

Sunday I went back to the Site to watch Bob's team, draft, and have a second chance to talk to David and see his wife, Gabriella. Az got into a draft, drafted well, but wasn't fortunate. I drafted, did OK with black/white, and got beat in the 2nd round by David from Miami with blue/red. The Lehman's showed up, but just as I was supposed to start a match, and they couldn't really stay because they were going to a show. It was good to see them, though, and I got a hug, which is always nice. Bob's team (the Lost numbers) were rolling, and made it to top 4. Unfortunately, they got beat in the semi's, even with favorable matchups, and ended up in third. Az got roped into taking Rashad to the Milwaukee airport. With things winding down, I decided to call it a day and get an early start home. Saturday I had traded some cards to Dan Bock, so I ran over to Netherworld to pick up a couple boardgames. Then, I walked down State Street and was impressed by the amount of life happening. It was a bright, warmish early Spring day, and a lot of people were out. I bought and origami flower from a street vendor, and a t-shirt form B-Side (my old favorite record store) both as gifts for Kristin. I ran up Johnson St. to Mildred's for a Selena (my old favorite sandwich-still great!), and stopped at Big Deal books for a quick browse. I still made it out of town around 6 pm, which was great. The rest is just driving.

A heck of a weekend, and a fitting goodbye, if it ends up being that, to Madison (at least for the time being). My board game collection swelled by an alarming 8 titles this weekend, so there should be (fingers crossed) lots to write about in the coming weeks. (If you're wondering they were: Lost Cities, Through the Desert, Princes of Florence, Arkham Horror, Tikal, Power Grid, Nexus Ops, and Samurai - Hacienda and Santiago are next on the list... unless I can find a copy of Caylus!).

Congrats to Iowa AGOT organizer and all around great guy Lucas Reed on his hire at FFG this week!

GG, GL