Last weekend, I went down to play in the Magic: the Gathering Pro Tour Qualifier in LA.
And I’m so cool that I got to the top 8 and came home with a bunch of packs and some money besides. It’s my first Top 8.
cite (at the bottom).
Cool.
Maybe I’ll cover you at E3 next year! Keep practicing!
I’ll buy dinner if you make it!
I’m probably not quite up to playing at the invitational yet. Maybe in '06. Gotta have time for the word to get out 
Way to go, homeboy. I’ve probably seen you playing when I cut through the Barnes and Noble on State.
Haj
Good job! I haven’t played constructed in a long while, but I try to make it to the pre-release tournaments mostly. Maybe if my graduate school load eases up I can scrape together some players to beat up on. 
Wow, talk about a blast out of the past. Congrats!
I used to be pretty hardcore into M:TG… still have a closet full of cards at home. The only problem was, I lived out in the boonies, and there was no one nearby to play really. I regularly dominated the tournaments at the local card shop. Then one year over the summer I got my parents to drive a friend and I into Boston so we could play in the type 2 juniors tournament there. Two combo decks were really hot in type 2 at the time… something involving free cycling ad infinitum, and something involving lots of mana, lots of drawing, and eventually forcing your opponent to draw out with the library that gave you mana for cards in hand. My friend played with an all red goblin lackey based creature/burn deck that I built for him, and I played with my traditional green/red balanced mix. As it turned out, both decks did really well, and we actually faced each other with a seat in the ‘playoffs’ at stake… he wasn’t terribly thrilled since we had tested a lot and he knew there was no WAY that deck was taking two of three from mine 
They announced the top 8 or whatever people for the playoff round… my deck was the ONLY one not based on one of the two aforementioned combos that made it in. I faced one of the cycling decks in the first round, being played by this really haughty card nerd type who was getting real hardcore about how great his deck was. I got a really bad draw the first hand, and he got what he needed, and half a dozen turns and I was done. I did a few switches, we started again… and I got a great draw. I got a big creature out on the 4th turn, in time to attack once before his combo fired off, and then another big on the 5th. On the 6th turn, he looked like he was in control… his combo was going and he was like haha I’m gonna beat you omg you suck! combos roxorz!
So then I attacked with everything I had that had power, and did enough damage for the rolling thunder I was holding to finish him off. The look on his face was absolutely golden. I got a very average draw in the third game and his combo went off at like the third turn, but it was all worth it for the look on his face when I tapped out and threw down my rolling thunder. As a bonus, I took a dozen or two packs of cards home for what ended up being a 6th place finish. In my first and only ‘official’ tournament ever that wasn’t sealed deck (my top 20 finish in the Boston Tempest pre-release sealed deck, my VERY first tournament, can wait for another day). And if my other deck got a better (non-me)matchup in the last round-robin round they may well have both made it.
Incidentally, they banned or restricted key cards in both of those combos for type 2 about two weeks after that tournament. Irked me to no end - why couldn’t they have done it earlier so I could have won and gone to the regional in NYC and omgosh!
Less incidentally, five years later, I now look back at my M:TG years and wonder WTF I was thinking - I wasn’t as bad as that kid I was playing, but I was kinda a card geek I bought a pack when a game store in the mall was going out of business last year, for old time’s sake, and I didn’t recognize the abilities on like half the cards either, depressing 
I’d be tempted to get back into it, especially with the internet version (did that ever have any success, btw?), if I had the spare money to throw at it. Probably better that I don’t - I have a sort of addictive personality when it comes to these things.
-K.
Firstly, congrats to the OP, hope you qualify next time (I’ve managed that and not been able to attend, which is a little irritating)
MTGO is quite sucessful and a lot of fun. From talking to some of the management types at WotC (I’ve been involved in the game a long time, and they’re pretty friendly people) one of the major aims for MTGO was to provide an appropriate environment for those of us who haven’t the time to hang around card stores all day to get our fix of card gaming. You can fire up the program and find someone to play with in a few minutes for as long as you like. I’ve had very few poor experiences with other users (only one actually)
That said, it’s not exactly cheap unless you’re very good at drafting (I’m only reasonable at that, constructed specialist, extended for preference). if you do get online, look for me, rmz and I’ll try help out with anything you need (note that I’m in europe, time zones may preclude meeting).
Do we have enough people here to start up a serious extended deck discussion thread for the next PTQ season? (mtg messageboards are generally infested with 13 year olds with overinflated opinions)
Thanks. I think I had a pretty good change of doing so, actually, but since I knew I wasn’t going to make it to Japan, and my opponent wanted to go, I conceded for a larger take of the other prizes.
And I totally think we should start up some serious deck discussion. I’m just starting to get back into a competitive frame of mind (four years at college with no car meant no serious magic playing), and extended is my favorite format.
Anyone who wants a game on MTGO, I’m Iamthewalrus.
And haj, I’m at Metro nearly every Sunday if you ever want to stop by and say “hi.”