PAX Day 2

by Jon Loucks | posted at 2010-09-05 22:10:00
tagged: MTG, Magic, Magic the Gathering, Spoiler, Jon Loucks, Penny Arcade, PAX, Penny Arcade Expo, Scars of Mirrodin, SOM

 

Today was to be another early day, but that’s because I had my sights set on the Magic Online live series. Sixteen of the applicants that entered by 10:30 a.m. were randomly chosen to compete – sadly I was not one of the chosen.

The legendary (and mysterious) Aceman playing in the Live Series and an MD5 draft simultaneously.

 

I still got to get my game on, though, and promptly entered into a M11 sealed GPT. Gotta get those byes for Portland next weekend!

 

I will say it is the best M11 sealed deck I’ve had, and I’m not one to throw that kind of statement around willy-nilly. I had Grave Titan and Serra Angel, Royal Assassin and two Doom Blades, two Crystal Balls for consistency, and a bunch of quality creatures. Top it all off with a planeswalker (Ajani) and you've got yourself a deck.

 

The tournament was five rounds, and I intentionally drew the last round to make it in at 3-1-1. Each win was a pretty effortless 2-0, especially the games where Crystal Ball hit the table. Colin McCune was my one loss, beating me down with a Conundrum Sphinx as I failed to solve the riddle.

 

In the Top 8 I took an Azure Drake first pick, knowing I really liked blue in this format (as well as at that particular table). The black was flowing and I picked up a semi-late Doom Blade and an 8th pick Corrupt. I won the Quarterfinals as my opponent’s deck struggled and my Scroll Thieves came online. It helped that I picked up two Deathmarks late in pack three and my opponent was GW.

 

I was utterly demolished in the Semifinals when my opponent relentlessly added Azure Drakes to the table. My best weapon, Deathmark, was rendered useless in the UB mirror, and eventually a Harbor Serpent solved the board for my opponent in two games. Better luck next time!

 

 

I found time during my fifth round bye to chat with senior Wizards brand manager Elaine Chase. We were both pretty excited about the upcoming Magic party, for good reason –but more about that later.

 

The Elspeth vs. Tezzeret Duel deck was released this weekend, continuing Wizards formula of a fall planeswalker-themed duel deck. Spring will bring another spicy theme, more like Phyrexia vs. the Coalition. (Perhaps that one was a bit of a teaser for Scars?)

 

Next year’s Magic Weekend in Paris has become the dream weekend of many players – THE Pro Tour to qualify for. The last Grand Prix-Paris was for a time the largest Magic tournament ever, so I can only imagine the craziness that will be Paris 2011 with a Pro Tour in the mix and another amazing year under Magic’s belt.

 

The idea behind the Magic weekend is that there’s a lot more to Pro Tours than the pros. Pro Tours host events for everyone, and what better way to show players than to bring them in with a Grand Prix. I think this is an amazing idea – only good things can come from newer players finding themselves in the same room as the top pros. Currently this is the only Magic Weekend planned, though I imagine we’ll see it again when Paris clocks in ridiculous numbers.

 

The Wizards booth is relatively tame compared to the musical instrument disco, but they’ve still made their mark on the con by putting a sample deck in the swag bags. I highly support getting a deck into the hands of most PAX attendees. The Frag Dolls, a group of girl gamers, were also throwing down in Duels of the Planeswalkers for part of the day.

 

Then Something Happened

 

 

As soon as my GPT was over I booked it right on down to the Magic party. Last year’s Zendikar party was pretty cool, though a bit cramped. I was worried about this year’s party space, especially when I heard even some WOTC employees weren’t invited, but the venue (Showbox) did not disappoint.

 

Elspeth under the red sun – beautiful.

 

Scars of Mirrodin preview cards were spread around the party, and there were puzzles to be solved. Continuing the assault on Mirrodin from the Pro Tour-Amsterdam event, players solved word puzzles using cards like Elspeth Tirel – and what a card she is:

 

3WW

Planeswalker

4 loyalty

+2: You gain 1 life for each creature you control.

-2: Put three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.

-5: destroy all other permanents except for lands and tokens.

 

Always innovating, Wizards once again reinvented the color wheel.

 

Traveling on the coattails of an old Wizards employee (again, Tyler Bielman) meant I got to hear everybody fill him in on what’s new in Magic. Everybody at Wizards seemed psyched about the great couple of years Magic has had – but nobody was as excited about things as Mark Rosewater. “Fourteen years!” he would yell with glee only poison counters could create. “We didn’t ret-con this,” said Mark, pleased with how Scars of Mirrodin was using Phyrexian seeds planted years ago.

 

Worth “DJ Nox” Wollpert, the greatest DJ in Magic!

 

I ran in to Ken Nagle as he enjoyed the light of the blue sun. (You see, the five suns of Mirrodin were out that night, and each one had its moment in the, um, sun.) As a virtual winner of the last Great Designer Search, I wondered if he was going to be involved in the recently announced Great Designer Search 2.

 

It’s likely than Ken, along with other winners (such as the real one, Alexis Janson) will judge for part, if not all, of the event. Rotating through a lot of judges is an important part of the process – there are a lot of great minds at Wizards.

 

There’s been an effort this time around to weigh what’s good for the ‘players’ in the great designer search with what’s good for the audience. I would expect a very polished experience this time around – especially with previous winners helping out with the game design.

 

 

 

Eventually each player was separated into the two factions – it was time for Mirrodin vs. the Phyrexians. Players were given more word puzzles to solve using their previously collected clues, texting in their answer and ID number. The fastest fingers from each side were brought up on stage for the finale.

 

The opposing sides were paired off and engaged in battles of knowledge and memory. Players had to name items back and forth until one of them failed. How many Wizards of the Coast TCGs can you name? What about the letters in the colors of Magic? Three-or-more-letter words that can be created from M-I-R-R-O-D-I-N? How’s your knowledge of metallic elements that don’t end in M?

 

The remaining five players were then given the task of deciphering a word from the Lux Cannon. After some searching, one player emerged victorious, became $1,000 richer, and walked away with a glass-blown Mox.

 

 

Congratulations to Seattle’s own Daniel Duterte, the Scars of Mirrodin Magic party champion!

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