StarCityGames.com Open-Indy Report

by Bill Stark | posted at 2010-03-17 01:14:00
tagged: MTG, Magic, Magic the Gathering, StarCityGames, StarCity, SCG, Open, Bill Stark, StarCityGames.com, Indianapolis

 

Attendance

 

When the StarCityGames.com Open series broke its all time attendance record (including the large $5Ks StarCity was running prior to the Opens) in Richmond, Virginia, everyone was excited. My feeling was that, while it was neat the series was doing so well and could pull such big numbers, setting a record in what amounts to your home turf is an accomplishment with a tiny asterisk by it. Set the record at the next event, in an area known for large crowds but which StarCity isn't based out of, and THEN you have definite confirmation you're on to something.

 

Well, we have something. Something big.

 

The SCG Open in Indy didn't just set the new record, it CRUSHED it by over 100 players and even had a larger crowd in attendance than Grand Prix-Kuala Lumpur. That is, as far as I can remember, the first time a Magic tournament has had more players than a Grand Prix held the same weekend. To be fair to Malaysia, southeast Asia has never pulled the types of numbers for Grand Prixs that Europe, Japan, and the U.S. have, so it's not surprising for something like the StarCityGames.com event to beat it on attendance. And to give credit where credit is due, Malaysia had one of its largest Grand Prixs of all time.

 

In any case, the numbers are simply more fuel to the Magic is on fire fire. For a non-Wizards sponsored tournament series to pull in 1,000 players in a weekend (over the two days in just the Open events) is amazing. It is a sign of the times, and a hopeful message for days to come.

 

James Bush

 

Poor James Bush. It was almost certainly never his intention to be the cause of a thousand collective eye rolls when he won the Open event in Standard on Saturday. And yet, the instant you announce the champion of a Standard tournament is Jund, every fanboy within earshot wants to throw something at you.

 

The fact of the matter is that James DESERVED his win. He played very well each time I watched him, and his calm, quietly respectful approach towards his opponents was a pleasant addition to the feature match table. It's not James' fault Jund is the best deck in Standard, and truthfully it's a shame. Let's not forget he was facing off against a deck that is allegedly a bad matchup (Spread 'Em) and against an opponent in Ben Wienburg who is more accomplished professionally. When James wound up down a game and WAY behind in the second I thought the ending was all but written.

 

James Bush didn't.

 

Instead, he stoically pressed on each turn, drawing through a mana flood one card at a time, until his opponent made a small miscalculation with Jace, the Mind Sculptor. That gave James the tiniest amount of breathing room, all he needed really, and as it shifted to Wienburg's turn to get mana flooded Bush pressed in and took the game back. When he got the third one to take the match, it was practically a fairytale ending.

 

I get that people hate Jund. I don't care for it. But let's not let that take any credit away from James Bush who deserved his win.

 

Timed Top 8s

 

In the Quarterfinals match between Nick Montaquila and Mike Bernat, a StarCityGames.com Open first came up: the match went to time, the extra turns were exhausted, and the tiebreaker to determine the winner was used. Because that tie breaker was life total, Bernat's plan of sticking Isochrons Scepter with Swords to Plowshares on it against Nick's Goblin deck actually backfired, big time. A circumstance that under normal terms would have been nigh unlosable for Bernat actually cost him the Semifinals.

 

I've known Mike for a long time, both from the Midwest PTQ circuit and the Grand Prix/Pro Tour (he's a good guy to have with you in a Japanese restaurant since he speaks some of the language), and he's known to get upset from time to time and to let people know it. Clearly he was upset about the circumstances surrounding his loss, and people can (and probably will) argue about whether his opponent was trying to stall or play illegally slow.

 

That doesn't concern me.

 

What DOES concern me was the immediate backlash from viewers and readers about the fact the Top 8 was timed. This struck me as odd considering that including time limits for Top 8s is well established DCI policy, but particularly distressing was the backlash against StarCityGames and the judge staff in Indianapolis. You can say whatever you want about the policy, and I might agree with you (life totals is such an arbitrary means of determining who won), but the judges and StarCity weren't responsible for anything except enforcing the rules. Time limits for the Top 8 weren't something anyone invented for that event; they've been established DCI policy for quite some time. In fact, I'm not sure I can recall the last time I WASN'T covering a Top 8 with time limits. The only difference is that the time limits come up so rarely no one seems to remember they exist.

 

If you think what happened was negative, don't shout at the judges or StarCity anymore than you'd shout at them for following the portions of the DCI guidelines you like (no cheaters, fair events, professional staff, etc.). Instead, share your thoughts (RESPECTFULLY if you want them to be listened to) with the people who shape DCI policy. They're the ones who dictate how judges and TOs have to act, and the ones who can prevent things like this from happening again in the future.

 

Of course, I don't EXPECT that to happen. As per your usual Upsetting Moment in Magic Tournament History, there will be a lot of bellowing, a lot of useless, misplaced rage, and when everyone is satisfied they've yelled loudly enough for long enough, they'll forget it all ever happened.

 

Until it happens again.

 

Chris Woltereck

 

Chris Woltereck is a good card player. He hides it under a façade of laid backedness, his quiet demeanor lulling opponents into underestimating him. During a match he monologues about the state of what's happening, spinning a hilarious running commentary on the game that is completely unexpected considering how quiet he is in person. But when you strike up a conversation with him, he'll talk your ear off about his analysis of a deck or archetype and you'd do very well to listen.

 

Consider this: Chris has played in exactly three StarCityGames.com cash tournaments that gave away $5,000 in prizes (the Open event and some previous large events). Each was Legacy, and in each he played 43 Land. He also got to enjoy playing in the Top 8 of each of those events. The man is batting 1.000% for making the cut to the single elimination rounds. That is an impressive feat if you've never seen Chris play. Of course, if you HAVE it just makes sense.

 

His new take on 43 Land is utterly fascinating. He has managed to provide the deck with a level of resiliency it has been lacking. It always struggled against combo decks and things like Dredge, but Chris' shift to blue has provided it plenty of extra ammo to combat both archetypes. That's no small feat (and to be fair he worked with his StarCity teammates to create the deck), and I expect this new version of 43 Land to become the industry standard.

 

Splitsies

While we're on the subject of Chris Woltereck, let's recap the topic of splitting in the Top 8. The StarCityGames.com Open prize pool for the Top 8 is $4,200 ($5,000 - $800 paid out to the 9-16 finishers). During the Top 8 of each event, the participants are asked together if they'd like to work out a split of the prize money. This is asked up to three times, once before the Quarterfinals then, if no splits are agreed to, again before the Semis and finally just prior to the last match of the day.

 

At the beginning of the Quarterfinals I ask each player in turn if they would like to split the entire prize pool, meaning each player takes home $525 and they play for the trophy and additional Open Points. If a SINGLE player says no, the conversation is over and everyone plays with the usual prize break. In the Semifinals the total for splitting between the four players is $800 ($5,000 - $800 - $800 paid out to the Quarterfinalists who lost). For the Finals the total is $1,300.

 

It is common that some type of split is generally worked out, but not always. In Indianapolis, Chris Woltereck was the first dissenting voice when everyone was asked if they wanted to split. At first he proposed an alternate structure in which he received a greater share of the prize pool, and everyone else could play for less, but more than they would get if they lost the Quarterfinals. Initially most of us (myself included) thought this was a joke, but in retrospect Chris was dead serious. And he was right.

 

Woltereck was probably the best player in the Top 8, and he was playing a deck he felt was the best (read his Deck Tech on StarCityGames.com for that). In the Quarterfinals he had a favorable matchup, and on top of that knew he was already up a game because Peter Smutko had received a game loss for a minor bookkeeping error found during the deck check (more on that in a minute). So what would you do? You can agree to everyone getting $525, almost assuredly leaving money on the table, or you could take the higher EV and play. I know what I would do, regardless of whether it caused my fellow members of the Top 8 to grumble or not.

 

That situation repeated itself in the Semis, where Woltereck was playing against a deck he felt was one of his most favorable matchups in Merfolk. To make matters even worse for Sean Gray, his opponent, the version of Merfolk was three colors meaning it was more susceptible to Wasteland than traditional monoblue versions. Woltereck again proposed a split in which he got more money, but everyone else got to play for more than they would win if they lost in the Semifinals. He was turned down, and promptly wound up in the Finals.

 

It didn't even seem like a question facing Nick Montaquila's Goblins deck. That is probably the BEST matchup for Turboland, particularly considering the fact Nick's version didn't have any Prices of Progress nor real sideboard hate for 43 Land save for Relic of Progenitus. Woltereck refused a split, and mowed down his opponent handily.

 

Any time a player declines a split that a number of other members of the Top 8 want to take, he or she is accepting the fact there will be some people upset with them, particularly if they lose and miss out on more money as a result. But if someone handed you $2,000 and a group of seven people walked up to you and asked you to give them $1,500 worth of it, would you? The reasonable answer to that question is no, and that's essentially the question that was being asked of Chris as he sat down for the Top 8. He was taking a risk he might NOT beat his favorable matchups, but he was taking that risk in the best possible way: on himself, and to the benefit of the people who didn't like the fact he turned the split in the first place.

 

The moral of the story in my mind is that the right thing to do in the Top 8 is split in a fashion that's most profitable to you, not friendliest to a group of people who want (what may be) your money. (Of course, if the best course of action for you is to split in the Quarterfinals, by all means do so!)

 

Game Losses

 

There were a couple of minor game losses handed out over the weekend that bear mentioning as a reminder to be tight with bookkeeping and other concerns. Calosso Fuentes got one for registering a Charbelcher deck playing "Tendrils," which the judge staff rightly determined could be any of a number of Magic cards (Tendrils of Agony? Tendrils of Corruption?). And in the Top 8 Peter Smutko picked up a game loss for having a Snow-Covered Island in his deck despite registering all regular Islands.

 

Neither of the errors is an actual big deal in regards to impacting the tournament. It didn't provide a practical advantage to either player, and it was determined neither had made the error intentionally to gain an advantage (obviously). But it is one of those things the DCI has to be strong about for the times when a player DOES make those mistakes to gain an advantage somehow. So let that serve as a reminder to you: be careful when registering your deck!

 

Jund

 

I'm going to write more extensively on this subject (or more accurately record), but I will say this: Jund isn't fun for most, it is overly represented in Top 8s/tournament fields, and it is UTTERLY MORONIC to call for anything in the deck to be BANNED for goodness sake.

 

Monoblack Control

 

Craig Wostratzky's Monoblack Contol deck was the most interesting thing to come out of the Indy Legacy Open, which says a lot considering Goblins and UG 43 Land also made the single elimination rounds. The thing I find most interesting about the list is that Craig's technical play was clearly lacking, but the deck itself was powerful enough to march him undefeated to the Top 8 in 1st place. That's a pretty big deal.

 

I don't agree with all of his deckbuilding decisions (I just don't agree with the fetch lands, which thin his deck of lands in a control build that wants them consistently as well as sucking life points away in a deck that needs those for Phyrexian Arena too), but I was intrigued and inspired by Craig. I'm glad he had the success he did, and if I were to play Legacy in the near future, I'd be tinkering with his deck to come up with a list I enjoy enough to battle with. 

 

Bojuka Bog and Tombstalker to mitigate Tarmogoyf was really, really clever deck design.

 

Up Next

 

The next event I'll be traveling too will be the StarCityGames.com Open-Orlando. Check the schedule for more information, and say hi if you're there!

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