Slacking...

After a week of being depressed and feeling really bad I hoped that the next week would be better. This whole week hoped to start doing what I have to - cleaning my school space, writing my CV (I have an English version but I need to translate it into Czech), translating a software manual and looking for a flat. I've actually done everything partly but I hardly did what I wanted. What I was doing instead of that? I was slacking ^_~ and playing Magic.

On Wednesday I tried playing with and against RG Aggro when I was waiting for AVR draft to begin. My first pick in a booster that look like 'nothing interesting' was Mist Raven. I also managed to get Fettergeist but that was relatively everything from blue. Not so much was there in general so I was picking some random cards in different colors. The second batch of boosters was way better and I started steadily picking green. The player sitting next to me was actually in that color as well but for some reason there was always something that he passed me. In the last booster I picked as much bounce effects as I could (in total six). My deck had not so many creatures and wasn't really fast either but all the bounce effects were annoying enough for sure. My last opponent couldn't believe that^^. From this draft I came back home with Gisela and Terminus.

After the shop closed we went to Tecka which is actually a pretty nice place. Let's say that it is a bar. Last week when I was there the majority of the people there were talking about VTES. Many left and I stayed there with Patrik and Lucka alone. I just couldn't go back, I felt like crying and decided to rather stay. We chatted with Lucka for a while explaining her a bit what Trading Card Games are. Later when the level of alcohol was getting higher and higher I was told many Magic stories and we were complaining about many things that went wrong in Magic history, prices of the singles and stuff ^^. Lucka was probably pretty confused but after listening to us for few hours she came to the conclusion that trading card games' players are actually quite an interesting community^_^.

The day later we decided to draft once again. My first card this time was Kessig Malcontents followed by Heirs to Stromkirk (not that would be a human). I was passed one Thatcher Revolt later though and I was picking as many humans as I could. The majority of the cards was red. By the end of the last booster I encountered a card I did not even know that it existed - I read it more carefully and picked it. The card's text was 'Whenever a Human enters the battlefield under your control, Vigilante Justice deals 1 damage to target creature or player.'

With the cards I had it had to work! In another booster I opened another revolt and I even got a foil Kessig Malcontents. I can thank Kessig Malcontents for my 3:0, Temporal Mastery and yet another Terminus. I had to run to catch the last bus and I was fortunate to catch the subway (I still had 30 seconds).

On Friday I spent some time working and sorting Avacyn Restored cards and after that I went to draft the set. I was picking Boros humans once again but this time it was slower and my creatures were rather small. My first pick was Silverblade Paladin. I had the crusade and their captain, some angels but I did not have any real aggro creatures that could deal damage fast. In the end any creature enchanted with Call to Serve was my best attacker. Also I had no way of getting through 1/4 or 2/5, 3/5 creatures^_^. That's what killed me in the first round as I was incapable of dealing some real damage early game (blame all the mulligans^_^). After the second game we played another game just for fun and the deck showed me probably the best draw it could have. T1 1/2 creature. T2 another creature. T3 Emancipation Angel + Slayer's Stronghold. T4 Silverblade Paladin (Angel). T5 last attack with the Angel (with +2/0, Vigilance, Haste and Double Strike^_^). For my standing I got Vexing Devil and some other rare cards and once again I sprinted to catch the last subway to Zlicin. This time my time was better (I still had 1 minute adn 36 seconds).

Even though I wanted to work and look for some jobs and flats this weekend I ended up by me slacking even more.

I'll skip Saturday as I'll probably write a standalone post about it. On Sunday I got up at 6am. My plan for the day was Game Day and then heading to Arcade Museum with NX and Molik. I got to Prague much earlier than I expected so I walked few tram/subway stops. When I got tired of it and the time of registering for the tournament was nearing I decided to hop on a tram and get there. On the same tram there was Goblin, our international judge. So I followed him to the site where everybody was preparing stuff.

It was quite fun to see and listen to the judges. Albert Kayed was one of the first players to come so we played few games. My match up against Delver is not that good but I managed to win 2:0. Then I lost one game. Then I 'traded' some cards for Sword of War and Peace and went to register for the tournament.

In the first round I wasn't even sure what my opponent played. The deck was UW. It was drawing cards and countering my spells. At first I thought it would be some kind of Miracle control but as soon as Spellskite hit the table I went like WTF? The only deck that came to my mind with Spellskite main board was Venser Control. (not that I would see him in the first game)

I had three titans on my hand since the beginning so it was a matter of time till one of them would resolve. It was the second one that brought Inkmoth Nexus and Kessig Wolf Run and we could start a new game as my opponent did not have any response to that. In the second game my opponent played Spellskite, followed by Blade Splicer. Second Spellskite and some Stonehoard Dignitary. Venser had to follow.

I targeted Dignitary with Go For the Throat in my opponents turn and he did not use Spellskite to redirect the spell but instead of it he tapped out. I played Black Sun's Zenith destroying everything. Using Karn to deal with Venser and attacking with what I got.

In the second round I played a mirror match. It was the first time for me to actually play mirror. Quite weird as this deck is quite popular. I mulled to five in the first game and was unable to draw a land or ramp before my opponents titan resolved. In game two I started and managed to resolve my titan first. In the last game it game down to my opponent having or not having Wolf Run. I destroyed the one he fetched and had Acidic Slime for possible second one. But that wouldn't be any good if he would just drew it and put it into play.

After this I started to feel relatively sick. I visited the WC several times and wasn't really sure if I should even stay there. In the third round I played against some homebrew Delver that practically killed me with turn 2 Torpor Orb. That WASN'T GOOD as I was unable to deal with that card. Oh yeah with a sideboarded card costing me 7 mana, nice. I lost anyway.

In the fourth round I played against the winner of the tournament. He played RG Aggro and he was nice to me. From earlier 'testing' this week I knew that I have to be fast or die terribly. Silverheart + Birds of Paradise killed me in game one. I won the second one after managing to play 3 times Black Sun's Zenith. In the last game I lost as I was unable to play anything. I did not keep a good hand and wasn't top decking well either.

Last round the only opponent I could play against was Tomas Veverka to whom I borrowed my Human deck. I managed to turn one game into my favor but the last game I was unable to deal with Hero of Bladehold and three 'anthems'. I had both Go For the Throat and Black Sun's Zenith but I was unable to deal with all the tokens AND Hero of Bladehold. It was either tokens or the Hero. Anyway if I would somehow managed to get rid of him my opponent still had another Hero on his hand along with Sword of War and Peace (and I don't even talk about lingering souls that was waiting to be flash backed).

The tournament went badly for me, but not as badly as I felt. My had was spinning, my head ached a lot. I considered going home and not go to the arcade museum but decided not to in the end.

When prizes where given out I received one booster from Tomas. He told me to choose one. I didn't want to but I chose one. Tibalt image was on the booster and inside the booster - Cavern of Souls! Too bad for Tomas who opened Slayer's Stronghold and a card no one even wants to mention.

After that I traded Cavern of Souls for money and money + Cavern of Souls for Taiga. It wasn't a good deal in terms of money (even though I was surprised that the person actually went down with the price) but in the future the deal should be better for me. If the price of the Caverns won't go terribly up that is. Now I hope that I won't need the 4th cavern. (anyway I came there with 7 caverns and left with 3, I got two cards I really wanted and some money. Anyway after the few drafts I played I have some cards to trade or sell). Also the person who wanted the Cavern of Souls wanted the Killing Wave promo the top 8 got. I told him that I won't sell it for such a price and that even Zombie Apocalypse is a card I managed to sell for 15 bucks. He was quite surprised about that. I sold it for 12 USD, just for the record.

I walked to the nearest tram stop and got on tram number 12 but in the wrong direction. It did not matter anyway as the tram actually got me exactly I wanted (NX called that they are with Molik at Andel)

Me, Molik, her sister and NX got into 911 car!!! Czech Republic the only country in which 4 people would sit in 911^_^. It was quite funny. We dropped Molik's sister somewhere where she wanted and headed to the arcade museum at Cerveny Ujezd.

The museum is in a wooden building next to the parking space (belonging to a replica of a castle which alone is a nice attraction). In the museum there are the oldest arcade games the owner could find. Not always in their original cabinets. There are my favorite games like Galaga, Golden Axe or Metal Slug 2. There's also a ton of fighting games starting with Mace: The Dark Age, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat (2 and 4 unfortunatly with non-MK4 controller), Killer Instict and maybe some more. I also played Pinball Star Trek TNG version. I used to be good at this one but when I played it after years of not even seeing the game nor playing it I really sucked. But it was nice to play the games and sometimes I wondered if I played on those very machines or not (as Mace: The Dark age still had my own tag on the first place, MK4 was reset and was in a different cab).

Anyway the reason for being there was not to go play games but to arrange two things and I hope that both of them will be good deals and people will enjoy them.

When the museum closed NX took me home. I came home and fell asleep in few minutes. I got up 15 hours later still feeling like crap for some reason. I couldn't even get up. I was laying in the bad for quite some time and even moving my head hurt.

I eventually got up and started working....Now it's time for some Game of Thrones that I missed while I was asleep.

Thank you everyone!