Grand Prix Prague

This year we had a Standard GP in Prague. I don't really have good memories from the previous GPs in our country because the organization was pretty bad and the price/prize ratio was really bad (talking about side events). This time though Mindsports Academy organized the event and they made it right. It was the best GP in terms of organization.

Since this GP was played in the most played format (I guess) many players wanted to come. Many were preparing for the GP and that showed on Standard tournament attendance that almost doubled. I wasn't particularly happy about the format but I decided to actually prepare for the GP a bit and decided to play t2 to find out what I could expect (and stick with one deck if possible). I put together Abzan Control and played with it in a few tournaments both online and 'offline'.

Friday
I took a day off on Friday so I could participate in the side events on Friday. The day before though I felt pretty crappy and I knew that this would stick with me for two more days if I would be lucky. That is why I wasn't 100% sure if I want to participate in the GP or play in other events. When I don't feel good I usually don't play well and the memories that stay in my mind are of how badly I felt that day (the case of GP Strasburg). I also found out that I can't find my Thoughtseizes and that I don't have any more Dig Through Times (because all of those were in decks players borrowed from me). But some Magic players offered me that I can play with their cards so I knew I could complete my decks and was truly thankful for that.

I set my alarm clock for 9am or something and I even got up^_^. I headed to Incheba Expo Prague, taking a very strange route because I had to buy some stuff before getting there. That is why I wasn't aware that there was actually a tram line going straight to the Expo from where I live.

When I arrived there I looked around the expo hall that was filled with few hundred people. I tried to psychically prepare for the fact that the day later there would be a thousand more players^_^. I registered for Legacy side event and hoped that at least 20 players would show up. I did not expect many foreign players to join the event but there is a big legacy player base in Prague so I hoped that the tournament would fire. There were fourteen participants in the end.

In round one I played against Ilya Zinovyev playing Epic Storm but I wasn't aware of that for quite a while. I started with t1 Delver and I managed to flip it. I had no counterspells in my hand but I had some creatures and a bolt. At that moment I did not even think that I could play against a combo deck and that counterspells would come handy. My opponent started with Bloodstained Mire and fetched for Volcanic Island. That seemed kinda strange because decks playing Volcanic Islands do not usually run Bloodstained Mires. T1 Brainstorm and T2 Ponder seemed like a Storm deck to me but still it could also mean that my opponent kept a bad hand while playing the same deck as me for example. That wasn't the case. I drew Gitaxian Probe few turns later so I played it. There were three Rituals in my opponent's hand along with 2x Infernal Tutor and 1x Burning Wish so I decided to end the game the soonest possible and won on the same turn. I won game two as well.

Next round I played against Michal Adamec. He started with Island (I had Wasteland in play) and played some Ponders and Preordains. I knew that Michal played Show and Tell for a while but he switched to Delver. I did not expect him to play Delver this time, but it could possibly be Show and Tell. So when I flipped Delver thanks to Spell Pierce that showed up I was glad that I have at least some counterspell (I also had Daze). My opponent wasn't happy about that Pierce at all. Later he played Bayou and it seemed to me that he is on ANT. I destroyed the dual land and that saved me from losing the game. In game two I managed to discard a wrong card from his hand which could result in a lost game but he was unable to draw the one more card that would finish me off (he actually needed one more mana in order to play Tendrils for 18).

In round three I played a mirror match...not really sure if played is the right word. I mulled to five in both games and in one I couldn't draw any land and in the second one I couldn't keep up with 2x Delver and Deathrite Shaman.

In the following two rounds I played against Delver decks as well (not 4c but Grixis) and won.

During those five rounds of Legacy I spent a lot of time shuffling my own deck and my opponent's deck and I have to say that my arms ached after all that..and I still had two more days of shuffling cards ahead of me^_^. I have to say that I forgot how annoying shuffling during a tournament can be.

After the Legacy event in which I came up 3rd winning more or less nothing I registered for a ORI Sealed Deck Last Chance Trial. This tournament was supposed to start ages ago but there weren't enough players for it. That is why the organizers decided to give the players a GP Seville playmat (with Temporal Trespass illustration on it, nice playmat actually). After many announcements and one more hour of waiting the tournament actually started (I waited only that hour unlike the majority of our bracket).

I opened a nice boros pool (with Liliana) and passed it to my left. I received not so nice Boros pool (with no money) but there was one rare card that could win me the games - Chandra's Ignition - so I put all my hopes in it. Apart from this the deck did not have much removal.

In all those rounds I played (4 in total) I played against Boros decks (even though there were few other decks, BG mostly elves, GW aggro that actually won and two Boros decks were in top 4). All those players (playing boros) had cards like Consul's Lieutenant, Celestial Flare, War Oracle AND SENTINEL OF THE WATCH. I could stop most creatures but Sentinel of the Watch was a huge problem. Mainly because all my removal was either burn that could deal 2-4 damage or destroy tapped creature at sorcery speed and well creatures with Vigilance don't usually end up tapped, right? I managed to win against those three Boros decks but when playing against the fourth one I got flooded and I could not simply deal with the Sentinel and died. But this time I won a loooot of points so I could get some nice prizes.

Saturday

When I got back home my physical state worsened so I printed my decklist, checked the deck and its sideboard and went to sleep. When I awoke it wasn't much better but I could walk. I left the flat, hopped on some tram and 30 minutes later ended up at Expo Prague. At 8:45 we got seatings for the players' meeting. The players' meeting was one big mess and I also got the feeling that I'm sitting in an elemantary school class. But after some hiccups we received everything we were supposed to be given out and the organizer got both our decklists and consents. After this I headed outside to chill out (the outside temperature was something like 35 dgrs of celsius, inside it was even worse, the table numbers oftentimes served as a impromptu fan) a bit and prepare for my first round. I played few games to see if I can actually concentrate or keep in mind that something is supposed to trigger etc...I did not forget my triggers but it was difficult for my brain^_^.

The funny thing during the 'byes' period was that there were players that still did not have their decks ready for the event. These players submitted their decklists without actually having those decks ready. I just couldn't understand that...I know that there were players that were getting the cards for their decks before the tournament but it never came to my mind that someone could be possibly doing this during the first two rounds of the event. That's kinda crazy o_O.

In my first round I played against RG Devotion. There wasn't much I could do in this match. I have problems dealing with one Whisperwood Elemental. Dealing with two is even worse...and if the manifested cards are Whisperwood Elemental and Dragonlord Atarka it does not help much. When I finally managed to get rid of those Elementals and Atarka my opponent hit me with second Atarka and that finished me off. Next I played against Burn and that's pretty much all I played against till the last two rounds. I won all the Burn matches somehow. I even managed to win twice game 1 which was a surprise but well it was well due to either having too many Rhinos (they usually come in a pack errr a crash) or opponent missing a land drop etc. Again I had few chances to look at my opponent's face when I played Dromoka. In one case it was revealed on top of my library. My opponent read the card about three times. Then I played it and he read it once again, he tried to stoke it twice on his turn but Dromoka's Command saved the Dragonlord and I won.

Next I played against Ivo Dienelt whose decklist you can check here. He started with Monastery Swiftspear. It wasn't followed by any non-land card though. 5 mountains followed and then he slammed (not really) Stormbreath Dragon on the table. I was stuck with few forests and Windswept Heath so I had no way of getting rid of those two creatures and those killed me. I wasn't really sure how to sideboard against this deck because I hardly saw something except the Swiftspear and Stormbreath Dragon. So I added some cards against burn and kept global removal spells in the deck. That showed to be a good idea but still wasn't good enough. My opponent started with Temple of Triumph, followed with Battlefield Forge into Seeker of the Way and things did not look good for me. I also messed up and killed his two morphed Ashcloud Phoenixes with Bile Blight even though this does not work as I found soon later (*facepalm*). Hope he knows that now as well. After this terrible loss I awaited my last round to see if I can possibly squeeze in day 2 or not. I was paired against Xin Sui playing Jeskai Midrage/Tempo. I have to admit that in this round I seriously messed up twice. I couldn't concentrate well and we both had hard time trying not to boil (or melt^_^). Even though I was trying to save my non-Abzan Charm removal for Stormbreath Dragons I still died to Stormbreath Dragon...Elspeth did not show up either. Stormbreath Dragon killed me three times in the tournament and that meant I couldn't try playing in Day 2 (because I had to go X-2 in order to end up there).

When I finished playing the main event the side events were already closed (or rather the registration for them) so I spent some time walking around and waiting for others to finish their Sealed Decks/Standard or whatever. I played few games of legacy and utterly died to Jund top decks^_^ but it was ok...

Sunday
On the last day of the GP I wasn't really sure what I wanted to play. At first I wanted to participate in the big Modern tournament because the upcoming WMCQ this weekend is in Modern. I haven't really played much Modern in paper form so I thought that it could be a good idea to try it and see if playing Jund is a good idea. I woke up grabbed my deck and decklist and ran to the tram station. I hopped on a tram supposedly going only two stops further (no.12). I hopped of it on the first stop so I could catch the subway train to Palmovka. But unfortunately the subway was closed. So I ran up once again (because I knew that in about 30 secs there would be a tram going to Palmovka). I missed it by few seconds so waited for another one. I got on and heard an announcement that due to subway not operating the tram will take detour covering all those subway stops. This generated quite some delay. At Palmovka I got off the tram to check if the tram number 12 arrives any time soon. It was supposed to arrive in 16 minutes so I hopped on the tram I got off from few seconds earlier and tried to go to the Expo via a different route...only to find out that there I would have to wait yet another 16 minutes to get on yet again tram no. 12. I finally got there but rather late as the registration was closing.

In the end I decided to register for Historic Sealed Deck. But we were accidentally registered for the earlier Modern tournament (I suppose, I was). Some time later our tournament was announced and we went there to find out that we are not enrolled. So we headed back to the judge station and asked to be enrolled in the tournament we payed for. That meant that me and Ondra would face each other in the first round as we had to be paired manually.

In the very first booster pack I opened Serum Visions and it was the only card worth some money in my pool (or at least I thought so). After looking at my cards and not finding the cards I wanted to play (mainly in green, white and of course colorless) I ended up putting together Gr deck with Masticore as my win con. In the first round I played against Ondra's 5c deck and managed to win. Next I utterly lost to GW aggro because the only cards I could draw were lands and when I finally drew some creatures I was too far behind. But anyway I'm not sure if I could have withstood that onslaught. My next opponent did not really seem to know his own cards so that helped me a bit to beat him. I lost game one, but I won the following two. In game two my opponent fell behind fast and in game three I decided to be as aggressive as I could and it worked out. 2/2 by round 2, 3/2 hasty creature on t3, even bigger creature on t4 and it was enough to win the game. In the following round I met the nicest person at the GP. He had a nice UB deck with Platinum Angel (and Mind's Eye). Even though I could deal lethal damage before I would die I couldn't get rid of the angel so I could win the game (with quite some artifact removal main deck). I sided in even more artifact removal. Since my opponent was playing several copies of Cranial Plating I even sided in Unforge (never managed to draw it though). In my opener I had a artifact removal that I wanted to use on the Angel primarily. So I was letting all the opposing creatures attack me and hoped to keep my card and stay alive. Soon after that Platinum Angel showed up, I killed it and then I started also drawing some creatures so I could block the ones already in play. I had quite some creatures with Protection from Artifacts so those could block those creatures with Cranial Plating equipped all day. Anyway.. I won both games and that meant that I ended up in top 8.

At this point I did not really feel well and I could hardly concentrate. My drafted deck was pretty bad (especially when white was heavily drafted by two more players) and I couldn't even trigger my own triggers nor attack with a 1/2 vigilance Hover Myr with +2/+2 equipment (I had Puresteel Paladin in play so I could equip for free). I terribly died (and made a fool of myself). I received my prizes and then I had nothing to do.

I walked around and checked the prices of cards at each stand. One vendor was selling Japanese non-foil cards so I bought a bunch and then walked around the table rows. I went through some binders. Then I encountered some Italian? guy that had quite a lot of Japanese cards.

We went outside to process the transaction and it was quite funny to see the face of the security guy. I wonder what kind of thoughts were in his mind when I was pulling out 100EUR bills to pay for those cards I chose earlier.

When I got back I also had some fun watching strangers come and go. I'm not entirely sure what was happening in the other half of the Expo hall but from time to time mothers with their children came to the GP part and were staring at all those guys (and gals) playing Magic. Their looks were priceless. (The finals were going on so there was actually quite some commotion)

It was time to leave the site, sit down somewhere, drink a hot chocolate and open our prize packs. We played some Legacy afterwards...I was so tired that at some point I had to ask what number of counters there is on my opponent's Vial (he just passed his second turn). After lifting my head I realized that it is my third turn...but it certainly did not look like it....it could easily be a turn 10. I had a Deathrite Shaman, two Pyromancers and 6 elemental tokens in play^_^

Garmin Vivofit

Vivofit is a smart pedometer bracelet that tracks your daily steps, distance, calories burned and heart rate for more or less one month (then the data gets deleted, one needs to upload the data before this happens). It has a rubber wrist band that is durable and water resistant. Vivofit's battery should last for a year and that is one of the reasons why I chose this product in the first place. Many other pedometers need to be recharged once a week and I really hate charging any device.

As for accuracy I don't really have means to test it but I used Garmin GPS system to track the distance and counted the number of steps based on the average length of my step. There was only a very slight difference. I tried walking three different distances and with (heavy bag or a big heavy box) or without anything in my hand (wearing the bracelet) the result was the same. This wasn't the case though when I ran. (I moved less distance according to Vivofit).

Vivofit also sets a daily goal for you. This is actually quite a nice feature. Based on your average daily steps it will adjust the goal. I set my own goal around 7km per day. My goal on the device ranges from 9800 steps (when my activity suddenly drops a lot) to 12000 steps (when it gets higher). At the time when I was looking for such a device one had to manually set the goal and this one allowed automatic setting. This automatic goal setting allows the wearer to be progressively more active. (or at least in theory^_^)

Other feature that seemed handy for me at first is an inactivity bar. It has several stages. After first 2 hours of inactivity first bar appears. After after 15 minutes another bar shows up. To get rid of the red bars one just need to get up and move actively for about a minute (if the bar is all red). The bar does not fill while asleep.

The last feature I did not mention is sleep monitoring. Vivofit records your movement during sleep and distuinguishes light sleep stages from deep sleep stages and it also shows when one awakens. (this fairly works, when I was waking up I wrote down the time and then checked what the bracelet recorded). By browsing the data from this I found out that before major tournaments in Magic (or any other event that seems to put pressure on me) I do not enter the deep sleep state. I used to be awake the whole night before such events. Now I fall asleep. When I wake up though I do not feel refreshed or anything, just completely dead and feeling the same way I used to when not sleeping at all. This is most probably due to the fact that I do not enter the deep sleep stage during which the body regenerates. I also noticed that while lucid dreaming I wake up at the end of deep sleep stage. When I fall asleep again I go immediately to deep sleep again and the dream continues (unless I get up from the bed and then go back to sleep, in that case the sleep cycle starts at the beginning - light sleep). When I wake from a dream I'm fully awake and aware unlike when I wake up not remembering dreaming prior waking up. That's when I'm dizzy and my head aches and it takes time to adjust to 'being awake'.

Vivofit uses Garmin Connect to sync data and show them. The application works on Android and iOS devices. Synchronization via PC proved to be a bit complicated (but that might be due to the fact that Garmin Connect wasn't working the way it was supposed to in January and February). I only use iOS app now (it takes a while - a day sometimes - to see all the data from the pedometer for some reason, it either does not show on Garmin Connect site or in the app...that's why you don't see the Sleep data on the screenshot below).

I did not really talk about calories much. The reason is that the calories that it shows probably do not correspond to reality. It shows the non-active calories (basal metabolic rate) well I guess based on ones weight etc. but as for the active calories burned I have no idea. It probably shows more burned calories if one moves faster but after playing Pump it Up or ITG for two hours the calories hardly moved from the 1900 to 2100 I usually get. In that case the machine itself would tell me that I burned something in between 1500 and 2000 calories. Workouts can be added manually via Garmin Connect. This will add the calories burned (that who knows how are set). Anyway the only thing I managed to figure out out of the calories is this - when I reach over 2100 calories I'm hungry the next day. The day after it is back to normal unless I'm physically active once again.

Overal I like this device, it suits my needs and helps me monitor my activity and this way I can hopefully get a better sleep and keep myself active (and monitor my weight, which is a rather depressing thing to see^_^).

World Magic Cup Qualifier #1

This year I decided to participate in the WMCQs and for that it was time to play some Standard. After a while figuring what I would like to play I ended up playing Abzan Control which I already played at previous tournaments. The deck changed a bit though. I spent some time playing with the deck (mostly online) and there I really missed playing cards like Bile Blight and while playing in real life I needed Dromoka's Commands (there was many burn decks and GW constellation decks). I used to play Fleecemane Lions main and less removal online but vice versa in paper Magic. Anyway I wanted to tweak the deck so I could get a good result at WMCQ so paper Magic was what interested me.

This is what I ended up playing and I do not regret that. The deck was performing well. I would cut 1 Nissa, 1 Forest, 1 Dromoka's Command or 1 Ultimate price and added Thoughtseize, Den Protector and a land (not sure which one).

Last week before the WMCQ I did not really have time to play. But I also noticed the fact that there was rise in control decks and in Abzan Aggro/Midrange decks. Because of that I added Thoughtseize, Bile Blight and Unravel the Aether. Enchantments are played a lot and burn has its spot as well so I decided to keep 3x Dromoka's Command but I moved 2 of them to sideboard so I can play more general removal. Because I needed to get rid of some cards early game (most of the time I needed to deal with Jace) and couldn't wait till I have a creature on the board so I can use Dromoka's Command as a removal spell.

The day before the Qualifier I was so exhausted that I wasn't even sure if I would wake up (or that my alarm clock would wake me up). I know that after being sleep deprivated for a really long time (few months) there is one day I just don't wake up. It was quite possible that it would happen the day of the WMCQ...

I woke up though (even the alarm clock did not wake me up). It was already late but still early enough for me to get to the site on time. When I got to Dejvice I met two other players so we went to the site together, fetching something to eat as well. I forgot to buy an energy drink, I did not realize that I would really need it that day *facepalm*.

I got missing cards for my and someone else's deck from Ondra and others borrowed cards from me (hopefully I'll get the cards back). Sasa even came to me with a strange request - he needed sleeves for his deck (and some cards as well). Even though he could buy the sleeves on site I told him that he can use the sleeves I have on my burn deck. One player who wanted to play Esper Dragons did not show up but I did not realize that I can take the Thoughtseizes out of the deck and play them myself so I ended up playing 3 Thoughtseizes instead of 4 (I thank Ondra for letting me play with his own. I was really slow in realizing stuff that day^_^ I couldn't think straight.). *facepalm no.2*

After players' meeting during which our decklists were collected and we received Thalias we were paired for the first round. (It seems there was a problem with Wizards Event Reporter) I was paired against Miro Sevcik playing Abzan Midrange. I wasn't particularly looking forward to that match because I knew it would take ages (he plays very slowly) and also because his way of thinking is completely elsewhere than my line of thought. The probability of playing mirror match was very high.

After playing Thoughtseize and seeing his hand I knew what deck he's playing. That was actually the matchup I never played. In his hand there was Ajani, Den Protector, 2x Hangerback Walkers, Caves of Koilos and Temple of Malady. I discarded Den Protector and hoped for a few Abzan Charms, Hero's Downfall or another Thoughtseize before Ajani would show up on the table. I was staring at those Hangerback Walkers, Siege Rhino and another creature (Anafenza I think). I had 2 Coursers and 2 Siege Rhinos but I couldn't really think what to do with the situation. I needed to get rid of the Hangerback Walkers without them generating the tokens (or get rid of those as well) and then I could possibly think of attacking. Miro knew that without being able to attack the game won't end so he spent ages thinking what to do. Few turns later we both were capable of attacking but I managed to deal with his creatures and won the game. The second game looked more or less the same. I managed to win somehow. We had to fill in the result slip ourselves due to problems with WER so I took a pic^_^.

In round two I played against Jiri Stetka who also plays Abzan Control. He usually loses but this time he was got lucky and won. Even though he managed to let his Nissa die and not to play Elspeth when she would kill me he still won the match. In the first game I couldn't draw my sixth land that I desperetadly needed and in the second game I was drawing mostly lands which did not really help me either. No Ugin to save the day and I lost.

/* beginning of rant */
At this point I was in a really bad mood. Listening to Jiri is something no one really likes, losing to him is even worse but that is not what made me angry in the first place. It was Ondra behaving like an idiot. Not only he fails to understand that I hate when people watch me play, he does not understand many other things and it seems that 'being polite' is not a notion he understands. Going through my stuff while I'm not there is something I certainly consider rude. That is why I decided to drop of the tournament after my second loss but in the end I ended up playing the whole tourney. Since I lost against Jiri early I guessed that I wouldn't be able to Top16 but I continued playing. During the upcoming matches I was too upset to think straight and my brain was flooded with thoughts and questions I won't really be able to find an answer for. Concentrating on the game was difficult and I was pretty tired (which was understandable, I really wonder what kept me awake. Maybe the fact that I was really angry helped. Sometimes being angry actually has its upsides.). /*end of rant*/

Next I played against Mardu Dragons or something like that. After seeing my opponent's hand with Kolaghan's Command, Crux of Fate and Stormbreath Dragon I knew that I have nothing to fear that game. (except endless top decks of hasty dragons). Except those cards what I saw was Soulfire Grandmaster that I did not really care much about and some burn spells including Magma Spray which does not do much against me either but I guess it is very good against many decks and cards (especially that annoying Hangerback Walker). In the second game there wasn't much resistance from my opponent so I managed to win relatively easily.

After this I realized that I'm hungry and I really need a coffee or something to wake me up (it was like 3 minutes till the end of round). I sat down to wait for the next round to begin and fell asleep (achievement unlocked!). Sasa woke me up, it wasn't nice but at least I woke up before the round started and could shake off a headache I got because waking up in mid-sleep. He gave me back my cards and sleeves and left. (just for your information, we waited 28 minutes till Esper Dragons and UR Tutelage decks finish their 5 additional turns! That's what I call Murphy's Law...I was soo hungry and sleepy-_-.)

Next I played against burn and it wasn't really pleasant and I wasn't supposed to win. I was facing Eidolon of the Great Revels and I did not like that at all. I could have died one turn but my opponent managed to misplay and that gave me the possibility to play my Siege Rhino and survive the next turn. Next I played Courser of Kruphix after Courser of Kruphix and later won the game. I was glad that I managed to win game 1, because I was in a way better position than usually I am (game one is tough). I lost game two to 3x times Pyrostatic Pillar effect that I couldn't get rid of. In game three my opener consisted of 3 forests, a fetchland and Dragonlord Dromoka. I did not particularly like the hand but if I could draw something and stay alive till turn 6 I could win. The hand had a certain plan even though a pretty shaky one. Also losing the game would mean leaving the site for me and that would probably ease my mind and I could spent more time at Natsucon and it also meant that I can get some warm meal^_^ ). I kept the hand (which in most cases would be immediate mulligan). My following draws were two more fetchlands. I needed to draw a land that is not a fetchland and does not come into play tapped. I managed that and played Dromoka on t6. My opponent missed 2 land drops so I knew that Dromoka would survive at least for one turn and then I had Dromoka's Command if my opponent would try to kill my dragon. Dromoka stayed in play and I won few turns later.

After this turn I hurried to get something to eat and get some Red Bull so I would be able to at least play the next round. Unfortunately for me I played against Abzan Midrange next. I somehow won the first game. I do not remember how or what happened during the game except that I played 2 Rhinos and Courser of Kruphix obviously^_^. In the middle of the second game I got completely lost in the game and I simply couldn't figure out what to do with all those creatures. I just hoped for a Wrath of God effect and lost later when Ajani and Sorin made it into play. I couldn't deal with either of them and I completely forgot that Sorin has an ultimate ability that actually DOES something. So I got rid of him before he could go ultimate but already fell to much behind and lost the game. The third game was similar to the second one. The fact that a judge was watching my game along with few more players (Ondra included as always, even though he seemed to understand that I hate this and even noted that he hates that as well. No matter what he comes to mess my games all the time) did not help. I had no idea what to do and attacking wasn't an option. I then played Elspeth and wondered if I should kill Rhino, Hangerback Walker with it and deal with the tokens with Bile Blight or use Abzan Charm to deal with it. The game continued and I soon faced 5/5 Hangerback Walkers that I couldn't deal with because I only had 1 Bile Blight and 1 Hero's Downfall and I needed one more removal. I did not draw the removal spell and died. But I think that there was a way how to win the game, I just had to seriously mess up somewhere in the middle of the game....But I hardly recall the game now. I was too preoccupied with thoughts in my head that I couldn't process the game the way I usually do. (that does not mean I would have won, I would just remember what happened in the game).

Next Mardu Dragons awaited me. I underestimated Goblin Rabblemaster in game 1 and even after I played few Rhinos that immediately died (to Crackling Doom). I died later to a horde of Goblin tokens. I wasn't happy about that and wasn't looking forward to game 2. My opponent tried to cheer me up and it kinda worked. Those were the only kind words that someone told me that day. In game 2 my opponent couldn't draw enough lands and also misplayed so I won the game. In the third game he kept a hand with Crux of Fate, few Scrylands and Stormbreath Dragon which seemed ok to me but his deck decided to provide mostly lands so I won that game as well. (even though I was flooded as well). But I still had answers to all the dragons and one creature can win the game (hoped it wouldn't end up dead, that would be a problem^_^).

In the last round I knew I would have to pay attention more than before because I was even more exhausted. I played against a very good player piloting UR Tutelage. I wasn't really sure if I can win this match up. My previous experiences with that deck did not end up well. The game was proceeding well though for me. I was able to deal enough damage but I knew there was still Send to Sleep in my opponent's hand that could just mean I would get milled before I deal the final three damage... No matter what I managed to mess up because there was Siege Rhino on top of my library that I could play (I had Nissa in play) and win but I didn't do it (*mega facepalm*). Not only I felt like an idiot but I expected Ondra to tell me this after the game (he didn't). I sided in all the Commands, discard and Unravel the Aether and hoped to win somehow. My opponent sided in Encase in Ice which kinda messed up with my Dromoka's Commands but even getting rid of the Encase (instead of Tutelage) meant that I could win because I would deal lethal damage next turn. That happened. I managed to miraculously win game three. I was facing two Tutelages and I had to mill many cards after two Treasure Cruises and some red drawing spell. My only way to deal with those tutelages (I had 6 cards left in my library) was to play Ugin a get rid of everything there was on the table (I did not have anything costing more than 3). After dealing 11 damage with my creatures (opponent being down to 5) I played Ugin. It resolved. I exiled everything and hoped to use his +2 ability to deal the remaining 5 life. My opponent though played Radiant Fountain and bounced Ugin. Next turn I played Duress to discard a counterspell but the spell itself was countered. I had no other choice but to play Ugin and hope. It resolved and I dealt 3 damage. My opponent played another Fountain though^_^. Anyway I managed to kill him before I ran out of my own cards. Anyway that one damage that was messing my game was my earlier mistake (playing Dromoka's Command post combat) (*facepalm no.3*).

The round was more or less after I finished the match so I wanted to see where my 5:2 record would take me. It wasn't far from top 16 (22nd). After that I rushed to Karlinske Namesti so I could participate in another tournament, this time in dance games. Before it we managed to get dinner with Ondra. My dish was too salty and greasy but it felt great to eat something warm and cooked after all those 7 rounds.

/* something you probably don't need to read*/
I after I ran those few hundred meters to the Natsucon site I knew that my physical performance would be pretty lousy. During the In The Groove tournament I realized how exhausted I am. I can play dance games for hours and feel ok. But after the tournament I felt exhausted both psychically and physically.

When I came back at midnight we ate something (more like a bit of everything we had in the flat) and then watched Mr. Robot's episode from 3 days ago. It was very strange but not provoking my mind to think about the series or its characters much. The thoughts that troubled me during the WMCQ came back and I started reevaluating whether I want to participate in the upcoming two WMCQs and Grand Prix Prague. After this experience with one particular player I really don't know if I want to be a part of that 'community' and suffer from this (there's way more players and things that I don't really appreciate. There are many players that make me feel miserable when I see them or have to deal with them.). While being at Natsucon I realized the big difference. People did not want anything from me there, weren't rude or hostile and actually wanted to talk to me or wanted to learn something. People with similar interests gathered there. Most participants know each other but even they would be strangers they wouldn't be so hostile as many Magic players tend to be. Those people were there to have fun and enjoy the event. I wasn't in the mood for anything, my mood destroyed since the morning, I did not even say good bye to all those people I treasure and was really glad to see after a long time. I regret this, but in my state I think it was a miracly that I did not kill someone...I know this post is strange but I really felt strange that day.

I fell asleep after 2am and woke up at noon, exhausted and depressed wondering if the tournament was worth it. The games and the tournament itself were fine. I would even enjoy it weren't it for that one particular person ruining my day. Unfortunately little is needed to spoil my mood.

/* end of rant */

MTGGoldfish (infographic deck view)

Since I play on MODO more regularly than before which was more of 'rarely' I needed a site to check on prices.

I started using MTGGoldfish to see the prices of a larger amount of cards because it might actually be the only site that does it for free and does it FAST. With time I started using the site for more things. I added some decklists I wanted to share in a text form (because it clearly shows the prices in tix and one can see price of each card at once). Later I ventured on and read some of the statistics articles and became hooked. I don't usually read Magic articles unless it is something very strange usually not talking about Magic but rather about its players/community, psychology, sociology and such. But when seeing numbers and reading some of the analysis I realized that this is something my brain can actually work with and that it actually interests me (even though the interpretation of the data is a completely different matter)

MTG Goldfish has become a site I have opened in my browser most of the time and I actually check the new content. I still do not watch Magic videos but I might actually start doing that. I sometimes watch games on MODO so I don't see a problem why I couldn't watch something that was actually screen captured for that purpose (so people could watch that)

One of the things that I actually like about MTGGoldfish is the fact that it is mostly plain text and shows all the data well unlike other sites (and exports decklists in plain text!). So if someone decides to make the site more graphically pleasing I hope this clarity will be maintained. (the site owner is certainly someone who knows what he wants and can formulate what he wants).

One day while browsing the site I accidentally clicked on some link and I ended up on MTGGoldfish Facebook page. I clicked on 'Like' because they deserve it and then noticed that they were looking for a graphics designer. Which certainly seemed strange since their site looks the way it looks like (no offence, I like it). So I decided to sent them an email with something like my portfolio and see if they would contant me (that forced me to update it and I felt pretty badly afterwards as I don't really have much to show).

A bit later I received an email asking me if I could do what they envision. I found out that what they plan to do is have some nice visualization of decks that they can post on FB, Instagram etc.

I decided to do it no matter what they give me. It sounded as a good idea. During the process of coming up with a layout and design I certainly learned few things (since I really did not expect doing graphs and using zillion of layers...).

I wanted to do the first draft functional and I wanted to have an idea how something like a visual deck view (infographics actually) could look like and I wanted to keep the MTGGOldfish orange color present. It turned out functional but not 'awesome' or anything. The second draft was an attempt to make it look better - in terms of visually pleasing. But I struggled a lot with showing the data. I was trying to figure out what kind of graphs could be used and what graphs wouldn't look dull. The second draft wasn't good enough but it lead me to the final draft which finally started looking nice and flashy (actually a fourth one). Textures and graphics (icons, charts) were added. That is something I was doing seperately in Illustrator/Photoshop and took most of the time. Later it was about figuring out how to make it look coherent. In the end the simplest solution showed up to be the best and the infographic view for MTGGoldfish was created.

So I thank MTGGoldfish for letting me do this and hope that you - players - enjoy it. Even though I wasn't really fan of this idea at first (I like text you see...) I changed my mind later. It is convenient and looks pretty cool and after some changes someone at MTGGoldfish did it looks even better.

Draft no. 1

Draft no. 2

Draft no. 3

Final generated version

Jace Beleren from Magic: The Gathering

Another attempt at drawing something that was supposed to be Jace Beleren.