Ego vs. Confidence

Writing is hard. The writer has to expel some amount of ego and invest it into their words, because if the author does not care, why should the reader? This infusion of ego lends personal confidence to a piece. However, this is a tough line to walk.

In producing Magic content, finding the line between ego and confidence can separate good content from great content. 

People consume Magic content for multiple reasons- they want to get better, a desire for new ideas,  travel tales of the games' top pros. Me? I write about Pauper, a niche format largely played online. No huge prizes and no Pro Tours in exotic locations. 

No guts. No glory. Just Magic.

I write because I care about the format and the community. I have been a part of the Pauper community for the better part of a decade and it is something I understand, so I want to share my passion with the Magic-sphere. When I write, I refuse to submit anything unless I am pleased in what I have produced. My deck may not be the best or my reasoning may not be at the level of Magic's elite, but I can let something go into the aether and be happy with the words. 

To me, this is confidence. I have written something for consumption and therefore is fit to be read (but not necessarily accepted as "good"). I, as an entity, am a minor factor. Do I have some inherent capital from notoriety  Absolutely and I would be crazy to deny this. What I strive against, in my own work, is putting forth an idea, concept, or deck and expecting people to take it as truth because it coming from me. 

There is another producer of Pauper content out there who seems content to expect his work (largely decks) to be consumed and appreciated on his say so. While his ideas may be sound, they are put forth with the concept of "These are my ideas, so they must be good." 

This annoys me because I used to be the same way. When I first started writing Magic articles, I believed that any idea I had was miles away than that of other people playing Pauper, and that to not understand my clear genius was an insult. It was only after time, many loses, and a break from writing that I realized my error.

Writing with Confidence is believing what you have produced is good. Writing with Ego is believing whatever you produce is good enough for consumption.

This is not to say that ego is bad. As I said above, all writers need an ego. An ego required to believe that the writer is good enough to make something worth the reader's time. When it becomes more about the writer than the reader, that is when the scales tip.

Of course writing this is just an expression of my ego, so there is that. 

For the Punks

So I found this on Jaded Punk. It's just about perfect. I don't mean the guys skills, which I mean, clearly pay the bills.
What I mean is how this just encapsulates so much of my youth and even my now. I hear some of these songs and I can immediately pinpoint emotions I was feeling when the album came out. While I haven't been listening to Fat Wreck since the 3rd grade, I still know way too many of these songs.
And even the briefest moments, they make you feel. To me, that's the point of music.

Banquets - "Call It A Comeback"

Been listening to this non-stop at work for the past week. Album is sweet.

Polar Bear Club- "Most Miserable Life"

So for those of you who don't know, I run. I run in Prospect Park, a gorgeous 3.63 mile loop two blocks from my apartment. Now that the weather is getting nicer, I go out more often and have a nice green iPod shuffle to keep me company.
This morning was gorgeous, and as I hit the south end of the park, running east, with the sun in my eyes, this song came on.
When it kicks into high gear, I find it absolutely impossible to not pick up the pace, just a little bit.

Frank Turner - "Plain Sailing Weather"

Because Frank Turner

My Run at the Dragon's Maze

I'm a morning person, so my usual prerelease ritual is get up at a reasonable hour (something before 8am), have a decent breakfast and some coffee, head over to the Twenty Sided Store, get my game on, and be done at an hour when it is still acceptable to have "brunch." 

Dragon's Maze did not follow that plan. Work conspired to keep me busy Saturday and cheering on the significant other at a race took up Sunday morning. This meant if I was to play with the new set, I would have to sign up for the Sunday afternoon event.

So I did, of course.

I arrived to the store with a few minutes to spare and joined the milling masses outside. I confirmed my team for Grand Prix: Providence (rapidly approaching) and tried to defend Lyev Decree as a reasonable card in draft. 

Finally, the doors open.

I line up and get my guild pack (Golgari) and end up with my preferred secret ally (Simic). But I also get this:

Really happy my LGS @20sidedstore had these printed twitter.com/nerdtothecore/…
— Alex Ullman (@nerdtothecore) April 28, 2013

After some offensive comments at a recent Commander event at the store, making light of crimes against women, I found this card a much needed step. Twenty Sided Store does a great job of fostering a welcoming community, and now as more people flock to the store, they are taking steps to make sure that community persists.

Good on them.

Here is the pool I opened:

Boros Mastiff
Haazda Snare Squad
Lyev Decree
Riot Control
Steeple Roc (2)
Gridlock
Keymaster Rogue
Metropolis Sprite
Mindstatic
Murmuring Phantasm
Opal Lake Gatekeepers (2)
Scatter Arc
Uncovered Clues (2)
Wind Drake
Bane Alley Blackguard
Crypt Incursion
Dark Revenant
Destroy the Evidence
Maze Abomination (2)
Mind Rot
Perilous Shadow
Terrus Wurm
Ubul Sar Gatekeepers
Awe for the Guilds
Clear a Path
Riot Piker
Smelt-Ward Gatekeepers
Weapon Surge
Adaptive Snapjaw
Battering Krasis (2)
Centaur's Herald
Crocanura
Drudge Beetle
Forced Adaptation
Giant Growth
Gobbling Ooze
Maze Behemoth
Mending Touch (2)
Miming Slime
Skylasher
Spire Tracer
Stonefare Crocodile
Thrashing Mossdog
Verdant Haven
Azorius Cluestone
Dimir Cluestone (2)
Golgari Cluestone
Rakdos Cluestone
Selesnya Cluestone (2)
Jelenn Sphinx
Deputy of Acquittals
Legion's Initiative
Far//Away
Deathrite Shaman
Drown in Filth
Gaze of Granite
Golgari Longlegs
Rites of Reaping
Sluiceway Scorpion
Gruul War Chant
Zhur-Taa Druid
Blast of Genius (2)
Fluxcharger
Turn//Burn
Maw of the Obzedat
Tithe Drinker
Carnage Gladiator
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
Alive//Well
Bioshift
Give//Take
Shambleshark
Species Gorger
Unexpected Results
Zameck Guildmage
Azorius Guildgate
Gruul Guildgate (2)
Golgari Guildgate
Izzet Guildgate
Simic Guildgate

Just imagine there's blank space here. Here is the deck I settled on:

Ubul Sar Gatekeepers

Adaptive Snapjaw
Battering Krasis (2)
Crocanura
Drudge Beetle
Skylasher
Stonefare Crocodile
Thrashing Mossdog
Verdant Haven

Dimir Cluestone
Rakdos Cluestone

Far//Away
Deathrite Shaman
Gaze of Granite
Golgari Longlegs
Rites of Reaping
Sluiceway Scorpion

Blast of Genius (2)
Turn//Burn
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
Give//Take

Gruul Guildgate (2)
Golgari Guildgate
Izzet Guildgate
Simic Guildgate
Island
Forest (5)
Swamp (6)

I was really pleased with the amount of removal and fixing I opened. Seeing the two Blast of Genius basically dictated that I was going to want to stretch my mana, but with so many Gates, the Verdant Haven, and the Cluestones, I never lost due to my mana.
Actually, I never lost. I went 3-0-1 without dropping a game.
The combination of solid creatures and great removal meant I was able to out-power my opponents. Because of my color spread I also elected to draw when given the choice, and was rewarded with smooth sailing all day.

Round 1 was against Owen with Rakdos/Boros. He was not using sleeves and did not really shuffle his deck. Not sure what to expect, I pile shuffled his deck to count. 44.
Okay.
He had elected to play and came out quickly with Rakdos Shred-Freak, Splatter Thug, and Gore-House Chainwalker. He gets me very low with the combination of Punish the Enemy and Warleader's Helix before I stabilize at two life. From that point my Blast of Genius and solid, if unamazing creatures, put me in the winner's circle.
Game two Owen gets me low again, but I make it a point to keep my life total high and take him out easily.

Round 2 I play against Kyle, who I had apparently met before and forgotten the occasion. Sadly, this is common with me - but after the second time, I remember.
In game one Kyle mulligans to five and is never really in it. Game two he floods. He goes to kill my Exava, which had just evolved a Battering Krasis, but I save her with Far and replay to evolve Krasis again. Not much he could have done.

Round 3 I am paired with Matt (two junk players in a row). In game one I correctly play around Common Bond to take out a Syndic of Tithes and leave him with a 5/5 centaur token, which summarily dies to Blast of Genius discarding Rites of Reaping (the only time I used Rites to kill a creature all day). Game two he manages to actually populate, but I get them all with Gaze of Granite. I had a feel bad moment of using my Ubul Sar Gatekeepers with only one Gate in play to evolve my Snapjaw so it would require a double block. It was absolutely the correct play, but it felt bad.

I had a blast and am excited for full block draft. I also have a great appreciation for how the block was designed, specifically the seeding of two rainbow fixers in the first two sets (Transguild Promenade in Return to Ravnica, Prophetic Prism in Gatecrash).

Of course the question now is, can Wizards keep it up?

The Gateway District- "Tell You Why"