Daggers?

Grand Prix: Las Vegas is this weekend. I decided against attending for many reasons. While personal finances played a part, a desire to spend more time with the Significant Other was a bigger piece of the pie (she just got back from a trip to Europe), and seeing as how  I was supposed to go out to Providence, I felt I would have wanted a break from slinging cardboard.
Well, I didn't make it to Providence. While discussing GP: Vegas with SO, and how all my friends would be gone, she said "Well why didn't you go?"
I gave her the reasons above. She replies: "It would have been okay. I would have hung out at the pool all day."

I learned two things from this conversation. First- I'm incredibly lucky. Second- I'll have to discuss any resort based GPs with her in the future.

My Pauper Cube

In my faux report on Providence I made mention of my Pauper Cube. I realized I have not discussed it in depth recently and decided, oh well, what the hell.

That is not to say my Cube has not been discussed. The awesome Adam Styborksi has featured me and the Pauper Cube not once, but twice in his various publications. While The Stybs and I might disagree about certain inclusions, I am ever thankful for the ability to just talk shop with the man. 

As with any story, the best place the start is the beginning. I was living in Westchester and had just started playing paper Magic on the regular again. I frequented a local hobby shop that sponsored Magic tournaments and I quickly established myself as one of the better players. This was not hard, as I also raised the average age quite a bit - most of the clientele at the time were too young to get married in the Song of Ice and Fire series. These kids were nice and eager enough, so I decided to put together a Pauper Cube (since I was/am the Pauper guy) to help teach the store how to draft. This quickly fell apart but the owner was happy to have me take some commons off his hands. So happy he gave me a case of awful sleeves so my cube of commons could be protected. I still use those sleeves, and they're still terrible.

At this time I start harassing anyone who will listen to me on twitter about cube. It is how I make friends with Adam and start whittling and shaping the Cube into something that is in line with other Pauper stacks, but something wholly my own. I tried to seed my favorite pieces of limited into my cube, from Tribal to Multicolor. I work with other online Paupers and figure out a way to draft it on MTO and get some games in. I was ignorant of the problems with power balance and was just having fun.

Fast forward a few months and I become friends with another old fogey at this store: Seth Burn. I recognize Seth from the Stupid Green Deck and articles on websites gone by. This feeds his ego and is the start of our friendship. When I mention my Cube, we start doing regular one on one drafts, where he smashes me over and over. He was drafting slow, three color decks and I would try to blitz him out. It did not work. Seth found out the Cube was broken in favor of blue. After a significant amount of massaging, the Cube reached a balanced power level. Seth and I drafted, one on one, countless times. He developed ways to get more games in and keep it challenging (I'll get to these later).

I eventually moved to Brooklyn and my grudge match style games with Seth grew less frequent. However, with the advent of the 20 Sided Store, the number of actual drafts I have been able to do has gone up. It was one night drafting with Seth that led my Cube down a path I have not seen others take.

Color balance is a problem in Pauper Cubes. There are tons of sweet gold/hybrid/off color kicker & flashback cards, but the allied colors have the lions share. This creates a significant limitation on the number of gold cards any Pauper Cube can have. On top of that, hybrid cards are actively easier to cast (aside from Unmake), so placing Rendclaw Trow in Golgari, when in fact it is only non-Azorius, non-Izzet, non-Boros is a fallacy. This would put a limit on the number of Sweet Cards I would be able to play. A Cube is nothing if you can't play sweet cards, and as more multicolor comes out, it would create moments of constantly cutting good cards instead of adding. Again, Seth to the rescue.

What my curmudgeonly cube compatriot devised was a scheme so devious, only he could divine it. Rather than going by number of cards in each color and color pair, Seth devised a formula that counts the number of cards in each color pair. This means each guild has access to the same number of cards, but some cards are concentrated in gold and others are mono-color. The exception is Unmake, which unlike the aforementioned Tro, only counts as white, black, and Orzhov due to the triple hybrid cost. 

The results have been awesome. My Cube still gets to run all the awesome cards and when a new one comes along, I can add it and massage the numbers to keep the balance. This necessitates having a sideboard of almost cards (I affectionately call mine the Bench or the Triple A Squad), but drafting has actually gotten better with this system. 

As I draft more, I am going to start keeping more statistics on what is working and what is not, but first, I want to describe my favorite ways to test out my cube. When I started one on one, I would always Winston, but this would take up quite a bit of time. When I learned about Winchester , Seth and I quickly took to the format as our preferred way to draft. Seth then decided it would be better to Winchester 168 cards and build three decks each, then play three matches, best of five. This would allow us to see more cards per session and see how they were working, while more closely mimicking a 6 or 8 person draft.

Seth was right; Winchester 168 is awesome.

Of course, then I found out about Grid Draft. Even faster than Winchester, this format led to stronger decks. Of course when Seth got wind of this, he decided that one deck per draft was not enough. 

I think you know where this is going. Seth declared we would Grid a stack of 252 cards and build three decks each. 

Seth was right; Grid 252 is awesome.

I love Grid 252 because it gives stronger decks overall while also letting me see what cards are consistently going unplayed. I also love how much playing it actually allows me to do. With a little more time for drafting, I can be challenged in new ways with deckbuilding decisions and then get to play three matches of Magic. This is awesome, because I am a degenerate.

So this was my first attempt in discussing my Cube in  over two years. Take a look at my list and let me know what you think.

Just Like Riding a Bike

Today, I joined the masses. I ran the two miles to my parents house (making up for the run I missed this morning, in my mind at least) and as per an arrangement I made with my dad early this week, took his old road bike off his hands.
The goal: bike the two miles to work when the weather allows it, helping to save some money on the recently raised cost of the monthly Metro-Card.
But here's the thing - I rarely rode a bike as a child. Growing up when I did, Brooklyn was not as bike friendly as it is today. I had a bike and I learned how to ride. Once I outgrew it, however, I never acquired a new one.
Until today.
My dad, who grew up in the suburbs, showed me up with his ease and grace getting on and off the red piece of metal. It's hard for him to look graceful doing anything, being all of 5'3" of stocky former high-school wrestler. The look on his face was terrified as I took off, much as I imagine he looked when he took the training wheels off my first bike. I called out to him: "If I don't call you in 20 minutes I'm dead. Come look for me."
My dad and I, we have an interesting relationship.
I tried riding the two miles home. Aside from slamming my crotch on the dismount a few times, I have to say, I'm looking forward to my new commute.
I do have to work on the dismount. A lot.

And yes, I called my dad.

Brooklyn Sunshine

I've lived in Brooklyn for most of my life. Aside from a break for college, grad school, and my first job, Brooklyn has been my home. Thanks to my life away, I no longer take the ease of access New York City provides for granted. I relish in walking and coffee around the corner. I am thrilled that I do not need my car every time I want to do something but rather it is a means to a getaway. Before, it was a means to groceries.

Today I got breakfast with a good friend who just moved to Brooklyn. Afterwards, I was pointing out the places to go (and to avoid) in my neighborhood. She stopped and said:

"It's so nice to see tree lined blocks."

As I looked and saw the yellow light bouncing off the underside of the green leaves that shaded the brownstone buildings, I couldn't help but smile and agree silently.

My Grand Prix: Providence

My Grand Prix: Providence began a long time ago. When team events were reintroduced I contacted my friend Seth, quite the Magical talent and noted curmudgeon and implored him to team with me for all future events. The first such event took place on the West Coast, so I bid my time until an East Coast event appeared in the queue. A year later, Providence was put on the calendar and I reached out to the person I believed would anchor my team.

He could not confirm that he could play.

Understandable- we're both adults and have other responsibilities. I set out to find another team and thankfully was able to find two players from Twenty Sided Store to take their seats next to mine. 

Awesome.

Until one player had to drop out. The two remaining members scrambled for a third, but as the event approached, one could not be secured. 

Two weeks before the event, and after receiving a rather large set of bills for the month, I bowed out of attending Grand Prix: Providence. The stress of finding a team and practicing and traveling and paying for everything was just too much. 

Terrible.

Well, not really. Because Magic is the greatest game I decided I was going to play it anyway. It might not have been team sealed, but it would be with friends.

I arrived at the Twenty Sided store a little after Noon and promptly signed up for a Return to Ravnica block draft. I have not had the chance to draft this format at all, but I have played some sealed events with the set, so I settled in for my first crack while my friends were sitting down for their Modern Masters draft. I opened a mediocre pack and started by picking mono-color cards. After a steady flow of green cards and some poorly read signals on my part, I settled into Selesnya and had a decidedly mediocre deck at the end of my three packs.

Did I say mediocre? I meant bad. I promptly went 0-2 drop and did a one-on-one cube with my friend Li.

My cube list can be found here. It is a Pauper cube (shocker). While I like the various one-on-one draft formats (Winston, Winchester, Grid), my favorite thing to do (spurred on by Seth, of course) is drafting enough to build three decks each. The order of the decks is randomized on each side and three matches are played. I prefer best of five but since Li had a mid-afternoon Modern Masters draft to make we did best of three.

Today it was 252 card Grid Draft. Our decks were quite good (of course). In round one Li's Azorius Skies took down my Izzet tempo deck in three games. Round two my Orzhov deck (with a decent amount of lifegain) trumped Li's Red deck. There was a moment where I got to seven mana, cast Syndic of Tithes and Seraph of Dawn, while triggering Extrot. The look on Li's face was priceless and would make Vraska blush.

It all came down to the final match with my Golgari against Li's Golgari. Game one an early Putrid Leech did me in. Game two my sideboard Aramdillo Cloak won when I put the fancy pants on a shadow creature. In the final match, there was a ton of back and forth but I managed to stick a Siege Wurm and trample over for victory.

After that I packed up and went home and flipped on the Mets game. It was in some absurd inning. I eventually left for dinner and the Mets did what the Mets do this season and lost. In the twentieth inning. 

I got home and put together a sweet White Weenie list from this Pauper daily that I'm calling Cyborgs.

My night is ending with watching Providence coverage.

Magic is the greatest game, because even when I don't get to play it how I wanted, I still get to play it. And even when I lose, I win.

For this still recovering from the Red Wedding

I feel like this song about recovering from a break up applies to people getting over the previous episode of Game of Thrones as well.

Thoughts?

The Menzingers - "Are You There Margaret? It's me, God (The Lawrence Arms cover)"

Okay, so I love the Menzingers - amazing live show and totally cool dudes as well.
And I love the Lawrence Arms, and cannot wait for their new album to come out.

So I mean, to me, this video is just tops.