I am still quite new to this league and not the most active on Discord so instead I will tell a story about a disappointing performance in another game I love, Magic: The Gathering. I apologize that is a bit long, off topic and makes no sense to those who don't play. If anyone is ever interested in playing or learning hit me up, always happy to help.
I entered my first major Magic tournament at Grand Prix New Jersey 2014 in the legacy tournament. This was not only my first GP but my first time playing legacy as well. For those who do not know, Legacy is the format with the second most expansive card pool and decks normally cost thousands of dollars. So naturally I showed up to what would be the current largest Magic tournament of all time with a deck that cost ~$250, know as Burn.
So my friends and I got in the car drove from Boston to Edison New Jersey and got to the tournament hall at 9AM to play some Magic. All was going well for me as I was 6 - 2 heading into the last round of Day 1, needing a win to qualify for Day 2. I will note, that the start of round 9 was after 10PM as the logistics of 4000 people playing Magic, and because of damn countertop, made for an extremely long day. So here I was in my win and in playing against U/W stoneblade. Well game one I walked him, and game two he had a turn 3 batterskull and forced my sulfuric vortex so was an easy win for him, all setting up a decisive game three. This was a battle that came down to a crucial error I made. My opponent was at 5 I had a fireblast and smash to smithereens in hand and a goblin guide in play with 3 mountains. My opponent had a StoneForge mystic, batterskull and 2 unknown cards in hand with an island and Tundra in play for lands. I decided the best play to make was to attack with Guide, he would spend his two mana to play batterskull, I could then fireblast the token, which if countered I would then play smash to smithereens and win the game. If it wasn't countered, I could still use smash to win after fireblast resolved. Well my plan was working, the guide attacked and in came batterskull, before blocks I sacrificed my mountains and cast fireblast targeting the germ, my opponent used force of will pitching a daze to counter as expected. And this is where my mistake finally dawned on me. Yeah I sacrificed my mountains for fireblast, but I did not tap them first to float two mana, I only had one land and thus could not cast the smash to smithereens and promptly lost my match and potential day 2 experience. So the lesson, go slow don't assume you have the win and always float your damn mana.
I entered my first major Magic tournament at Grand Prix New Jersey 2014 in the legacy tournament. This was not only my first GP but my first time playing legacy as well. For those who do not know, Legacy is the format with the second most expansive card pool and decks normally cost thousands of dollars. So naturally I showed up to what would be the current largest Magic tournament of all time with a deck that cost ~$250, know as Burn.
So my friends and I got in the car drove from Boston to Edison New Jersey and got to the tournament hall at 9AM to play some Magic. All was going well for me as I was 6 - 2 heading into the last round of Day 1, needing a win to qualify for Day 2. I will note, that the start of round 9 was after 10PM as the logistics of 4000 people playing Magic, and because of damn countertop, made for an extremely long day. So here I was in my win and in playing against U/W stoneblade. Well game one I walked him, and game two he had a turn 3 batterskull and forced my sulfuric vortex so was an easy win for him, all setting up a decisive game three. This was a battle that came down to a crucial error I made. My opponent was at 5 I had a fireblast and smash to smithereens in hand and a goblin guide in play with 3 mountains. My opponent had a StoneForge mystic, batterskull and 2 unknown cards in hand with an island and Tundra in play for lands. I decided the best play to make was to attack with Guide, he would spend his two mana to play batterskull, I could then fireblast the token, which if countered I would then play smash to smithereens and win the game. If it wasn't countered, I could still use smash to win after fireblast resolved. Well my plan was working, the guide attacked and in came batterskull, before blocks I sacrificed my mountains and cast fireblast targeting the germ, my opponent used force of will pitching a daze to counter as expected. And this is where my mistake finally dawned on me. Yeah I sacrificed my mountains for fireblast, but I did not tap them first to float two mana, I only had one land and thus could not cast the smash to smithereens and promptly lost my match and potential day 2 experience. So the lesson, go slow don't assume you have the win and always float your damn mana.
![[Image: AXVcb1Q.png]](https://i.imgur.com/AXVcb1Q.png)
![[Image: klTkv9B.png]](https://i.imgur.com/klTkv9B.png)
