2012 Canadian WotC MTG Grand Prix: Vancouver; June 23rd-24th.

Well, it was only a matter of time before Wizards of the Coast finally announced the upcoming 2012 Spring and Summer event schedule, and today is that day!

Magic the Gathering Pro Tour and Grand Prix events will be coming to over 10 different countries with over 13 events, Wizards has stepped up slowly, but surely with more events like they promised last year.

They have also ramped up the payout structure to $30,000 per event for Grand Prix’s!

“Dates and specific locations for the rest of the 2012 Grand Prix schedule will be announced between now and Pro Tour Dark Ascension in February, but we can say that the end-of-the-year slate will include six events in North America, four in Europe, three in the Asia/Pacific region, and one in either Central or South America.” -WotC

I’m sure sooner than later, local stores across Canada will be announcing grinders to get yourself some byes into this event.

With the event landing in the middle of June, and not near any specific set release, I anticipate that this will be a Constructed format event. Hopefully Standard to be the friendliest and biggest turn out format, but I could see Modern, or even Legacy making an appearance. Your thoughts?

There can be more information found here; directly from Wizards of the Coast.

As always, MTGCapt on MTGO and Cockatrice.
Ian Myers

The 2012 teams are beginning to be announced and new jerseys are coming into the peloton. 2011 saw the end of the Belgian amalgam of Omega-Pharma and Lotto. The pharmaceutical giant Omega-Pharma wanted a more multinational presence with a mega-budget team, while Lotto preferred to stay to it’s national Belgian market. Quickstep joined into the fray and we’ve got the same number of teams with Omega-Pharma jumping to another Belgian ship.

I guess White, Black and Icy blue will once again be the colours of big-money as Omega-Pharma Quickstep seem to have just adopted the Leopard-Trek jerseys from last year. Lotto-Belisol continues with their dynamic colours, shapes and lines with these jerseys being similar to those the Ladies team wore last year.

I’m not a huge fan of either, but I really don’t like the “new” OP/Quickstep look over what Quickstep had these last few years.

As a note, Aaron Forsythe clarified this week that the current ranks are in error, and will be fixed soon.  Due to this, the 100th place PWP is going to jump, since I went by the raw rank information presented instead of the 100th person on the list.

Top 100 – From 1641 PWP to 1806 PWP (+165)

1750 PWP Mark – From 85 players to 111 players (+26)

2000 PWP Mark – From 51 players to 67 players (+16)

As an add on – The 100th threshold based on the broken ranking system is 1747, which is +106.  Given this range, we can assume the power grinder player will be averaging 100 points a week, give or take 50.  

The average gain may drop a bit, since the pro circuit for this season is over.  No more GPs or PT level events means there should be less swinginess for the rest of December.

I will probably run this experiment again for the next season, since that will give a ton of information on trends based on event info.  We can also look at the development of the standings as the season goes on.  I will also be forging another experiment involving another aspect of my modified system : Percentage Cuts.  I will try all the info next season using the “Raw” competitive totals, as well as a “Modified” competitive total using a percentage of last season’s PWP totals to see how this impacts the system.

Wow. Worlds in San Francisco was a blast. It’s a shame that this event may be the last we’ll ever see of its kind, due to the recent changes to Organized Play. However, I’m hopeful that Wizards will get it right, even if it takes some time.

Until then, enjoy these photos from the End of the Worlds as we knew it.

See the slideshow below or view the photos on Flickr here.

Download it here or stream it below!
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Joey goes to San Francisco for the World Championships! Trick Jarrett (formerly of GatheringMagic.com) and Jesse “Smitty” Smith (of 60cards.com) join in for a chat about the top 8, and then Patrick Chapin recounts his experiences at the tournament, explains why Brainstorm is vital to the health of Legacy, and shares some thoughts on the recent changes to Organized Play.

Official Coverage of Worlds 2011

Featuring music by Tha Gatherin’
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I suggested via Twitter a theoretical “Qualification Cap” of 2000 Competitive Planeswalker Points to provide a “Ratings Invite” to the Pro Tour.  It was met with significant negativity, indicating the expanded attendance would make the Pro Tour impossible to plan.  

As an experiment, I will be watching current Planeswalker Point totals from here until the end of the qualification season on December 25.  After the 25th, I will compare the entire worldwide Planeswalker Point totals for Competitive and see how many more or fewer invitations would be given out. Note: under this plan, no tickets would be given for this type of qualification, so there is no additional cost incurred by extra qualifications.

As of today, 1641 is the point threshold for qualification (Top 100)

I suggested two point levels : 2000, and 1750.  Today, these are the current lines :

Number of players with 2000+ points : 51

Number of Players with 1750+ Points : 85

At this point, it is obvioius the 1750 is too soft of a line to offer, but being half way through the season, 51 players with qualification seems about right.

I consider this the most ideal season to test these numbers for a few reasons :

• This is the “Grinder’s Experiment” season

This is the season where every grinder is putting their best face forward.  No one knows what the threshold is for qualification, but we will be quick to find out once it is found.  I believe next season, there will be fewer grinders looking to chase the dream, as the realization of the resources required will finally set in.

• There are two Pro Tour level events this season

With the announcement that the World Championship would provide Competitive Points this year, we have an additional glut of points that every other season will not experience. This means the points totals will be unnaturally high overall.

With these factors in place, that means the numbers are going to be unusually high.  This means something beyond the absurd, like 200+ over 2000, can render this unreasonable, but even around the 150 invitation range means that it could be a success. Not everyone will shoulder the travel expenses to make the Pro Tour that qualifies like everyone ELO qualified did not attend every Pro Tour either.

I’ll be checking this every week or so to see how the qualification line looks, and comment if it feels worth it.

Click Here to go straight to my new suggested system

The Ones That Came Before Me

First, I would like to address the letters that inspired this one.

For reference :

Letter from Hall of Famers on 10/16 – http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/an-open-letter-regarding-planeswalker-points/

Letter from Chris Landsdell on 10/25 – http://manadeprived.com/2011/10/a-second-open-letter-on-planewalker-points.html

The boiled down point of these articles : “The Planeswalker Points system (as is) is poor for players in our position, here is why.  Here’s how we think it should be fixed.”  Both sides have some merit to their arguments, no doubt.  The articles are very effective at using extremes to point out flaws in the system.  However, to the average player, these extremes are simply not viable examples.

In the Hall of Fame article, an example was used where a player who spent at least $900* in a qualifier season with mediocre finishes, could beat Brian Kibler in PWP for a season, who actually made $50-$100*.  This does not account for the amount of play to acquire the theoretical 3 byes the player had.  As I stated in comment to the article : “That’s right, if you aren’t really good at Magic, but you have between $4,000 and $10,000 and six months of your life to blow, you too can qualify for the Pro Tour.”  Though the argument holds weight, I think this extreme of an example soured the impact of the argument.

*- These numbers were before any expenses outside of tournament fees, like travel costs and food.

Chris’s article attacks the point system, but exposes more flaws in the distribution of events than it does the PWP system to me.  This article appeals more to the international and small town Magic crowd, which is affected far more by travel and event availability than most of North America.  It also shows the opposite extreme of the HoF article, which is needed to see other unintended consequences of the system.  I can relate to the lack of events without extreme investment, as I suffer the same problem with time availability, more than money investment.

Both letters offer suggestions to correct the current system to address these problems.  To be straight, here are some facts every system has to assume :

Gamers gonna game: No matter how complex or simple the system is, people are going to find ways to game it.  From fake events with undefeated players to boost ELO, to 8 person round robin FNMs to boost PWP, to joining a 4 GP side events an hour, to spending $10k to make it to the Pro Tour.  No system is unbreakable.  The best that can be done is to have a system that can quickly and efficiently vet obvious fraud and deal with it swiftly. 

No system is perfect for everyone: For every system that rewards skill, and punishes playing a lot with high numbers, there is a system that rewards playing a lot and punishes those that cannot.  The best anyone can hope for is that the system encourages as much of what you want as possible.  The basis of PWP does this. It encourages players to play, a lot.  We need to ask, “Is there a way to adjust the qualifier system to address the competitive player’s interest.”

Parts of a system can be bad while the core is good: I think where the base of the PWP system is going is correct.  It is a cumulative system that rewards play, and is intended to address poor problems in the ELO system, such as ratings squatting.  I suggested a similar system for months, but I think some of the execution on the upper end is where the problems are.  Those problems can be corrected without scrapping the whole system.

My Corrective Suggestions

These are the primary complaints I have seen about the current qualifier system as of today.

• There is no way to grind in long term
• There is no clear cut pro system yet (pending WotC announcement)
• Multipliers are skewed too hard

These are all legitimate gripes, and I share a few of them.  I’ve been advocating a similar system to PWP for a long time, but with a different qualifier system.

Back in 2006, WotC released a miniatures game called Dreamblade.  It had a rating system that was completely different from the old ELO rating, and shares some similarities to the PWP system.  The qualification system and points awards, however, were very different from PWP.

The old document for the system is in section 6 here :

http://www.wizards.com/dci/downloads/DBM_PEIP-0607_07may24_EN.txt

To summarize the DB system: 2pts for a win, 1 for a loss/draw.  Events awarded bonus points based on place. (Example : 1k events (PTQs) awarded 1000 points for first, auto-qualifying.) There was a hard cut of 1000 points for pro event qualification. At the end of the year, ratings dropped to 25% of your current points.

When I saw this system introduced, I commented “Why isn’t this being used for Magic?”  Now, the core of that system is in place, but the qualification system is not.  My suggestion is to adopt a similar system for Magic.

• No multipliers, every round gives 3/0/1 for a Win/Loss/Draw
• No participation points
• All Competitive + REL events award bonus points for finishes based on place.  Award a small bonus for “marquee” Regular events (FNM, Gameday)
• There is a hard line for qualification (ex: 2000 Competitive PWP qualifies someone for the Pro Tour, but no plane ticket)
• At the end of a competitive season, each player’s competitive point total is dropped to a set percentage.

This type of system addresses many of the complaints that have been thrown around.  It allows players who can’t dedicate an entire season to play non-stop to eventually grind into qualifications, which in turn allows pro level players to “Gravy Train” through the system with consistently good PT finishes.  Ratings squatting is eliminated because sitting on rating too long will eventually remove them from qualification.  FNM’s aren’t ratings black holes, but can still be used to clean up the last few points a player needs to qualify from a PTQ season of near misses.  Without giving everyone a plane ticket that qualifies through the threshold, there is a certain percentage that won’t go for whatever reason, but still have something to build on for the next season. 

Everything can easily be layered on top of the current system.  Have Professional PWP shrink at the end of the year instead of the season, and award Pro Players Club levels off of it.  This rewards high finishing pro players by reducing the amount of additional effort they need to regain levels for the next year!

There are some flaws in this system as well, but the system is fairly quick to adjust as needed without impacting every player.  Assume only that there will be an across the board percentage based point reduction at certain periods, and that there is a line to cross to qualify for the pro tour, and the rest of the system is open to work as it needs.  Everything else is open.  Too many/few players qualified off the threshold?  Threshold gets adjusted, and only adjust PTQ 1st place award.  No multipliers to fix and retro-grade.

This is a direction I would like to see PWP approach, and seems to address a lot of glaring issues the system currently has.  It’s not perfect, but it feels like it has fewer points of complaint than the current point multiplier and race or lose qualification system we are encountering now.

The 2012 Giro D’Italia route was announced yesterday in a grand festival in Milan, just one day after Il Lombardia and the conclusion of the 2011 season. The Giro d’Italia will run from May 5th to May 27th, 2012 starting with an 8.7km ITT in Herring, Denmark and concluding in Milan with a 31.2km ITT.

The first responses to the race are that it is a flatter, easier Giro than in the past, and with the news today that Alberto Contador will not return to defend his Giro crown the competition will be, at the very least, one grand champion easier. To me, the route suits Bradley Wiggins, but so does the rumoured 2012 Tour de France, but we’ll wait to see an official TdF announcement before we start speculating who may be favoured in which race.

Gazzetta.it Official Site

For the official video presentation (in Italian) of each stage and more

I’m not going to go through each and every stage, but have highlighted a few that I think will be exciting and likely decisive in the race. The Time Trials will be as important as always and this year has 40.2km individual and a 32.2km Team Time Trial. The individuals are about the same distance as in 2011, but the Team Time Trial is much longer (32.2km vs 19.3km in ’11) and will likely make for some big gaps as we saw the small teams lose 45″-1:13″ in 19km last year. So, the winner of the Giro will likely come from a strong group, and 2012 being the year of the super team, that winner may likely be from Team Sky, BMC Racing, Radioshack-Nissan-Trek or Omega Pharma-Quickstep.

Stage 7 is the first that really interests me after two time-trials and series of sprint stages in the first 6. Immersing further into the Appennino Centrale through stages 6,7 and 8, stage 7 features the first mountain finish of the race – the 1392m Rocca di Cambio. The 17km climb isn’t long enough, nor steep enough averaging 4.4%, to be a difference maker, but it may likely see a suicidal break-away effort pay-off or a nice testing of the legs. It’s a shallow enough climb that the power climbers could put the ultra-lightweights under some early race stress.

Stage 14 looks like it may be the first big day for the main GC contenders, which is unusually late for a Giro D’Italia. The stage features a rolling Col de Jeux with a long 18km descent which may make some gaps for the timid, then it’s immediately into the final climb up to Cervinia is about 5.5% avg but does have a significant 1.5km section in the middle that runs about 8-9%

Stage 20 is the big prize of the race, both for the overall and the allure of the Cima Coppi. The 2012 Giro will make it’s mark in cycling history having the highest mountain top finish ever in a grand tour at 2757m. The finishing climb itself will blow the race to pieces, coming on the penultimate day, which will weed out the exhausted, and being at such altitude, which will exacerbate the exhaustion. However, stage 20 is more than just the Stelvio, they’ve also decided on another route up the Motirolo, and word is it features sections of 22% and it’s not paved for 3km. A flat on the Motirolo and a desperate chase up the Stelvio? No thanks. The Giro will be decided on this day, no doubt.

I’m going to take a closer look at some of the other stages later, but I’d also point out stage 12 as one that should be just an incredibly grand day and tremendously beautiful running along the Ligurian coast from Seravezza to Sestri Levante. On stage 6, the Montolupone feature looks unfortunately insignificant with it being so far from the finish to make much difference.

All in all, it’s a Giro and I think the race and team structure will keep it interesting, but the epic stage 20 alone cannot measure this Giro up to it’s predecessors. It’ll be a good Giro, but I don’t know if it will be a great Giro.

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Joey brings you interviews from Magic Weekend Philly, featuring Patrick Chapin, Brian Kibler, and Aaron Forsythe! Hear their thoughts on Modern and the upcoming release of Innistrad. Afterwards, Ben Friedman discusses his deck choice, Pyromancer Ascension, which he took to a 31st-place finish.

Coverage of Magic Weekend Philadelphia

Joey’s Photos from Magic Weekend Philadelphia

Aaron Forsythe FACTS

Featuring music by Tha Gatherin’
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Personally, I think that it’s nice that you don’t loose points for loosing matches.  The first DCI sanctioned event I ever played in was the M11 pre-release.  Outside of Duels of the Planeswalkers, I hadn’t played Magic in over 8 years.  The six packs of cards I got to play with at the event were the first Magic cards I had touched or owned since I sold my collection about 6 years ago.  Under the old system, I started out with the standard 1600 points and then promptly played my first match to a draw, lost my next two matches and finally posted a win in round four.  Finishing 1-2-1 was a bit disappointing for me and when I decided to check my DCI info a couple of weeks later I found myself sitting below the beginning 1600.  Under the new system, while still disappointing, that first event netted me 5 total points which was enough to move me to Level 2 on the chart.  Not great, but at least I can say in the first event I played in, I managed to level up once.

My next event was the Scars pre-release.  I didn’t far much better there going 2-3 and earning 7 points.  This put me up another level though, so again, I played, although fairly poorly, but still get a feeling of accomplishment.

Finally, at the Mirrodin Besieged pre-release I made headway going 4-1 and earning a total of 14 points.  This jumped me all the way up to level 6.  It was also this third event that pushed my old DCI rating back up above 1600.  I finished third in that event and felt great about it and I believe I was rewarded by both systems for that showing.  The difference is that I was never “punished” by the new system.  Even with my poor showings in the first two events, I advanced up the achievement ladder.

WotC knows what they’re doing.  They know what works and they know what brings people back time and again to something.  The leveling ladder in the new system is a thing of marketing beauty and instantly had me itching to go to as many events as I could in order to level up.  Much like an RPG, the level system naturally creates a desire in players to level up.  If you’re 20 points away from making it to level 26 and becoming a “Guildmage”, then how bad do you want to go to the next week’s FNM and see if you can land those 20 points?  Me, I’d be foaming at the mouth.  Currently, I’m a Level 6 “Apprentice” with 26 points.  That means that I’m 24 points away from level 11 at which point I would become a “Task Mage”.  I plan on going to Magic Celebration this weekend and while I doubt I’ll make up the 24 points I need to get to level 11, I’ll probably earn enough to get me so close I’ll be dying to play again and make it.

Is the Planeswalker Points system perfect?  No.  A lot of long-time pros are up in arms about the new system and believe that it represents a death-knell for competitive Magic.  Jon Finkel (@Jonnymagic00 on twitter) has probably been the most vocal about his dislike of the new system.  He contends that the old system (an Elo system) was more accurate and that the problems with the old system could have been corrected without scrapping the entire thing.  I’m not a stats person and I’m not much of a math person either, so I can’t speak to the accuracy of these statements, but there is something to be said when something like Tom Martell who was in a PT Top 8 earlier this year but wasn’t listed in the Top 1000 for that time period.

So, the question remains: Is it better than what came before?  As far as casual players go, I think so.  For the real Magic Pros out there, I think the verdict is still out.  I think the only way we’re really going to know is to give the new system time to breathe.  It’s a lot like the new Modern format.  Some people thought it was garbage, some loved it and in the end, after one Pro Tour played with Modern, I think the format has proved to be legitimate and worth having around even if it does have a few issues to address.  2012 was already going to usher in a lot of changes to the competitive Magic scene.  More Grand Prix events, Pro Tours becoming private and changes to event coverage.  It’s probably the best possible time to go ahead and implement a new ranking system and give it time to see if it works.

There’s no ranking system that is going to get everything right every time.  It could be worse.  Wizards could have decided to model Planeswalker Points after college football’s BCS system.  Now that would have been a real nightmare.

–Paul

——-

I tracked the coverage of PT: Philly pretty closely this past weekend. Modern seems like a pretty interesting format and it’s cool to see a format be born and see what people can come up with in just a few short weeks. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Splinter Twin decks, in Standard or otherwise. It’s a cool deck and I love infinite combos as much as the next guy, but something about it just rubs me the wrong way. I can’t explain it, but were I a serious player, I just don’t think you’d ever catch me playing a Twin deck. Oddly enough, having said that, for whatever reason I don’t like Twin, I love Pyromancer Ascension. I can’t explain it, sorry.

——-

As for my card signings: I got my cards back from Whit Brachne last week. I’ll try and remember to take a picture tonight to show you guys. I also ordered some proofs from Mark Zug and those came in too. Finally, I got a payment request from Wayne Reynolds on Monday for the shipping to get the cards I sent him back to me. Wayne is probably my favorite Magic artist at the moment and I’m pretty excited to get those cards back. Here’s the Zug proofs:

Mark Zug Proofs

I’m still trying to figure out the best way to display these cards. If you guys have any kind of suggestions on showing off cards, I’d love to hear/see any ideas you all might have.

——-

While reading twitter for updates on PT: Philly, I saw where Mark Rosewater tweeted a link to a blog about a guy who decided to become a Wizards Play Network Tournament Organizer. The story on Don’s Magic and Sundry instantly resonated with me. This guy didn’t have any local Magic tournaments happening, so he became a TO and hosts them himself. Talk about inspiring for a guy like me! So, the question is: Can I take Don’s story and turn it into a formula to bring Magic: the Gathering sanctioned events to Andalusia, AL? It will take a lot of thought and careful planning but I think I’m going to contact Don and see if he can answer a few questions. After that, I’ll have some leg work to do, but I think it’s worth at least investigating the possibility.

——-

So I have to admit to some disappointment with the performance of the blog so far. I know it’s still early, and if you’re reading, then thank you. I would love to have some feedback on how I’m doing, so if you’re reading, please, leave a comment, email me or send me a tweet and let me know your thoughts. As to increasing traffic, if you enjoy the blog, then please share a link on facebook/twitter/your network of choice so that I can get a little increased exposure.

–Paul

I had a fantastic time seeing everyone and meeting some new faces last weekend at Magic Weekend Philadelphia. Can’t wait to do it again at the World Championships in San Francisco in November!

See the slideshow below or view the photos on Flickr here.

(Please bear in mind this is written almost a year after it happened and without notes to recall from. Everything comes from the mind. The miiiiiind.)

Friday, September 3rd

We drove out around nine in the morning. We figured this would be enough time to get to the site and partake in a big Two Headed Giant Sealed event. Well, we did get to partake in a Sealed event, but not that one. The problem is my chronic lack of anything that even remotely resembles a sense of direction. The event was to be beld in the Amsterdam Convention Factory, and I effortlessly guided Robert and myself to the Amsterdam Convention Center – on the other side of Amsterdam. We talked to a few people that were there – for some reason, Robert liked talking English to them, which resulted in very bad English on their part – and ordered a cab to our hotel. This was yet another notch on the belt of my inability to guide us anywhere. Another famous example is when Rick and I where in Barcelona, where I managed to miss the Magic shop literally around the corner for two days straight. I even looked the address up in advance of our journey!

Our hotel was a whole story on it’s own. It was a very cheap hostel, so we didn’t have much expectations. It was actually quite good and the internet reviews where spot on. The rooms where small and the staff was pretty norse, but the breakfast was very good (although you had to pay extra for things like boiled eggs). Actually, the rooms where really small. I couldn’t open my locker and the door of the room at the same time, neither could I the bathroom door. The light in the bathroom took ages to light after you pressed the button, which became our de-facto joke for the weekend. If something took long, we always compared it to the time it took for our bathroom light to light. “I’ll press the button now so the light is on when we get back tonight.”

The first tournament we did was M11 Two Headed Giant Sealed. We where looking forward to this, but at something like 1-3, we called it quits. Building two decks from one pool is a tough affair and requires a mindset very different from building a regular Sealed deck. I can’t even remember the decks we had. All I know I was playing blue and I had a Mind Control. To no avail.

Moving on, we had an afternoon of durdling around. At the time, I was working on a deck centered around Mycosynth Lattice and Shattering Spree, also known as Grand Spree (view Ben Bleweiss’s take on the deck here), and I was foiling my Eldrazi Green peasant deck. Robert, meanwhile, was working on foiling his Legacy Enchantress deck and an Esper-colored highlander deck. We both found a few cards for the deck. I traded with a dealer for Goblin Welders, while Robert was able to score a foil Sterling Grove and a foil Darksteel Forge for way less than he valued them. I also scrounged my way to a few hard-to-find cards like Tower of the Magistrate, and Cloudposts foiled (I managed to get five, two of which were French, and all of which who were Mirrodin) for a more than reasonable price. All in all, a good day as far as our constructed decks were concerned.

We grabbed a bite to eat and went on to the FNM event for the day. It was Friday after all! The format was again M11 (kinda disappointing: I would’ve liked more Rise of the Eldrazi, the then-latest expert-level set) and again, nothing spectacular here. I got a 2-2 record, which was good enough for the current promo (Qasali Pridemage, I believe) and another recent one of my choice (Cloudpost). The best part was the American player who lived in Germany and whom I beat. He was very friendly and we chatted throughout the whole match, him sometimes in awe by my cards and plays. If that’s not a nice opponent to play against, then I don’t know what is.

We ended the day at a Turkish food place on the way back from the site back to our hotel. The kebab we had there was great since we were both starved. (The picture above was our dinner, not our Turkish delight.)

Saturday, September 4th

We started the day with a good breakfast, stuffing ourselves to prevent hunger attacks before noon.We succeeded. We took the tram to the event site and got the chauffeur interested in the game. He asked us where we were going, since he saw a lot of guys wearing backpacks and having cards that also headed where we were heading. We told him about the game and he was fascinated. It was too bad we had to get out. He even got a few cards from us, so in the best case scenario we recruited a new player for the game. All in all, another moment that signifies the greatness of the game. People you don’t even know talk to you because Magic looks interesting.

The Pro Tour site was littered with puzzles. You had one for each color of mana, and if you got them all correct, your solution would net you a booster pack. We spent the larger part of the day looking for the puzzles and solving them, which was very much fun. I envy Mark Gottlieb for his insane talent in making puzzles. More on this later.

We also did an M11 draft. Again, and dare I say ‘sigh’, nothing spectacular. It was single elimination, so naturally my double Mind Control-with-Jace-and-other-insane-blue-and-red-cards had a disagreement with my seventeen lands and I was out in the first round. Also, Bram Snepvangers was in this draft. I really hate not having played against him.

The best part about this day, and arguably the entire weekend, was the Scars of Mirrodin preview party. It started with delicious food – for free! It was too bad we had just stuffed ourselves at McDonalds and all we could muster was a dessert.

There where a few stands around the area without anything on them. There was also this conglomeration of orbs (which were the Mirrodin suns) in the middle of the room. We could only wonder what that would be for.

Then they revealed a bunch of Scars of Mirrodin-cards onto those stands. It was awesome. I couldn’t contain myself. I snapped pictures of every one of them and frantically tried to capture my excitement into text messages to Rick. He was excited too, so I mailed him those pictures and he uploaded them onto MTGSalvation. Magic 2.0! Interwebs fame (or not)!

Next up was a puzzle (again by resident puzzling genius Mark Gottlieb) where you had to look for certain letters on the cards. On the back of the flyer where certain questions that decided if you where a Mirran or Phyrexian. You got a t-shirt and a button of faction. Being a good guy, I naturally ended up a Mirran.

These two sides would have a battle for dominance of the plane of mirrodin. On a screen, an artwork would be shown of a creature. You had to guess it’s printed toughness and if you won, you would deal that much damage the opposing player. There were five head-to-head art battles like this, each for a Mirran sun. We, the Mirrans, won this one three to two. Afterwards we all got an actual card from the set.

Meanwhile, the Pro Tour had finished it’s Saturday portion. The Top 8 was set and two of my favorite players, Brian Kibler and Guillaume Wafo-Tapa, where in. Great! I was looking forward to seeing them on the big screen. I had already seen Wafo playing against Conley in a draft match, which was a great experience. The feature match area was in a huge theatre room where we went quite a few times on Saturday. Later we also got to see Brian Kibler’s Treehouse in action against LSV, also sporting said deck. After the preview party was done, Robert and I took a walk around the site and saw Brian Kibler testing his matchup for Sunday. Ben Rubin had put together the same 75 as Brian’s first Sunday opponent: Michael Jacob, with Teachings. Robert dove into a huge box of basic lands, where we spotted some Zombie tokens. The things people throw away these days!

We went back to the hotel and saw a lot of Magic-minded people on the way back. The excitement over a few Scars of Mirrodin-commons kinda gave it away. Everyone seemed to had a mana Myr (which are all watermarked Mirrans), which led us to conclude that we got those cards because Mirrodin won the battle.

None other than Brian David-Marshall and Rashad Miller proved us wrong by showing us Ichorclaw Myrs in the tram. Robert’s Zombie tokens came in handy, as he traded for the Myrs using the Zombies he rescued from all-but-certain-death just a few minutes ago.

Back in the hotel, we did Pack Wars with the packs we had gotten from our Treasure Hunt, and of course Robert won. Like I said a while ago, the golden rule of Pack Wars is that Robert always wins. Always.

Sunday, September 5th

It was the day on which a new Pro Tour champion would be crowned and the excitement had spread amongst the people present that Kai Budde himself was in the Top 8. He wasn’t the only big name, as Brad Nelson, Brian Kibler, Guillaume Wafo-Tapa and the then-unknown-to-me Paul Rietzl where all still in contention on Pro Tour Sunday.

We got a few seats around eleven and where ready to go for the whole thing. It was sad to see my favorites falling by the wayside. Since I’m a control player at heart, it was too bad MJ’s and Wafo’s Teachings-decks lost their quarterfinals in an uneven showing. The aggressive decks deserved the win more, and so it be.

We watched the whole thing unfold in front of our eyes. We got a lunch when the pro’s did the same, and while enjoying our meals we did a Winston draft using seven ROE-packs. For once I emerged victorious, with my most memorable play (pretty memorable, since I still remember it today) casting Spawning Breath and copying it with Echo Mage, then using the two Spawn tokens and six lands to set Robert’s demise in motion using Ulamog’s Crusher, which turned out stopped Robert’s own Crusher from reaching the battlefield. The fact that there weren’t any memorable rares to be won was of secundary importance.

When we got back, we where surprised by commentator Brian David-Marshall recalling our meeting of last night on public broadcast. We were quite honored to be named in the webcast, even though they didn’t call us by name or anything. That didn’t matter to us – we both couldn’t surpress a wide grin on our faces.

In the end, it was Rietzl’s White Weenie deck that took home the trophy. We joked around (in true PVDDR-fashion) that we were ashamed a deck like White Weenie won the event we watched for a whole weekend, but you can’t deny its power over the weekend, nor the power of Paul Rietzl. His insane run at Magic Weekend Paris earlier this year proved I should be the one ashamed for not knowing who he was.

Sadly, the story ends with a frowny face. And I don’t mean the way I managed to prolong the car ride back home by a full three quarters since I managed to miss two out of two exits we were supposed to take (Robert, I can hear you, so stop laughing!). No, I mean that Pro Tours are closed events from now on. No more railbirding, no more walking among the Great of the Game. Let this be a message to you, Wizards of the Coast, that you should really open Pro Tours up for people not participating. You are denying a lot of people a lot of fun. Pro Tour Amsterdam was one of the best weekends I already have and I would go again if I were able to. So please, Wizards, make me able to! Until then, though, I’ll be watching the live webcasts. And yes, I am very much looking forward to PT Philly!

(Please bear in mind this is written almost a year after it happened and without notes to recall from. Everything comes from the mind. The miiiiiind.)

Friday, September 3rd

We drove out around nine in the morning. We figured this would be enough time to get to the site and partake in a big Two Headed Giant Sealed event. Well, we did get to partake in a Sealed event, but not that one. The problem is my chronic lack of anything that even remotely resembles a sense of direction. The event was to be beld in the Amsterdam Convention Factory, and I effortlessly guided Robert and myself to the Amsterdam Convention Center – on the other side of Amsterdam. We talked to a few people that were there – for some reason, Robert liked talking English to them, which resulted in very bad English on their part – and ordered a cab to our hotel. This was yet another notch on the belt of my inability to guide us anywhere. Another famous example is when Rick and I where in Barcelona, where I managed to miss the Magic shop literally around the corner for two days straight. I even looked the address up in advance of our journey!

Our hotel was a whole story on it’s own. It was a very cheap hostel, so we didn’t have much expectations. It was actually quite good and the internet reviews where spot on. The rooms where small and the staff was pretty norse, but the breakfast was very good (although you had to pay extra for things like boiled eggs). Actually, the rooms where really small. I couldn’t open my locker and the door of the room at the same time, neither could I the bathroom door. The light in the bathroom took ages to light after you pressed the button, which became our de-facto joke for the weekend. If something took long, we always compared it to the time it took for our bathroom light to light. “I’ll press the button now so the light is on when we get back tonight.”

The first tournament we did was M11 Two Headed Giant Sealed. We where looking forward to this, but at something like 1-3, we called it quits. Building two decks from one pool is a tough affair and requires a mindset very different from building a regular Sealed deck. I can’t even remember the decks we had. All I know I was playing blue and I had a Mind Control. To no avail.

Moving on, we had an afternoon of durdling around. At the time, I was working on a deck centered around Mycosynth Lattice and Shattering Spree, also known as Grand Spree (view Ben Bleweiss’s take on the deck here), and I was foiling my Eldrazi Green peasant deck. Robert, meanwhile, was working on foiling his Legacy Enchantress deck and an Esper-colored highlander deck. We both found a few cards for the deck. I traded with a dealer for Goblin Welders, while Robert was able to score a foil Sterling Grove and a foil Darksteel Forge for way less than he valued them. I also scrounged my way to a few hard-to-find cards like Tower of the Magistrate, and Cloudposts foiled (I managed to get five, two of which were French, and all of which who were Mirrodin) for a more than reasonable price. All in all, a good day as far as our constructed decks were concerned.

We grabbed a bite to eat and went on to the FNM event for the day. It was Friday after all! The format was again M11 (kinda disappointing: I would’ve liked more Rise of the Eldrazi, the then-latest expert-level set) and again, nothing spectacular here. I got a 2-2 record, which was good enough for the current promo (Qasali Pridemage, I believe) and another recent one of my choice (Cloudpost). The best part was the American player who lived in Germany and whom I beat. He was very friendly and we chatted throughout the whole match, him sometimes in awe by my cards and plays. If that’s not a nice opponent to play against, then I don’t know what is.

We ended the day at a Turkish food place on the way back from the site back to our hotel. The kebab we had there was great since we were both starved. (The picture above was our dinner, not our Turkish delight.)

Saturday, September 4th

We started the day with a good breakfast, stuffing ourselves to prevent hunger attacks before noon.We succeeded. We took the tram to the event site and got the chauffeur interested in the game. He asked us where we were going, since he saw a lot of guys wearing backpacks and having cards that also headed where we were heading. We told him about the game and he was fascinated. It was too bad we had to get out. He even got a few cards from us, so in the best case scenario we recruited a new player for the game. All in all, another moment that signifies the greatness of the game. People you don’t even know talk to you because Magic looks interesting.

The Pro Tour site was littered with puzzles. You had one for each color of mana, and if you got them all correct, your solution would net you a booster pack. We spent the larger part of the day looking for the puzzles and solving them, which was very much fun. I envy Mark Gottlieb for his insane talent in making puzzles. More on this later.

We also did an M11 draft. Again, and dare I say ‘sigh’, nothing spectacular. It was single elimination, so naturally my double Mind Control-with-Jace-and-other-insane-blue-and-red-cards had a disagreement with my seventeen lands and I was out in the first round. Also, Bram Snepvangers was in this draft. I really hate not having played against him.

The best part about this day, and arguably the entire weekend, was the Scars of Mirrodin preview party. It started with delicious food – for free! It was too bad we had just stuffed ourselves at McDonalds and all we could muster was a dessert.

There where a few stands around the area without anything on them. There was also this conglomeration of orbs (which were the Mirrodin suns) in the middle of the room. We could only wonder what that would be for.

Then they revealed a bunch of Scars of Mirrodin-cards onto those stands. It was awesome. I couldn’t contain myself. I snapped pictures of every one of them and frantically tried to capture my excitement into text messages to Rick. He was excited too, so I mailed him those pictures and he uploaded them onto MTGSalvation. Magic 2.0! Interwebs fame (or not)!

Next up was a puzzle (again by resident puzzling genius Mark Gottlieb) where you had to look for certain letters on the cards. On the back of the flyer where certain questions that decided if you where a Mirran or Phyrexian. You got a t-shirt and a button of faction. Being a good guy, I naturally ended up a Mirran.

These two sides would have a battle for dominance of the plane of mirrodin. On a screen, an artwork would be shown of a creature. You had to guess it’s printed toughness and if you won, you would deal that much damage the opposing player. There were five head-to-head art battles like this, each for a Mirran sun. We, the Mirrans, won this one three to two. Afterwards we all got an actual card from the set.

Meanwhile, the Pro Tour had finished it’s Saturday portion. The Top 8 was set and two of my favorite players, Brian Kibler and Guillaume Wafo-Tapa, where in. Great! I was looking forward to seeing them on the big screen. I had already seen Wafo playing against Conley in a draft match, which was a great experience. The feature match area was in a huge theatre room where we went quite a few times on Saturday. Later we also got to see Brian Kibler’s Treehouse in action against LSV, also sporting said deck. After the preview party was done, Robert and I took a walk around the site and saw Brian Kibler testing his matchup for Sunday. Ben Rubin had put together the same 75 as Brian’s first Sunday opponent: Michael Jacob, with Teachings. Robert dove into a huge box of basic lands, where we spotted some Zombie tokens. The things people throw away these days!

We went back to the hotel and saw a lot of Magic-minded people on the way back. The excitement over a few Scars of Mirrodin-commons kinda gave it away. Everyone seemed to had a mana Myr (which are all watermarked Mirrans), which led us to conclude that we got those cards because Mirrodin won the battle.

None other than Brian David-Marshall and Rashad Miller proved us wrong by showing us Ichorclaw Myrs in the tram. Robert’s Zombie tokens came in handy, as he traded for the Myrs using the Zombies he rescued from all-but-certain-death just a few minutes ago.

Back in the hotel, we did Pack Wars with the packs we had gotten from our Treasure Hunt, and of course Robert won. Like I said a while ago, the golden rule of Pack Wars is that Robert always wins. Always.

Sunday, September 5th

It was the day on which a new Pro Tour champion would be crowned and the excitement had spread amongst the people present that Kai Budde himself was in the Top 8. He wasn’t the only big name, as Brad Nelson, Brian Kibler, Guillaume Wafo-Tapa and the then-unknown-to-me Paul Rietzl where all still in contention on Pro Tour Sunday.

We got a few seats around eleven and where ready to go for the whole thing. It was sad to see my favorites falling by the wayside. Since I’m a control player at heart, it was too bad MJ’s and Wafo’s Teachings-decks lost their quarterfinals in an uneven showing. The aggressive decks deserved the win more, and so it be.

We watched the whole thing unfold in front of our eyes. We got a lunch when the pro’s did the same, and while enjoying our meals we did a Winston draft using seven ROE-packs. For once I emerged victorious, with my most memorable play (pretty memorable, since I still remember it today) casting Spawning Breath and copying it with Echo Mage, then using the two Spawn tokens and six lands to set Robert’s demise in motion using Ulamog’s Crusher, which turned out stopped Robert’s own Crusher from reaching the battlefield. The fact that there weren’t any memorable rares to be won was of secundary importance.

When we got back, we where surprised by commentator Brian David-Marshall recalling our meeting of last night on public broadcast. We were quite honored to be named in the webcast, even though they didn’t call us by name or anything. That didn’t matter to us – we both couldn’t surpress a wide grin on our faces.

In the end, it was Rietzl’s White Weenie deck that took home the trophy. We joked around (in true PVDDR-fashion) that we were ashamed a deck like White Weenie won the event we watched for a whole weekend, but you can’t deny its power over the weekend, nor the power of Paul Rietzl. His insane run at Magic Weekend Paris earlier this year proved I should be the one ashamed for not knowing who he was.

Congratulations to Paul Rietzl! ... Fine, fine, you too, White Weenie. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Sadly, the story ends with a frowny face. And I don’t mean the way I managed to prolong the car ride back home by a full three quarters since I managed to miss two out of two exits we were supposed to take (Robert, I can hear you, so stop laughing!). No, I mean that Pro Tours are closed events from now on. No more railbirding, no more walking among the Great of the Game. Let this be a message to you, Wizards of the Coast, that you should really open Pro Tours up for people not participating. You are denying a lot of people a lot of fun. Pro Tour Amsterdam was one of the best weekends I already have and I would go again if I were able to. So please, Wizards, make me able to! Until then, though, I’ll be watching the live webcasts. And yes, I am very much looking forward to PT Philly!

In our seventh installment of From the Street to the League, we talk with Street League pro Ryan Sheckler. This web series gives an inside look at where some of our pros have come from and what they’ve gone through to get where they are in skateboarding. For more videos and information on the 2011 Street League DC Pro Tour Fueled by Monster Energy visit

www.streetleague.com

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Events.aspx?x=mtgevent%2Fwebcast%2Fhome

I’m still really confused as to why the second (first?) stage of this year’s Tour was included.  When you look at the profile, it’s entirely downhill!  Now, every cyclist loves the adrenaline rush of going down here, but I’m not quite sure as to the purpose of including a stage in which the climbers can’t shine and the time trialists can’t sustain a breakaway because of the high speeds of the peloton.  The final sprint in downtown Sacramento was about as textbook as a sprint can possibly be.  Even Ben Swift, or Swifty, taking the win was predictable as Team Sky is anxious to win some big stages in light of their sub-optimal season last year.

As far as Horner taking the win, I couldn’t say I was surprised.  RadioShack came into this race with a very strong team, and while, yes, Leipheimer is a previous winner, there was no defined leader coming into the race.  It wasn’t Leipheimer or Horner’s race to be won, but it certainly was RadioShack’s.  Given that Horner lives in California and trains on those roads throughout the year, can anyone really say they were surprised?

And finally, I wasn’t surprised by Andy Schleck’s less-than-brilliant performance.  With so many white jerseys and podium finishes at the Tour de France, the only thing that Andy wants is that yellow jersey in Pairs.  California would have been nice to win, yes, but like teammate Jens Voigt said when he withdrew from the race with fatigue, California isn’t France.  Andy has longer term goals than winning a yellow jersey in the Golden State, and if that meant conserving energy and possibly allowing other riders to peak early to go after the win in California, he was fine doing that.

That said, I was incredibly impressed with the Tour of California (minus the lack of signs telling fans where they could park in order to get to the stages).  Aside from the second stage from Nevada City to Sacramento, the route was challenging, offering riders with hopes of excelling in the Tour de France the best alternative to the Giro.  Given all of the crazy stuff going on at the Giro the past few years (making the race as difficult as they possibly can, throwing in obscure Italian teams, etc.), I’m not sure why non-Italian big-name riders would consider going anywhere other than California.  Yes, it is kind of inconvenient travel wise, but the race is difficult enough to offer a pre-TdF test of the legs, glimpse at other big names, and a few days of training at altitude once the final stages roll around.

Looking at the number of big names that showed up to this race this year, I’m thrilled to think that it cemented its credibility and importance on the Pro Tour calendar,  and I have no doubt that it will be a major fixture on the US calendar for years to come.

This race also makes me excited for the upcoming US Pro Cycling challenge in Colorado.  I think the Tour showed that Americans can take their cycling just as seriously as parts of Europe, and that we have the fan base here to make such big events successful.  It will be great to see Colorado seal the deal on America’s growing presence in American cycling, and I think we have a great race to look forward to in August!