Why do You Play Magic?

Matteo Orsini Jones

About Matteo Orsini Jones

Matteo is a Magic player from the UK who has a number of high-profile finishes under his belt:

• Level 5 Pro Players Club member
• Top 8 Pro Tour Kyoto 2009
• Top 4 Grand Prix Bangkok 2009
• 48 Lifetime Pro Points
• Top 8 Great Britain Nationals 2008

Why do You Play Magic?

Have you ever actually stopped to ask yourself that? I’ve never really thought about it properly – it’s fun, so why not play it? I’ve wondered a few times when I’ll quit, though they say one never truly quits (all the old badgers that everyone thought gone for good turn up at least once a year for Nationals), but I’ve never really thought about how soon it would happen. I only started thinking about it recently because I’ve pretty much decided I’m not attending GP Gothenburg at the end of August – missing a European GP during the Summer would have been completely unheard of this time last year, so why is it that now I don’t even care about a GP that’s a 2 hour flight away and that’s in my favorite format – Limited? Well, there are a few reasons. It’s the weekend between my Nationals and PT Amsterdam, which would seem like a reason to definitely go as I can just take out those 2 weeks and devote them to Magic and travelling, but there are no easy changeovers (the cheapest option would be flying back to England from Gothenburg) and money isn’t something I have a lot of at the moment. On top of this, I failed a university module at the end of last year and the English system is such that you get 1 retry (for which your mark is capped at 40%) and then you’re out, and re-sit period is early September, so I can’t justify spending 3 weeks just before an exam travelling Europe for Magic (for those keeping track I did miss PT: San Juan for an exam, but that’s the one I passed...) when I’m about to enter my final year of university. Finally, it’s M11. There were those that said my attitude was too negative on the set last week, but I’ve experienced nothing since then that’s made me change my mind. The Ruel brothers summed up my view on the format quite nicely in French Nationals coverage this past weekend.

Versions:
Magic 2011 Core Set (Foil)

“What’s the best M11 draft archetype?”

• Olivier: “Je dirais turbo rare ou counter rare” // “I’d say turbo rare or counter rare”
• Antoine: “Baneslayer/Grave Titan, Fireball”

And at the start of the day they were asked who would comprise the national team (props to Yann Massicard for getting 2 of the top 4...)

• Olivier: “Olivier Ruel, Guillaume Matignon et un joueur chanceux qui aura ouvert de la bombe en M11” // “Me, Matignon and a lucksack who opened bombs in M11”
• Antoine: “Trois joueurs qui auront drafté Grave Titan, Baneslayer, Fireball” // “3 players who will have drafted Grave Titan, Baneslayer and Fireball”

So if I’m finding so many reasons for not attending tournaments, why am I still playing? Well, I asked myself that. Something I’ve wanted to write about for a while is Magic stories – things that you witness at an event or that you hear about that just make you think “awesome” – plays or sequences of play that just make you want to tell other people. My first draft at Worlds last year was a complete trainwreck and as a result I lose the 3^rd (and 1^st and 2^nd...) round very quickly and so made my way over to watch Dan Gardner playing out his match. As I walk over and start watching, this is the situation:

-Dan has Unstable Footing and Seismic Shudder in hand, no creatures and 7 Mountains, 3 Plains in play. He’s on 5 life. His opponent has Shoal Serpent and a 2/1 ground guy. He’s on 15 life. Dan goes to cast the Seismic Shudder in his opponent’s end step before quickly deciding it was definitely the wrong play and drawing his card for the turn would be much better.

-Dan untaps and draws Chandra Ablaze, discards the Unstable Footing to hit the Shoal Serpent for 4 and uses Seismic Shudder to clear the board. He just went from basically dead to up a Chandra – suddenly the game’s looking a lot better.

-His opponent untaps, and slowly draws his card. As soon as he sees it his eyes fill with glee (he’s Japanese so it’s cool, not arrogant) and he slams down the Sphinx of Jwar Isle. After thinking his sick Chandra rip would turn it around Dan’s now facing a shroud flyer with power equal to his life total.

Versions:
Zendikar (Foil)

-Unfazed, Dan untaps and draws his card. Inferno Trap ain’t doin it, and so Chandra draws both players 3 cards.

Mountain. Awk.
Elemental Appeal. Interesting!
Spire Barrage. HMMMMM.

7 Mountains in play, opponent on 15. Here the mind games start. He can’t kick the Appeal because then he won’t have enough mana for the Barrage. Without playing the Mountain, he simply makes a 7/1 and swings. This leaves his opponent in a dilemma. Did he really draw the perfect 3? Does his hand actually contain 8 damage? Why didn’t he kick the Appeal when he has the mana to do it? After a good 5 minutes of agonizing deliberation, his opponent reluctantly declines the block and takes 7. I’ll let you work out what happened next.

As Dan and I were discussing just how amazingly unlikely that exact sequence of draws was, Jon Randle walks over (I’m now in a GB national champion sandwich) and calmly tells us he just lost on turn 3 after his opponent made his 2^nd land on turn 3. We blink, look at each other and, naturally, ask for a little more explanation

• Jon: Forest
• Opponent: Island, Hedron Crab
• Jon: Forest
• Opponent: Hedron Crab, go (no land)
• Jon: Forest
• Opponent: Land (how lucky), mill for 6, go
• Jon: EOT cast Harrow
• Opponent: Trapmaker's Snare, find Archive Trap. Cast Archive Trap. Cast the Archive Trap already in my hand. Your library now contains precisely 0 cards. GG

Aside from being a completely awesome story, this also relates somewhat back to what I mentioned in an article a few weeks ago – don’t just cast instants in your opponent’s end step because you’re supposed to – if there’s a risk, no matter how miniscule it is, don’t take it! (Though with 1 trap in hand and 2 crabs in play chances are the game was over soon anyway, but still) I’m sure every group has their own similar stories, and I’m sure you all love telling them.

Stories aren’t nearly as much fun though if you can’t share them, and Magic is pretty good at providing people with whom you can share Magic stories. I think I’ve now got to the point where well over half my Facebook friends are Magic players, and at a guess they cover a minimum of 15 countries worldwide. It’s great to have contacts not just for sharing tech, cards and stories, but also just for having fun. Whenever we (my usual “travelling group”) go to a GP or PT we try to rent out an apartment and get a group of 6-8 people involved – to anyone that usually goes for hotels I highly recommend this. As well as being cheaper (provided you put in the effort to find something), renting apartments is so much better than staying at hotels in so many ways. Hotels are so impersonal, with only 2 to 3 people per room, and there’s never anywhere to actually play Magic other than across a bed or two. Renting an apartment however means you can have 8 people all round the same table – testing, drafting or playing MTGO. For those that say things like “you go round the world just to play MTGO” I’d like to point out that MTGO in groups is actually a lot more fun – with 4 people doing a draft you appreciate each bad beat, sick rip and funny story even better, and you might even learn something from those around you by having everyone discuss the right play each turn.

At GP Brussels earlier this year an Irish friend Stewart Shinkins had managed to find a good deal on a luxury apartment for 4 of us, but the place was easily big enough to host 8 at least. On Sunday night we invited back the other brits and for about 6 hours straight we drafted, drank beer, and generally had a great time. In a hotel this would be impossible, and so the memories and potential for meeting new people or getting to know those you never really put in the effort with might never have happened. As much as some people hate to admit it, the fact that you’re brought together with other Magic players at events like GPs means you have a fair amount in common with them, so chances are you might just get along with people you wouldn’t normally consider as being the type of person you’d be friends with.

GP Brussels - Jus' ballin'

The above all applies even if you never really travel to events – maybe you only play in the closest GP to where you live every year, be it a trip down the road or a 2 hour flight away, but that doesn’t mean you have to just book a hotel room for 2 nights and see the evening after the GP purely as “time in which I sleep”. Having said that, because of Magic I’ve travelled a LOT. Before I won my first PTQ I had never left Europe. Since then I’ve been out of Europe 8 times in only 3 years. Doing this might make you a little jealous and make you think “nice for some”, but hopefully it will make you even more determined to win your first PTQ or, indeed, keep winning PTQs. If I remember correctly, these are the (non-UK) places, in order, that I’ve been to since attending my first foreign GP in 2007. The bracketed cities are ones I visited during a “Magic trip”, despite not being host cities themselves.

Play the Game, See the World

Play the Game, See the World

• Stockholm, Sweden
• Florence, Italy
• Valencia, Spain
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Brussels, Belgium
• Hollywood, USA
• Madrid, Spain
• Copenhagen, Denmark
• Rimini, Italy
• Berlin, Germany
• Kyoto, Japan
• Hanover, Germany
• Honolulu, USA
• Bangkok, Thailand
• (Tokyo, Japan)
• Niigata, Japan
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Austin, USA
• Paris, France
• Minneapolis, USA
• Rome, Italy
• San Diego, USA
• Madrid, Spain
• Brussels, Belgium
• Lyon, France
• Sendai, Japan
• (Tokyo, Japan)
• Manila, Philippines

From these trips I have countless memories – some, admittedly bad, but most good and some amazing. Valencia was amazing because it was my first Pro Tour, as well as being my brother’s first and “best Magic friend” Dan Gardner’s first. Kyoto was amazing, not only because it was my first top 8 but also my first time in Japan, a country I had long wanted to visit – it was also the first Pro Tour during which we did some “actual tourism” – the best part of which (by far) was the monkey park, of course. San Diego was amazing because the 2 people I stayed with, Jon Randle and Dan, are awesome people and things get funnier when you’re with people who see things the way you do – San Diego Zoo and Walter Fudge would have been nowhere near as awesome without them.

PT San Diego - Animal Coins, Mythic Rares and a Big Orange Jumper

Article by Matteo Orsini Jones on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 14:41

Average:

4.842105

Even though I didn’t put up an impressive performance in San Diego the trip itself was great fun, and so I decided I would share my experience with the world. This is technically a tournament report, but I’m not a huge fan of monotonous round-by-round write-ups, and so it will focus more on what happened outside of the tournament than what happened in it.

GP Manila

Bangkok was awesome because we (my travelling partner Ben Lei and I) got to reunite with an old Magic friend who studied in England before moving back to Malaysia, Wen Ching – known affectionately as “The Hair of the Godhead” (oh, and I top 8’d). Rome was amazing because I missed my flight and had to re-book another that landed 20 minutes before the start of the tournament... and I made it in time! (big thanks to my bro, mamma Orsini, Mark Glenister, Paul Smith, the Scorekeeper and anyone else involved for letting that happen). I could go on, but I wouldn’t want to run my fingers raw telling you about my amazing experiences. As I mentioned earlier, there were too some bad ones – Madrid, venue choice was a complete disaster and as such I found it hard to enjoy a GP in which I couldn’t even find my friends between rounds. Minneapolis was a decision I slightly regretted because I spent the last of my Kyoto money on it and didn’t get the Pro Points I was desperately seeking. But, there’s no way you can go through life without doing some things you regret. All I have to do is think back to the amazing memories and once again remember why I still play.

There is also another thing I haven’t really mentioned – Magic is actually quite a good game! A lot of Magic players also play boardgames, do roleplaying and possibly even play a lot of computer games but I am not one of these. I’ve tried boardgames, but they just don’t have the depth and diversity to keep me interested time and time again that Magic does. I’ve played a few computer games, but none keep me interested for more than a few months. Magic is simply by far the most fun, the most challenging, and the most satisfying (when you win...). A lot of the people I know who also play other games will generally agree that Magic is indeed the best, and if they don’t, well, I’m pretty sure they’re doing it wrong.

This coming year I may well have to tone down my Magic travels somewhat – university commitments and the fact that I’ve missed a PT and possibly won’t be able to attend the next 2 this year means I won’t have the time or the Pro Points to keep on the train for 2011, but this doesn’t by any means spell the end of my Magic playing days – I’ll still attend any GP I have the time and money for, I’ll still draft at the local shop as often as I can, and I’ll still attend every PTQ I can afford (maybe even if I’m already qualified). It’s not just a card game – it’s so much more.

So, why do you play?

Matteo.