The Philly 5K

Author's Note:
I realize that this tournament has already taken place, but to maintain the tone of the blog and for the sake of storytelling, I have decided to keep it in present tense. Just go with me.

We arrive in Philadelphia at around 9am only a few blocks from the Pennsylvania Convention Center where the tournament is being held, and after getting some directions from the locals, make our way quickly towards it. The sun has risen, and it looks to be a pretty gray day, which is just as well since we will be spending almost all of it indoors. All of us are tired after having not slept the night before, though some show it more than others. Most of us haven't sufficiently tested our decks either, but we're all excited and feel that we have a shot of at least breaking into the Top 16, which would net us some prize money.

For those of you who have never been there, the Pennsylvania Convention Center is massive, a departure from the BO filled basements I'm used to inhabiting. The Star City Games event has its own wing, and there is actually a video game tournament going on elsewhere at the same time. So much nerd.

At around 10am (maybe closer to 10:30) we are seated so that the judges can collect our deck lists. These lists will be used later to make sure that all of the players have the correct number of cards in their decks (60 minimum), don't have more than four copies of any given card (other than basic lands), and aren't using cards that are not allowed in the Standard format. You would be surprised at how many times these rules end up being violated.

After handing in the deck lists we are reseated to be paired with our first round opponents. This basically involves everyone trying to crowd around lists posted on bulletin boards at the front of the room where the players names are listed next to their assigned table number. Once we're all seated, it's time to start!

By the end of the first round, of the seven players who make up our team (either officially or honorarily) four are 1-0 and three are 0-1, which isn't a terrible start. But after the fourth round things have started to take a turn for the worst. Only one of our players has a winning record at 3-1, two are at 2-2 with only an outside shot at getting into the Top 16 if they can win the rest of their matches, and four players who have dropped from the tournament altogether.

I ended up going 1-3 and dropping after the fourth round, not wanting to play out the remaining five rounds with a deck that I have come to feel is simply inferior. There are a bunch of side events going on, but I don't enter any of them right away because the other guys want to see how well they do first. I have assurances from Kyle (who is 2-2) that if he loses in this round he will drop and draft with me. But at the end of the fourth round he and Kanvaly are both 3-2, and Conta is 4-1.

I enter a side draft on my own to kill time while those three play out their final four rounds. Our other teammates, Matt, Raja, and Joe Shi, all decide to head back to New York.

After all nine rounds are played out, Kanvaly and Kyle end up going 6-3 (not at all a bad showing, since this was Kyle's first major event and Kanvaly's second), and Conta ends up 4-5. My drafting goes about as well as my Standard play did, and I end up being eliminated in the first round. Sad-cat iz sad.

Since the main event is over, and all of the side events cease with the onset of the Top 8 final rounds, we decide to go grab some dinner. We find a nice Philly Cheesesteak place and are able to enjoy a little bit of the city's culture before returning to the Chinatown Bus Terminal next to the Convention Center.

The terminal is just about one of the sketchiest places I've ever seen. The bathrooms are trashed with graffiti covering every inch of the walls; the main room is a painful white; and there are blue Christmas lights over the windows that flash continuously in a seizure inducing manner. The bus wasn't much better, being more cramped than the megabus we took down to Philly, and squeaking annoyingly, which prevent at least Kyle from sleeping.

We get back to the city exhausted and somewhat let down from a long day without any tangible reward. But more often than not, that's how Magic goes. What separates us from many other scrubs, is that in the next couple of days we will be studying the lists that did make the Top 16 and proxying copies of them to test against, getting ready for the next major event, whenever that may be.

Upcoming: The Philly 5K Post-Game

Check us out at: http://sites.google.com/site/teamdamageonthestack