I’m honored that official friend-of-the-blog and founding Benalish Daddy, Chris, submitted a report of his learnings, doings and transpirings at Grand Prix Seattle! Given how hitting up 3-4 days of a GP is the exactly the sort of Magic experience very difficult for a Benalish Dad to attend, I’m grateful for the on the ground reporting and vicarious thrills. With no further ados, take it away Chris!

GP Seattle was a four day whirlwind. A veritable high fantasy carnival; Planeswalkers roamed the halls with staves alit, hopeful magi littered giant tables whispering of secret sideboard tech for the oncoming battle, elves goblins and artifacts adorned colorful banners put up by those who had brought them to life, and legendary warriors bolstering guild colors strode about striking awe into the eyes that befell them! Wanna go to the next one? Me too! But before you go clamoring for your sword and shield consider a few of these pitfalls so as not to find yourself looking up with a pike through your belly

Pitfall 1 : Enough to Eat

Almost every article I’ve read about competing in a large tournament has had at least a few sentences about making sure you get enough to eat. Playing Magic burns a lot more calories than one might suspect. Will Jonathon, a sports psychologist and coach to high level tournament competitors has written numerous articles to this tune. Jonathon tells us that at rest your brain consumes 10.83 calories per hour just to take care of basic bodily functions, however when you are thinking deeply your brain consumes 1.5 calories per minute! That means that that hour of sealed deck building or draft picks will cost you upwards of 75 calories and each round of play will cost the same! Factor in the walking to the event, browsing artist tables, and rushing around to find that damn blue gathering point that seems to move every 4 minutes and you are burning a considerable amount of calories! With this knowledge under my belt I decided that I would eat breakfast every morning and bring snacks to munch on before getting lunch somewhere nearby or at the convention itself. I stuck to this plan but found it was only a half measure and was undermined by a few things:

A) Coffee

That’s right, our best morning friend. The one who warms our mitts and gives us (maybe “loans us” would be a better term) energy for the day to come had turned heel and made my mid-day a misery. See normally, I spend a good while drinking my coffee in the morning and usually complete a 12oz cup in about an hour and a half but because of time constraints and limited space (try hauling a coffee around while trying to sign up for events, pay, trade and get things signed by people…) I consumed my coffee very quickly. This curbed my appetite considerably and turned the snack that was supposed to give me a fuel boost during my first event into my lunch…. Four hours later I’ve crashed and have had nothing to refuel.

and…

B) Poor time utilization

Time on the inside passes at roughly 3x the speed as in the real world (especially if you have guzzled 12-16oz of coffee in 35 minutes). I went into the GP without a true plan. I knew exactly 2 events that I wanted to do with some friends but other than those few I had absolutely nothing on the agenda. My “plan” was to fill time before the events with

getting artist signatures and to decide on the fly what other things I would sign up for. This gave me no structure as to when I should be getting food. The sheer number of events was overwhelming and I didn’t know that getting artist signatures would take up so much time! That coupled with trying to “where’s waldo” my friends and wrangle 5 different text threads about figuring out which events to sign up for left me with no time to get food. It was Thunder Dome. I’m pulling my hair out just recounting the trauma!

 

Next time I will plan out which events I want to do ahead of time and will even fill out all the sign up sheets that I will need throughout the day when I show up in the morning. Having an itinerary sounds nerdy (why do MtG players diss each other by calling each other nerds?) but knowing when there will be a hole in the schedule in which to eat will be wayyyyy easier than trying to squeeze a hot dog in somewhere amidst the chaos. I guarantee scheduling a slot for lunch will greatly increase your win percentage. I will also continue to drink coffee and bring snacks but will cut my coffee intake down to 4-6oz before getting to the tournament and none after that. 

Have a plan – Eat food. Get it. Got it? Good. next up….

Pitfall 2 : Main event preparation 

I was super excited when I heard a grand prix was going to be so close but was a bit crestfallen that the two main events were to be constructed. Since getting back into magic about a year and a half ago I had been doing all of my heavy lifting in the limited gym and hadn’t dove into the deep blue that is constructed. I read articles, play magic online, and listen to podcasts daily and I even draft every Wednesday with a group of friends (The Super Draftin’ Fun Pals!). Standard was something I watched for fun when there weren’t anymore draft videos left on CFB or when the draft portion of the ProTour was over. Through my love of paper Limited (and an unhealthy habit of buying singles online whenever I felt squirrelly) I had acquired quite a few Standard staples and ultimately decided it would be a waste not to compete in the main event in my hometown in the first GP I would ever attended! Since most of my friends were Limited aficionados I had to look elsewhere for testing. I bought UB midrange online and had done well in a few leagues but that was getting expensive and didn’t give me the amount of time or feedback I needed in order to come up with complex lines or to trust myself fully in making decisions on the fly. I soon turned to the Magic: The Seattling Facebook group to seek out testing partners. I met up with a few groups but no-one was playing or had had any interest in playing any of the “net decks” that would be at the tournament. I don’t really understand why you would spend time testing brew against brew instead of the decks that are going to show up in numbers *scratches head* but to each their own. Long story short I didn’t have enough reps or information when it came time to compete and I did poorly. 

Correcting my troubles with standard testing is a taller order than fixing how much food I eat or making a plan for utilizing my time at the event better. I would need a change in goals and lifestyle. I am a Limited player through and through right now. I have many friends who are die hard Limited players, who read as much as I do, who test out theories when drafting and get a woody watching Ben Stark and LSV win with decidedly mediocre draft decks. If I need someone to test with for a Limited GP I would be all set but my current friend group only houses one FNM Constructed player. To find a group to test constructed with would mean keeping up with shifts in the Constructed metagame, going to more competitive Constructed events, doing well at said events and constructing a friend group [Ed note. I protested the pun but was overruled] within that context in which to test with. Do I want to do that? I honestly don’t know the answer to that right now but I’m sure that this would be the best road to travel if I wanted to be serious about Standard or other constructed formats. 

The next two pitfalls are minor ones compared to the other two but are definitely worth mentioning. Remoras to the whale if you will.

Pitfall 3: Talking to the Stars

I saw many pros walking around and playing games with their teammates and I only managed to talk to one of them. *PUNT* I saw Martin Juza, Seth Manfield, LSV, Gabby Sparts, Siggy, Kenji (Numot the Nummy) Gerry Thompson, Shuhei Nakamura, the list goes on and on. I have a strange aversion to talking to or asking for a photo with these people. I feel like I don’t want to bother them, or that I don’t have anything worthwhile to say, or that they won’t accept me or want to talk to me. I’m sure this is just my own fear paralyzing me and that these people wouldn’t mind at all to take a photo or chat for a minute or two. My friend Luis talked to Gerry Thompson about his latest podcast and said that Gerry was very nice and engaging, even gave him a high five! I got up the courage when I couldn’t help myself any longer and with a pounding heart I bum-rushed Shota Yasooka with a Sharpie and a copy of torrential gearhulk. Shota was super wiling to sign and was very kind to me. Later I saw Efro sitting alone and wanted to ask him why he said he didn’t like walking ballista in UB midrange THE DECK I WAS PLAYING THE NEXT DAY IN THE MAIN EVENT and I chickened out. I feel like I definitely left something on the table in this regard and wish I had a photo to give to my mom for the fridge of myself giving a thumbs up to the camera with Shota at my side. You only live once, just do it!!!

 

Pitfall 4: Listen to your body: know when it’s time to quit

I fell into this last pitfall at about 9:00PM during the last two days of the tournament. The GP was 4 days long, four days of matches, four days of not eating properly, four days of getting coffee instead of lunch and four days of playing the most Magic you can possibly squeeze into one day. It was 9:00 and I was tired as all get out, I was hungry and physically exhausted. You couldn’t PAY me to play in anoth-“Hey Chris were doing a triple Amonhket draft, you in?” Oh definitely!! Ok, so maybe I helped orchestrate this draft but that just further enforces my point. I drafted poorly, I played poorly, I punted, I swore, I wasn’t any fun to play against and didn’t have any fun of my own. We are addicted to this game, pure and simple. We talk mad shit about draft formats that we think are bad and in the same breath ask our opponent if they are going first or second. We pay upwards of $50 for drafts that are definitely not worth the money and we do it all every week, every set, every season. I know its hard to put down the cards when there are willing participants but you know in your heart when its time to throw in the towel. Please listen to your body, for your and all of our sakes! 

Thanks for tuning in and a special thanks to Jed (the Benalish Dad) for hosting my article. I hope you find something that resonates and you don’t fall into the same pitfalls I did during your next big event!

About the Author: As a certified Benalish Daddy, Chris is well-versed in multiple formats of Magic as well as the fundamentals of Baby Raptor handling. Additionally, he is a skilled artist, musician, cook and general gentleman-at-large.