I am tired, sore, and exhausted from judging Grand Prix Boston over the weekend. I now have the back of my head and my name up on Wizards’ site. (The picture is from the beginning of the day Saturday, despite the time of the entry they have, and I had not yet been issued my Judge shirt.) It was very fun and a good experience.
I feel like it’s been a while since my last post, and I want to post something, but I’m not sure what. So, random disconnected thoughts follow.
I’m judging at Magic’s Grand Prix Boston this weekend (and I got confirmation today that I will in fact be judging this event). I’m very excited.
Hopefully, we’ll be meeting with our builder next week to go over the house project and put together a contract, or at the very least start the building permit application.
So, the tournament organizer had emailed me a couple weeks ago asking what my availability for judging the prerelease this weekend was. I figured that this meant that they were planning on me being there. Apparently, the TO kinda dropped the ball and didn’t need me after all. (This would have been okay if he told me ahead of time, but being told at the event was kinda disappointing.) So, Jessi and I played in a flight each, and came home before the snowstorm. It now looks like the forecast is for up to 3 feet if we’re unlucky, so I think I’m just as happy to be back home. Plus, to make it up to me, the TO gave me $5 off the entry price and promised that I could judge at the Grand Prix in two weeks. I’m looking forward to helping judge a high-level event like a Grand Prix.
This weekend, I was planning on going to the Magic prerelease on both Saturday and Sunday. I was planning on driving home in between those days to sleep.
The problem, is that it looks like there may be a big snowstorm Saturday night. The NWS says that “This is expected to be a potentially life threatening situation for those who venture out during the height of the storm Saturday night and early Sunday.”
The Magic: the Gathering Betrayers of Kamigawa Prerelease in Boston is on the 22nd and 23rd (a week from this weekend). I’ll be there, most likely judging. Jessi will be with me playing. Others are welcome to come with us for one or both days if we have car room and you don’t mind being there for the *entire* day (likely 7am until 10 or 11pm), which should give you time to play in several events. Prereleases are a lot of fun. They’re a casual tournament where you get to play with brand-new cards.
This weekend, we went out to New York State to see Jessi’s extended family for Christmas. It was an enjoyable good time, with presents, food, visiting, cookies, and lots and lots of food. We left on Thursday afternoon and came back on Monday afternoon. Jessi got quite sick on the way home, which wasn’t much fun, but luckily it was just a 24-hour-or-so bug possibly caused by something she ate. We stayed at Jessi’s parents’ house last night while Jessi recovered, and watched 50 First Dates, which was quite entertaining and touching.
I just finished my last test. Last. Ever. (Or at least, last school-related test in the foreseeable future.) And I think I did very very well on it. I am happy.
And tonight, I get to try running another tournament at Card Stop.
I’m having trouble sleeping again tonight, likely at least in part due to this persistent cough that’s leftover from my cold. *sigh*
I played in an Unhinged booster draft at Wedge gaming tonight. It was much fun. I came in 2nd place, and got most of the rest of what I need to have a complete set. All that’s left for me to collect is Staying Power, Super Secret Tech, and ideally a completely-blank-with-silver-border filler card that I saw existed when someone opened one at the tournament I ran last week.
Yesterday, we attended the Magic Unhinged release tournament at That’s Entertainment. Unhinged is a wacky and funny set. (“I attack you for three… and a half!” is just the beginning.) I did fairly evenly, as I tend to do, going 2-2-1. Jessi, on the other hand, did amazingly well, doing 4-0-1 in the swiss rounds, her draw being with me. She didn’t do so well in the elimination rounds, but she still ended up in 4th place out of the 32 players there.
So, I went to Card Stop in Dudley today to try to run a Standard Constructed Magic tournament for them. At our peak, we had 4 willing participants:
Since we need an 8 player minimum to really have a tournament, it was a bit disappointing. Hopefully we’ll have a slightly better turnout to the draft I want to run at the beginning of November.