JE VAIS A PARIS!

November 27, 2010
I wake up at 7AM after tossing and turning all night. I’m not sure why, but it might be because I’m looking forward to today. My mom left a huge slice of Artichoke pizza in the kitchen last night and what a perfect carby breakfast for the long day ahead of me. The secret is to microwave first so the cheese melts, then onto a frying pan so the crust gets crisp.
What was ahead of me today was a Pro Tour Qualifier (PTQ) for Magic: The Gathering. It is a hobby that I have had since 2002. Before that, I was into the Pokemon craze. I even extended that a couple years too long past fifth grade, after everyone was over it. During middle school, I remember my neighbor, my brother, and I going to the Whitestone Toys ‘R Us to battle Pokemon. It really was a fantastic experience now I think back to it.
Parents would bring their kids to the store on a Sunday morning. Kids would casually play each other in the game, trade cards, and interact as kids should. Then, depending on winning and attendance, the person at the store would give you a stamp in your little booklet that Wizards of the Coast (the same company that produces Magic) produced. Promotional cards specific to this little gathering that they had in stores around the country would be given out. But what I really cared for was the badges. After a certain amount of stamps, you would received a badge for your achievements and put a drive in me to go every week.
At one point, my mother even drove my brother, my mom’s friend’s son, Eric, and I to a huge Pokemon tournament in New Jersey. Eric was my brother’s age and played Pokemon as well. My brother and I would hang at his house when my mother and grandmother visited his house to play Mah-Jong. There would be two tables in the basement going and just that loud Chinese comradery that I am so similar with from my childhood.
The Pokemon tournament was actually quite a generous offering by Wizards. Everyone was invited and there was no entry fee into the tournament. The tournament was split by age group. Winners would receive certain prizes and everyone at the end received a grab bag filled with booster packs, stickers, and other promotional schwag.
Eventually, Eric had introduced me to Magic and did this game hook me fast. I remember learning the game and immediately looking it up online. I had found coverage of a certain tournament and carefully browsed through the cards that these people were playing and the interactions that I had never heard of. The next time I saw Eric, I looked through his cards, and pointed at the exact ones that I had seen online. I wanted those cards. I offered him $7 for them, they were commons and uncommons, nothing of much value. He kindly accepted and I had purchased by first deck.
From then on has been an eight year hobby that I have kept up with. And that brings me to today, the PTQ in Edison, NJ. In Magic, there is a competitive scene to the game. There are certain players that are “professionals,” but it is no way a lucrative occupation. Instead, they’re mostly young (20s) and balance schooling with this “job” of theirs. They make some sustainable income, travel the world, and get to do something they enjoy.
The competitive scene has 4-5 main large tournaments, Pro Tours, a year. They take place all over the world and have a first place pay out of $40,000. It is by invitation only, in which the professionals are already qualified because of previous achievements. They call this being on the “gravy train.” However, for aspiring players, there are PTQs. For each Pro Tour, there is a season of PTQs all over the world so that non-professionals could qualify and live the dream of winning the Pro Tour, or at least getting on the “train.”
As for the tri-state area, there only have a handful each season and they have grown in attendance from 100+ to almost 300. Worst of all, it is probably the most competitive area to play in the world. There are way too many talented players and every tournament I go to, I always see the same faces of the usual “grinders” that are doing the exact thing I am doing. We’re all fighting through a field of people and trying to make it big and get on the train.
I have been off of the PTQ scene for a year now and this is my first this year. I had planned on taking a train from Penn Station and waking up at 6AM, but my friend Rob told me people were driving out there. I was able to find a seat in one of the cars. Now I could wake up over an hour later, take my time, and not slog through the LIRR and NJ transit train.
I arrive there and get to see many old faces. I see Greg, who has been a bit like me. He goes to Stony. School and life has pushed Magic aside from his life. He keeps up with the game, but not with the drive that he used to have. We used to be brothers on the grind. I would sleep over at his house the night in Queens before PTQ in Manhattan. I even was there when Greg, his mother, and I took a bus down to Baltimore for a relatively large tournament. He ended up taking down the Junior Super Series, a tournament for those 18 and under, and won $10,00 in scholarship money. Greg has won a couple of these PTQs, but not been able to make because of cost and school. Wizards gives you an invitation and pays for your flight wherever the Pro Tour, but hotel and food in Kobe, Japan can still be a pretty penny.
Then I see Dan and Chen, people that I had met in Binghamton. They ran the Magic Club. Even after transferring, I would sporadically keep up with them and see them at these tournaments. Dan has won a PTQ. He ended up going to the Pro Tour, to San Diego I believe, and lost pretty quickly.
It is important to keep these connections. It gives you something to do throughout the day while you’re not playing so that you can share stories. More importantly, it is interaction with other good players so you have positive input on your game. Even outside your friends, there is still a concept of community. The person that drove me, Simon, I had known and played with, but we had never shared even a real conversation. However, my friend Rob knew him and viola, I made a connection and got a ride. In situations where I desperately need a few cards to finish my deck for a tournament, my friends would know loads of people and those people would trust me enough to lend me possibly up to hundreds of dollars in value of cards.
So speaking about this game and the people involved, I feel it gets a really poor reputation. Granted, a lot of these people are what you and I would call “geeks.” They do not know the basics of bathing, grooming, or reasonable attire. They can be socially awkward and also dabble in many of the other stalwarts of “geekdom,” maybe it be Star Wars, Star Trek, Dungeons and Dragons, etc. But more power to them, they love it.
In general though, the people are pretty “normal.” Granted, there were only a handful females in the room, the guys at least were somewhat representative of what guys from the ages 16-25 from the general population. My opponents were nice people. They joked around and carried conversation. They shook hands. Just nothing really out of the ordinary if I hadn’t been playing them.
However, a positive thing about the community is that with the more competitive players, there are bound to be extremely bright people. The same goes for poker and chess. In poker, a lot of the professionals either went to really good schools or dropped out of them for a professional poker career. The opposite occurs in Magic. Many of the old school professionals are no longer in the scene because they’re off to do “real things” in life with their jobs. A lot of them end up becoming into the downtown financial type or lawyers. However, it’s still a hobby to them and I see them at PTQs, to show their face, see friends, and just hang.
My point is, everyone has dabbled in geekdom. May it be, a TV show, a film, video games (though this has recently been getting accepted socially I’ve noticed), or whatever. People are people. You shouldn’t always judge people based on who you might associate them with. Hell, I definitely do not associate myself with an overwhelming majority of Magic players.
Without much sleep the night before, I’m not confident with my chances, but this is a day for me to prove to myself that I had what it took. I had been playing for so long and it couldn’t all be for naught. Unless I am delusional, I have the chops. I just need to play tight, run well, and win. And win. And win. And win. For 9 rounds (50 minute rounds) with a cut to the Top 8.
This format is one that I particularly enjoyed. It was Limited, the other being Constructed. The analogy would be a cooking competition. Constructed would be like bringing your own ingredients and making a dish that you had perfected. In Magic, you would bring a deck of cards and play it. Unfortunately, that is logistically a problem for me considering you need to own a large collection in order to so. Granted, I do have a collection, but it in no way is significant enough to constantly be able to build whatever deck I want/need for a tournament. This is why connections are so important. When I have played Constructed in the past, it was almost completely done through the lending of cards.
And as for Limited, that would be like a chef showing up to a competition with only his mind and equipment. Then all competitors are given a random set of ingredients and no person gets the same ingredients. It is sort of like Iron Chef, but with more disparity between people. In Magic, you are given randomized sealed cards and asked to make a deck out of what is in front of you. It is not exactly a level playing field because it is random and many people end up with much better cards and decks than others.
Luckily for me, I open a stellar set of cards. Nothing too absurd, but just on the upper echelon of what one could open. One where a player like me could really have chances at winning.
The attendance is almost 300, which again is much larger than the 120 that I remember years ago and this meant a long day. I play well mostly and even have a few spectacular plays, but not without a mistakes. This isn’t a perfect exhibition of my abilities, but I am running well. Finally, it is almost 10PM and we had started playing at 10AM, the field is down the Top 8 and I have made it. This is only my third Top 8 and I previously had never won. I had only gotten to the quarters and semis.
People give me some Congrats, everyone wishes me luck, and it is my time to shine. The Top 8 starts off really poorly. I win the first game of the quarters by the skin of my chin, despite bone headed blatant misplays. The adrenaline has gotten to me.
Adrenaline might seem useful when you’re getting out of a dangerous situation or playing a contact sport, but it is definitely a negative in Magic. For me, I skip over the correct lines of play. A relaxed mind is able to look outside the box and see every possibility there is. When the mind is stressed and pushed, it makes rash decisions. If I was watching over my own shoulder, I would cringe at how bad some of the plays are, but the adrenaline is rushing through you and you just pull the trigger at whatever pops into your head and might not even notice how bad it is.
For the rest of the Top 8, I calm myself down, put my elbow on the table, lean my head on my hand, and play as if I couldn’t give a care in the world. After an extremely close semis against the only other competent player in the Top 8, I am into the finals. Game 1, he steam rolls me, despite me finding out later that I could have been in the game if I didn’t make a mistake. Games 2 and 3 and I feel like extremely well. “Perfectly” is a word that you can almost never use in Magic considering the many lines of play you could make.
And there we have it. It was 2AM and I had won a trip to the Pro Tour… in Paris! I will be going in February. My ride had patiently waited super long for me. Him, another friend, and I hadn’t eaten all day and stop by the diner. They even mention that I look so indifferent about winning, but that’s the mindset I had forced myself into. It just felt like another day in the office and I ignored what was on the line. It takes me another day until realize the impact.
I have finally accomplished something that I’d been wanting for over 5 years. This is by no means the be all end all. I still have to perform extremely well in a field of seasoned professionals, and amateurs like myself. So half of me is really anticipating this rough road ahead and preparation for it. However, the other half is non-Magic Darwin. I have always wanted to go to Paris ever since I was young. I’m looking forward to the sights and if I can plan it correctly, even some of the night life. I’m a bit jealous that my brother got to go a few years ago and he’ll be a great person to ask about Paris. The last place far I went was Prague and that was years and years ago. I am really happy I get to do this before law school locks me down and then I have to enter the real world.