Influence device (001)

GP Sydney had 432 players - an Australian record. There were competitors from around Oz, New Zealand, Japan, the US, South America and Europe. One circle of friends were wearing imitation Native American headdresses and war paint. You get that.

6-2-0 was required to make the second day. I dropped at 2-2-2 (WDLDWL), so as not to be late for the soccer. Nine hours of brow-furrowing and fasting was enough. The reason I had two draws and failed to grab a feed between rounds was that my artifact/green/white deck was rather slow. This was compounded by the fact most of my opponents (three locals, two Melburnians and a Japanese bloke) were piloting similarly controlling piles.

I wouldn't describe my card pool as strong, but it contained a trio of "bombs": Contagion Engine, Darksteel Juggernaut and Sword Of Body And Mind. My only infect creature was Blight Mamba, which I threw in as a regenerating blocker. However, I pulled out a miraculous poison victory with it in a deciding game.

Cards that utterly wrecked me: Golem Artisan and Geth, Lord Of The Vault. That's what happens when you allow the battle to protract. Rust Ticks were as annoying as real ticks!

I'm mildly satisfied with my showing, given that I was forced to mulligan a few horribubble opening hands (16 land, four mana-producing Myr and a cantrip insufficient?) and I STILL haven't read the "Scars" spoiler :-)

American Eric Deschamps was the guest artist and seemed to be signing constantly. Peeps were presenting him with huge stacks of rares to autograph and, in some cases, customise, eg. the guy in front of me in the line requested his Venser, The Sojourner be transformed into a baseball batter (check the art - it fits). I believe I also saw a playmat decorated with an original doodle.

My policy with "M:TG" artists is to keep it quick and simple and just have them sign a playable common. ED did a funny thing with my Leaf Arrows - he autographed three with green texta, then did the fourth in silver, adding a metallic speed line to the leaf in that pic. Cool, huh?


Listening: "Chasing The Grail" (2009) by Fozzy
Reading: "Fantasy Freaks And Gaming Geeks" (2009) by Ethan Gilsdorf
Watching: Gatiss and Moffat's "Sherlock" (2010) - ta, SR