SCG Milwaukee Legacy Open Series

Hello old friend, it has been awhile since I last wrote. It feels really awkward to be writing again, because it's taking a while for me to form my sentences together. The last time I wrote anything for anyone to read was most likely last Spring during Writing and Rhetoric class. Do forgive me if my grammar and spelling seems a little off (not like it wasn't before. hah), I will hopefully be able to get this post done without melting my brain away.

Last weekend I was in Milwaukee and I took part in the Star City Games (SCG), Magic: the Gathering legacy open series. It was my second time playing legacy at a big event (also my second time actually playing legacy). I was running SCG's writer Gerry Thompson's "Shardless BUG" deck with a few tweaks of my own.

Reason why of the so many different kinds of legacy decks that were out there that I decided to run "Shardless BUG" was because, a couple months ago I was browsing through cards and happen to come across the card Shardless Agent on Gatherer.Wizard.com.

(image taken from Gatherer.Wizard.com)

I immediately fell in love with the art for it. From that point of time I decided to build a deck around it, so I went looking online to see if there's a deck for it and I found Mark Sun's "BUG Control" that runs it. With that I slowly trade for most of the cards to get the deck together before SCG Indianapolis legacy open. Sadly I was only able to trade for 32 cards out of the 75 cards needed to put the deck together and was about to give up on the idea but my friends were kind enough to lend me the cards I needed to to pull it off.

I didn't do too well, went 3(win) - 7 (lose) - 0 (draw) with the deck but I did learned a lot about the format. And the players were really nice about the many questions I had to asked about some of the cards that I never seen in my life. With that, I decided to give the deck another shot at SCG Milwaukee and this was what I ran:

Sidney Reuben's Shardless BUG Deck (Legacy Open - Milwaukee)

Creatures (14)
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Baleful Strix
4 Shardless Agent

Spells (21)
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
3 Hymn to Tourach
2 Thoughtseize
2 Force of Will
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Maelstrom Pulse

Lands (22)
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Bayou
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
2 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wasteland

Sideboard (15)
3 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Baleful Strix
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Chill
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Thoughtseize

Round one - Played against a Burn deck. Game one I got hit by Price of Progression and got hit really hard because I had six non-basis lands in play. That and Grim Lavamancer got me faster than I could get back at him with my Deathrite Shamans. Game two, I managed to get back him with me sideboarding in two Chill(s), taking out two Thoughtseize from the main board, pretty much messed up everything for him. Game three we went to time and weren't able to take out each other with the last five turns we had. I used Umezawa's Jitte to keep me alive but wasn't able to swing for lethal because if  I ever tried to push for damage instead of gaining the life I gained I would have been within Lightning Bolt range.

Round two - RUG delver was a first for me. Apart from the fact that I know they run Stifles, I wasn't such what else my opponent had. I got him Game one and he got me back Game two with me siding out my Tarmogoyfs to put in Nihil Spellbomb thinking that if I made his Goyfs and Nimble Mongoose useless, I would have a better advantage, but I was wrong and lost game three after.

Round three - Opponent was running a Counterbalance deck, and with Abrupt Decay in my main board, it was never a problem and I overwhelmed him with my Tarmogoyfs. Game two, I had a warning for drawing a card from casting Baleful Strix with the enchantment card "Humility" in play

(image taken from Gatherer.Wizard.com)

Being this only the second time playing legacy and first time seeing a card like "Humility" being played I wasn't very clear how the ruling for the card really work but I thought in my head it should only affect the creatures that were already in play and not something that comes into play. After drawing that card, my opponent stopped me right there and then and said we should ask the Judge about it.

We did and the Judge mention that I am really close to getting a game lost but because of how "Humility" ruling can be a little confusing for some, I was given only a warning for drawing a card. In the end I had to randomly pick a card and put it on top of my card. I got the game in the end but I was a little panicky because of what happen and I told myself to be sure to do things at a slower pace instead of rushing.

Round four - Played against a fellow Nerd Night player, Kyle Norman's "Show and Tell" deck. Game one he have to mulligan to four cards. He was on the play and he started off with lotus petal into a brainstorm for a land but I got him when I "Hymm to Tourach" two too many times and we went to game two. This time he had to mulligan to five cards, and I still didn't know what to sideboard against him because I didn't ge to see what I hymm-ed away the last two cards since he scooped and said to go to game two. I decided to put in two Thoughtseize and one Hymm from the sideboard along with Liliana. And managed to get him again with all the hand discarding with a Gofy in play doing most of the damage for me. 

Round five - Another RUG delver deck and this time I knew right away what deck it was after he turn on casting Nimble Mongoose. I got him both games with "nut" draws.

Round six - Sneak and Show. Got hit by a turn two "Show and Tell" into a Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, while I showed a Shardless Agent that didn't get to cascade because I didn't cast it. Went on to Game two and I was prepared with a Sower of Temptation stealing his Emrakul, the Aeons Torn going for the win. Game three, he learned his lesson and didn't dare to cast his show and tell, worrying that I might have sower in hand, so I managed to shardless agent(s) a few times in the many turns he held his show and tell to try and dig for a Force of Will, but by the time he could do anything I already had two Gofys, three deathrite shamans and two shardless agents in play which dwindle his life away and with me winning game three. 

Round seven - Yet another Sneak and Show piloted by the winner of the legacy series that day, Adam Jansen. I started the game with a warning from the Judge who spotted that I had a tapped Bayou with a suspended Ancestral Vision on board. He went and check with the head judge about it and came back to tell us to rewind the game to the point before I tried to suspend the Ancestral Vision. Lost that game but manage to struggle my way back game two. In game three I got Misdirected when I tried to Hymm to Tourach his hand but instead had my Liliana and Deathrite getting randomly discarded...which pretty much cost me the game.

Round eight - BUG Control. It was somewhat similar to what I was playing but didn't really know how to sideboard against it after losting game one. And game two he got me because I wasn't drawing too well.

Round nine - Death and Taxes. The games were pretty close but was able to pull it off in three games and managed to make it into the top 64th! I came in 59th with my Shardless BUG deck.

After that day I felt like I am slowly getting the hang of the format and I can't get enough of it. It is a really fun format, just wished the cards weren't all so darn expensive. And I will most likely stick to playing Shardless BUG for a long while, since I have already taken the time and effort to trade for most of the cards for the deck. I'm still missing some of the dual lands for the deck. Once that's done, my deck will be complete and I will have my very first legacy deck.

Being Gay and Single.

If you think being gay is hard, try being gay and single. Nothing could be more worst as a teenager trying to find a place where you could fit in and at the same time to fill that empty gap in your heart. I for one was one of those who felt like he couldn't fit in anywhere and would seek an alternative way of keeping myself occupied. Initially I thought I could forget the idea of ever needing someone to love and to be loved.

Everyday after school, I would run back home, throw everything aside and glue myself to the computer to play video games. It was like a ritual where I drown myself into a world where everything seem so much better. With monster slaying and online friends to impress, I felt like I was on top of the world.

In the game I was a sorceress who with a click of the mouse release a ring of electrostatic blast around herself and wipe everything within a 30 meter radius. I was an amazon who was a master at both the bow and javelin, with every blow it would strike at anything and everything that was within sight of the 17 inch LCD monitor screen of mine.

This was the world that I could feel good about myself, not having to worry about looking good or being the cool kid in school, it was a place I was never afraid of being smaller than everyone else.

As the years goes by, my love for the game slowly deteriorated and I find myself stuck in the middle of nowhere. I didn't have many friends and I felt awkward being around most of the people in my class. For the most part of my Secondary school life I was leaving a lie, I was socially awkward and was afraid of being outed. There were times I would make up a story about some girl I was seeing, everything was true just the part about the person in question being a girl.

I tried online chat rooms where I would try and find someone I could click but too many times I was lied to or shot down for not wanting to hook up for fun. I did eventually meet up with a few really nice guys on this one gay dating site. Fell in love many times with too many guys to count but the scene was too materialistic and I was not the ideal kind of guy that they were looking for.

I was a kid who had braces because I thought it looks cool, I had to worst hairstyle where my hair would just go everywhere when I don't bother to gel it up. And when I do I look like I'm trying too hard to impress a crowd that is not even in existent. It would be combed all the way back and looks really flat on my head. I was short, skinny and your typical loner.

All of that is of the past now because like the on-going campaign started by Dan Savage and the Trevor Project, "It gets better". I does gets better and it did get better for me as I chose to keep on living my life and meeting new faces. I met my very first boyfriend at a modeling agency because I was wanted to give modeling a try. The modeling thing didn't work out as well but I did enjoy my very first experience with another guy and how it was like to love and be loved by someone other than my parents.

I was inspired by Nicholas Downs and his character from the movie "Is It Just Me?" Where his Character Blaine experience the life of feeling intimidated by the gay scene and trying to learn how to open up his heart again. It reminded me of the days where I would be excited to hear how the guy sounds like over the other end of the receiver. And the days where I was try really hard to impress the guy I was going to meet for the first time. Oh the good exciting days of trying to find "The One".

Do check out the movie "Is It Just Me?" and tell me what you think about it and perhaps share YOUR story with us here. With that I shall leave you with this

Be yourself, you don't have to change for anyone but yourself and always remember to be happy!

I will see you guys when I see you.

Crush of the Month: Darren Criss

This is a serious problem. It's so serious that it's bad. Darren Criss has forced me back into blogging again despite my stacks of homework and up-coming mid-terms next week. I feel like if I didn't blog about it I will never be able to forgive myself. What a body to die for, and seeing pictures of it flying everywhere over the internet made me die a little inside as Darren Criss perfection has cause such a disappointment in myself.

Okay fine I know, every has their own beauty but I sometimes wish I had a body like that and look as hot. Although I must say this crush is starting to sound more like an admiration than a crush. I do think the guy is smoking hot, but come on people he's a superstar with girls from all over the world drooling over him what are my chances of be close to his such a fine body.

On another note, I haven't seen Glee for awhile, wonder what's going on with the story so far, though I have been hearing a lot of bad remarks about how the show is sucking real bad right now which makes me glad because I haven't even really watch the second season yet. HAH!

With that I'm going to close by saying the same boring line about how I will TRY to start blogging again. But yeah, hopefully I can squeeze some of my nonexistence time to blog.

Sidney Out.