40 for 40

Back in the beginning of April I turned the drastic corner of getting to the big 4.0. It was quite dramatic and, even though not a complete surprise, a bit of shock too. I really think it is quite a big number. The next round one is 50! But already at 40, you are definitely not “young” anymore. I am, somewhat reluctantly, but also very much, now part of the “grown-up” part of the population.

A bit of sound existential angst hit me in the months and weeks up to the day in question. Not because I feel I should be busy accomplishing something – I haven’t even committed to accomplishing the 40(unlimited duals)before40 challenge that is such a treat in these parts of the woods. And that should have been a rather trivial task, if prioritized. But I didn’t. 

I feel like I have accomplished most of what I want to in terms of bigger things: I have two great children, a very patient wife, a house I can still afford to heat in the winter, a job I enjoy and a host of great friends. As I have been saying for months, my main purpose these days is to enjoy life as much as possible. And be someone for as many as possible.

With all this in the back of my head, I decided around Christmas that I wanted to celebrate my birthday with a small gathering of Old School players battling against each other in a casual tournament hosted in the local craft beer brewery. I went ahead and invited around 40 people I know from the Danish OS tournament scene – people I have been playing against, talking to and having a great time with and of course those who fit all of the above criteria: All the Wednesday Wizards from my home team, team MetaGeyser.

Inviting 40, I hoped for around 25-30 participants. We are all busy adults with responsibilities and plans. I am very humbled that 23 prioritised going to Svendborg and spending an entire day with me.

Before

Okay, so the setup was actually really easy for me as the organizer. As it was my birthday celebration, I ordered and paid for the venue, so the participants only had to pay for food (that I ordered) and the beer they wished to drink throughout the day. 

I really only had to make three phone calls to make it all happen. Not exactly a huge burden. Nor anything I did not possess the skills required to get done. I wanted the day to have a casual feel, and always when I host parties or get-togethers I simply try to put the right people in a room together, and make sure the basics are taken care of. In my experience that is often all it really takes for great times to be had.

But in the days up to the event, I must admit that a lot of nervous feelings hit me, somewhat surprisingly. It has been quite some time since I last organized a tournament. And back then, I was no were near as personally invested. This time I had only invited people I consider friends or at least something as close to friends as you can be with someone you have only ever spent maybe two or three tournaments joking and playing and having a good time with. I was afraid that people would not enjoy themselves nor have a good time. 

On the one hand, I knew that it was a completely irrational thought. The participants for this event had basically been specifically invited because they are great company. And most of them knew each in advance, and had often been enjoying each other’s company previously. So it made no sense to be afraid that it would not be working. But on the other hand, I had some trouble shedding the feeling that I was about to waste everyone’s time. That the day would be a disaster.

And I want to just add a bit of a side note here. As mentioned above, everyone invited was busy, adult people with real obligations and packed calendars. Spending an entire day playing Old School Magic is a real expense for them – in money paying for transport, beer etc., but mostly in time. Time that could have been spent differently. 

At any given point, I could spend time watching my children grow into the great human beings they are to become; I could try to teach them stuff – or let them teach me stuff; I could play games with them or explore the forest. At any given point I could give my wife a kiss. I could renovate my house, do my garden or hang out with my old(ish) parents, my sister or my close friends through 20-odd years. Heck, if I wanted I could probably even work some more, and make some more money. I am certain almost everyone else in the Old School community has more or less the same possibilities (with some pluses and some minuses here and there). 

Deciding to spend an entire day at someone’s tournament is not something that should be taken lightly. I knew, of course, that all the tournaments I have attended have been great experiences that I have not once regretted comitting to and prioritizing. But this was something else, because this time I was not just the one attending, I was the one to blame, if something wasn’t working.

During

Of course my other hand was completely wrong. I had nothing to worry about, as everyone was there to have a good time, and the simple basics were taken care of. 

The day was a blast beyond description!

I had made quite the optimistic time plan: We were to play six rounds followed by a top8. We also had a couple of breaks to eat lunch, cake and dinner. And of course, we had to set some time off to hail the winners of the Spice-Price and the “Most Emil Deck of the Day-Price.” We also had to celebrate the often unsung, but very important People’s Champ (I had asked the participants to bring a price for the People’s Champ if they wanted to). 

Finally, Peter W. had promised to join around 20-o-clock (he was at a family party throughout the day) to host a Darts tournament.

All of this had to be done before 22-o-clock where the brewery would close.

This will not be a real tournament report, because I have to admit that even though I took some notes – I couldn’t really concentrate on playing nor noting anything particular that happened. And after round three, everything was quite a daze for me.

In the invite, I had written something along the lines of “You don’t have to bring a present, just bring your spiciest brew and come have some fun.” I didn’t mean to force anyone to play anything they didn’t want to – the point of the day was that everyone had as much fun as possible – but the discussion in the FB-event was so, that it was clear that most attendees had found some rather spicy cardboard to bring. 

I did not want to be the one Spike on such a day, so I had chosen to play this beauty of a deck (going Gentleman style, as I was not there to win nor instigate non-games):

I really, truly love this deck. The look of it, the feel of it, the play style, the cards. Everything. And it is pretty much the most Emil deck I could almost think of. (But of course I did not participate in that competition).

I made a somewhat transformational sideboard, to be able to beat quick creature-based strategies. Looked like this:

In short, my six rounds went horribly. Results- and playwise

I lost the first to the one very much non-spicy deck in the room, Martin “Forced-into-team-Metageyser” “Endboss” Strøm playing The Deck. In the second round I got a bye – perfectly so, as the big cake had just arrived. 

I had ordered the brown cake – a local speciality. The big picture of Verduran Enchantress is also a cake, that Morten Hald had brought. Very, very great!

As a sidenote, you can also see the prizes for the day. The very intricate Hama Beads Ancestral Recall in a golden frame was for the winner. Altered Unlimited basics for top4 and beta Unsummon for 5-8. A t-shirt for most spicy and a Spectacle playmat for the most Emil deck.

Anyway. In round two, I spent 50 minutes eating cake and enjoying the atmosphere, the beer and the great people in the room.

Oh, and boardstates like this:

In round three I was up against Anders (Gandalf the Dark on YouTube). This was three interesting games, that could have gone both ways, but in the end, I ended up succumbing to his really cool deck with Kry Shield, Old Man of the Sea and Diamond Valley. So much value! On another sidenote, I think there were three or four people playing Diamond Valley. Love it!

In round four I was up against newcomer and New-New Guy in Team Metageyser, Mikkel. It was his first tournament, and he was looking a bit fatigued, as is customary when you take the leap from Kitchen Table Magic to tournaments. It is just another beast. In the first game he lights up somewhat, as he demolishes me with three fast Savannah Lions backed up by a White Knight and some lightning. In game two and three I manage to get my sideboard plan of a greedy tower going, and I end both games on a lot of life – and many cards in hand.

Round five was against another teammate, Lando. I never issued a single point of damage to him in two games! He rolled me over with his Underworld Dreams and Blood Moons.  

Finally, in round six, I was up against another local teammate, Per. He had had some trouble choosing which deck to play, so he was allowed the entire day to present two deck boxes to his opponent at the beginning of the round, and then the opponent would choose one, he would then play. Quite spicy. I chose his mono green aggro deck. It did not end well. He removes me fast in game one. Game two is long and I manage to stabilize with my greedy sideboard plan and I win. But then the time for the round was up. Chaos orb flips: We both miss our third flip, and then I continue to also miss my thirteenth flip. And I was out of contention (but because we were so few players, having played so many rounds, Per actually managed to sneak into top8). 

In the top8 Martin “Reanimator” demolishes all opposition with his really, truly beautiful All-Hallows Eve Reanimator deck with blackbordered everything. Really a true beauty. 

(Worth mentioning, that another true beauty, Lando (holding a Mountain he altered himself), got the third place! Very much an achievement worth noting)

Rasmus, also a local, but one that unfortunately has not had a lot of free time to use on Magic the last years, was the happy runner-up.

For the most EMIL deck, Karsten won with this beauty of an intricate pile with so many different things going on, that even I have some trouble figuring out what the hell is happening. 

The most spicy deck was obviously this:

Morten had brought a reassembled iteration of his first school yard deck. Unsleeved play-what-you-have singleton Revised. Very, VERY school yardy! It was such a pleasure to watch him play the entire day, as both him and his opponents truly enjoyed what was going on.

And finally, the prize for the People’s champ went to Mikkel. He was nominated because it was his first tournament, but when he was nominated, Rasmus mentioned that he had just left. We were wondering why, but it turns out he had had to rush out, because he was made aware that he had been headlining the Facebook group “Det sker i Svendborg” (“Whats happening in Svendborg”) the whole day, because he had left his car without the breaks up. It had rolled into the street. And no-one had been able to contact him, because he had been so invested in the tournament he had been attending. After having rushed to his car and parked it safely, he arrived back at the tournament to be hailed and celebrated as a true People’s Champ. 

I forgot to take a picture of the loot he got, but among other things there was a Beta Sea Serpent, a Beta Invisibility, a Divine Intervention, some numbered WotC Expert token of some kind and more that I simply cannot remember now. And of course eternal glory.

After

At this point, I was very tired. Or actually not really tired. I was riding some kind of high, but I have to admit that much of the later afternoon and evening happened in a bit of blur.

When the tournament was officially over, and a winner had been crowned, we were on to darts.

I have never played better darts in my life, but unfortunately I only managed a third place. If I remember correctly Morten Hald brought home the trophy Peter had bought for the event.

After wrapping up the darts, it was only 22-o-clock. And you know what doesn’t close until 23-o-clock? The bowling alley right next to the brewery. So naturally a handful of us went there and played an hour of bowling, emptying a couple of beer towers.

After this we ventured further into the dungeon that is Svendborg By Night and ended up at “Børsen”. I figured this was the perfect time to assemble my Restricted Tribal Lich madness deck and played a couple of rounds against Per, while Martin Skovsgaard bought an entire bottle of Vodka and some Red Bull! 

Needless to say when it was around 1-o-clock and Børsen was closing, I was ready to head home. And so I did. Happy, grateful, relieved, a bit drunk and just all around full in general. It is certainly one of the best birthday celebrations I have ever had, and I am very much looking forward to the next one!

And as a final sidenote, I just want to mention that when I got the final receipt from the brewery, they had lowered the price significantly from the one, we had arranged prior, because we had been so great company (I.e.: We had bought a lot of beer)…