What is privilege? It is not an easy question to answer. Especially if you’ve had it your entire life, like I have been blessed to have. It can be a host of different things – big and small – possibly also very personal and subjective. And the strange thing about privilege is, that when you have it, you are at great risk to forget it. Become blind to it. This is a sad thing, because it is hard to appreciate what you are blind to.
I have a lot of privileges – I have mentioned this several times on the blog – and it is not to brag, it is to keep remembering that not everyone is as fortunate.
Why do I mention this? And what on earth does it have to do with that strange, somewhat off-setting title of the post?
I’ll tell you. Last weekend I was once again among the starting 70-or-so-players at the legendary LIC tournament. We had reached the sixth iteration of the series. I had been looking forward to it. And it was an absolute blast.
So what does this have to do with all that privilege stuff up above? Just that it hit me once again on said Saturday, that it is an immense – nay – enormous privilege to play a game with a community with so many talented, fun, generous, insane and wall-to-wall great people.
I especially want to make another shoutout to the organizers behind it all. The work they put into arranging a magical weekend for the players, is really something. In a country like Denmark, where the biggest problem on the Old School tournament scene these days seem to be doubly-booked weekends (two organizers had their eyes on the same weekend, and not being a bigger community, one had to cancel), one can easily become numb, or even blind to the vast privilege it is, that there are so many so generous organizers out there, that spend so much time on securing the rest of us a great experience.
So thank you!
LIC 6.0
As you may recall, I participated in both LIC4.0 and LIC5.0. Last year, at LIC5.0 I even went there on Friday night to play a really stupid Revised40 deck, that got me nowhere slow. Sleeping at the tournament site. Drinking two days in a row. Being almost 40 and tired. Not the best thing I have done to myself in the last couple of years.
This year, of course I wanted to go again. But only for the Saturday tournament of “normal” Danish Old Schooling. The dual/tournament, heavy drinking stuff was simply too much…
LIC differs in some aspects from most of the other tournament series in Denmark. First of all there is still quite an emphasis on alcohol. Not that you can’t join if you don’t drink (I was the designated driver, by my own choice this year, so I know), but it is just a part of the DNA of the tournament. LIC is the Long Island crew, and as legend has it, the first couple of LIC tournaments had a Long Island Ice Tea machine at the venue. Which is a thing that can only go very sideways.
There is also always a price for best drunk – markedly not the most drunk. BEST drunk. And there have been some legendary performances in this category! But, of course, what happens at LIC (in this respect) stays at LIC.
LIC also always has a charity raffle. And this year also an insane tombola-thingy. Lots of fun and great drunks.
Anyway. It was also a tournament of Magic cards. And an always really greatly organized one at that. The LIC tournaments are just legendary for some reason. Of course there is the drinking aspect, but it is not only that. There is just something about this tournament especially. It is funny how the different tournaments each have their individual personality – possibly from the organizer behind them. Maybe a topic for a later post.
But now! It was time to play Magic, and as always it was time for Team Metageyser to find a car and hit the road – the oldest school roadtrip was soon underway with Peter W at the wheel, me beside him and The Other Thomas in the backseat. What a crew! What a team for the day!
What deck to play?
We have to go through it every time. After getting beaten thoroughly in the borderlands, I had assembled a Blue-White-Black control-ish deck with some robots and a Skull of Orm, some Diamond Valleys and some cool enchantments. In another iteration of the deck (I changed like 10 cards), there was a focus on Factories, with candelabras, copy artifacts and Maze of Its.
Both of these decks are really strong. Of course they would both benefit from just being changed into The Deck, but so would basically every deck that is not already The Deck. My problem with The Deck is that I find the playstyle really boring.
And so, also, the two Blue-White-Black decks I had assembled. They were good, had some cool things going on, but they were boring. Really boring. I simply don’t like playing decks that rely on Disenchant and Swords to Plowshares. My bad, I guess.
So when me and some of the other Metageyser team members were testing a bit a couple of nights before the showdown at LIC, I complained, and then I started rambling, and then I got to a point where I remembered the truly cool and beautiful deck I had played at DOS last year. A Ball Lightning-Unsummon-Animate Dead Deck. With robots, lightning and The Abyss. Quite a deck!
I read about my experiences with the deck the last time, and reworked the list a bit, into this:
Truly a sight to behold, I’d say.
I took out The Abyss, because they are there for the long game – that I don’t really want to play. I kept the eight Robots, because I also kept the Workshop. The correct change would be to take out Su-Chi and Workshop and play Serendib Efreet and Underground Sea instead. And then probably also change one Trisk into a Fireball.
But I don’t like Serendib that much, and I only own a set of Revised dibs. They would really have messed up the deck photo…
I added Black Vise because it is an insane card. Really is! And it is one of those cards that are just sometimes enough to beat The Deck. And basically everything else.
The sideboard is pretty standard, I think. It makes it possible to go almost completely monored MoonBots, which is a nice little surprise plan that can come in very handy.
Before we (finally) venture on to what happened in the tournament, we should of course look at my goals for the day. They were as follows:
- Try to summon least 20 Ball Lightnings throughout the day
- Lotus, Ball Lightning in turn one. If also combined with an Unsummon I’ll lose it completely – the absolute dream!
- At least three Unsummons on opposing Factories
- Play Unsummon before a Wheel, Twister or Mind Twist
- Animate Dead Ball Lightning to then Unsummon it
- Get the same Ball Lightning into play three times in the same game
- Win at least three games
Round 1: Peter
In round one I am up against end-boss and the tournament organizer of the day, Peter. He is a very capable The Deck player that often places well in tournaments, and I have never won against him before. Not the most promising of starts.
Peter is, however, very very great company, and even when I lose to him, it all feels fine.
This time, we had three awesome games. I lost game one, even though Peter is mana screwed most of the game, and my turn one Black Vise almost got there singlehandedly – he stabilized at three life.
In game two, we both mulligan, and I then lead with an Ancestral Recall, two Moxens and two Black Vise. In turn two I play a Ball Lightning (that gets BEB’ed), turn three Blood Moon. That game I won!
On to the important game three!
Another great one. I am pressured by a lot of disruption and relevant removal from Peter’s side. Maze of Ith is also quite a pain against my Ball Lightnings. I manage to Unsummon his Serra Angel to make us go to time. And then we are on Orb Flips for the win.
I was so close to simply scooping at that point, because I have never hit more than maybe four flips in a row, and I know Peter is a master of that specific trade. But I figure I might as well try it.
And try it we do. It is 17 flips in, when Peter misses! I hadn’t missed at that point, which was by very far my record. I also managed to successfully flip the seventeenth Orb for the win of the round! That was really surprising, but a very cool start to the tournament. I felt it boded well for the day!
1-0
Ball Lightnings summoned: 5
Round 2: Jens-Ole
Only until I saw the pairings for round two. The not so great thing about winning round one, is that you are often up against yet another end-boss in round two. Thus also this time. I was paired against Jens-Ole – if I am not mistaken, he is the only Dane with a Shark in his board. He is a very capable player, with a lot of success recently.
And he was to gain even more. He played a cool The Deck-ish thing with Copy Artifacts and Sage of Lat-Nam. And even though I was very close to killing him in game one with another turn one Vise into an early Ball Lightning. He stabilized at a single life point, and killed me with an Angel.
In game two it was not as close. I kept a sketchy one-lander with a Sol Ring that would lead to a turn two Blood Moon, but I did not put quite enough pressure on him. And then he manages to get a Spirit Linked Serra Angel online. That is basically impossible for me to beat.
1-1
Ball Lightnings summoned: 1 (6)
Round 3: Jimmie
In round three, I was already handed an opportunity to get my sweet revenge from just a couple of weeks ago, when Jimmie very ruthlessly handed me my ass in the borderlands.
And I took it – the opportunity, the opportunity that is! In game one Jimmies ErhnamGeddon deck did not want to play a lot of Magic, and he had to Mulligan three hands away. It made my turn one Vise a lot worse, and he actually managed to get back into the game, because my deck was not exactly prone to play a lot of Magic either. The game ends in a point where I am at four life and Jimmie is at one. I play a Trisk and kill him.
I thnk there was something about a Psionic Blast, but I am not sure what it was. Had he had it in hand when I played my Trisk he should of course have played it. Maybe he didn’t have the mana for it – I can’t remember exactly. I do remember, however, that I had Unsummoned his Angel three times at this point to survive long enough!
Game two was also a longer one. I get a lot of Ball Lightnings swordsed – I also Unsummon one of them at one point. And I manage to get him in the end when I Animate Dead, one of his own Angels that I had Mind Twisted away early in the game. Sweet, sweet Animate Dead!
2-1
Ball Lightnings summoned: four (10)
Round 4: Anders
I have not played against Anders before – but of course he was great company, as one would expect.
In game one he plays turn one Lion. I hope for a bolt and play turn on Loa. He plays turn two Lion but no land!
I go Sol Ring, Ruby. In his turn he plays turn three Lion – and still no more land!
In my turn three I play a Triskelion and relieve him of his board. From there it is a rather uneventful game. I don’t think Anders found his second land until his turn five or six.
In game two I was a bit more under pressure, as Anders plays an early Ancestral Recall and a Dib to follow up. At one point I play a Ball Lightning that Anders decides to Psionic Blast paying with two City of Brass! That hurt him, but of course it hurt him less that the Ball would have done. After that he was down to seven life. I could then double lightning him and wait to se him succumb to his own Dib in his upkeep.
The game went by rather fast, and I simply forgot to take a photo.
3-1
Ball Lightnings summoned: Two (12)
Round 5: Kristian
Kristian is definitely another end-boss, another one of those players that you almost always see at the very top end of tables at a tournament. I have never had the opportunity to play against him before, but it was another one of those new pleasures, you can only experience at real life tournaments.
Kristian also played a The Deck-ish kind of deck, or maybe it would be called UW Robots or something along those lines. There were both Triskelions, Su-Chis and Tomes. In short, it was a cool and very potent deck.
In game one I had a rather insane turn one with a Time Walk, Two Moxens into a Mind Twist for two. He Twists me right back for three and unfortunately my only follow-up was a Black Vise, that certainly did not do the trick, and I succumb to a later Su-Chi.
Game two went somewhat longer. We fought over my Ball Lightnings and a Moon. At one point I Unsummon his Trisk and then play Timetwister (goal!), and I draw a rather great hand.
I am one mana short of being able to play both Moon, Ball and Trisk. I end up going for the Ball Lightning which – if Swordsed – would give me another turn. But alas, Kristian has his Blue Elemental Blast ready, and that was it.
3-2
Ball Lightnings summoned: Four (16)
Round 6: Christian
In round Six I was up against another Christian. But I knew that he had just left – he had just forgotten to drop from the tournament. So that was an easy, albeit a bit boring win for me.
I did get to play a couple of games at the bar against Morten who was on bar duty but had brought an insanely cool and fun deck with Lord of the Pit, Shivan Dragons, Sylvan Libraries, Diamond Valleys, Rukh Eggs, Birds and even All-Hallows! What a treat. I am rather sure he beat me quite some!
4-2
Round 7: Michael
In the last round of the day, I was paired against Michael. One of the players I have seen at tournaments on/off for more than 20 years, I guess. I am not sure I have ever played Old School against him before. I think he schooled me in Vintage back in the day.
In the first game Michael goes turn one Black Vise, so I get a taste of my own medicine.
My turn one was one of the more insane of the day: I go Lotus, Sol Ring, Pearl, Tutor for Mind Twist x=three. I could have found other cards, but I figured it was the best thing I could do in the situation, and I hit Michael’s only other land as well as a Lion and a Chain Lightning.
In my turn two I play a Su-Chi. And then the game ended very quickly – Michael never found his second land. Some games are just decided by a turn one plethora of restricted cards.
Game two was a bit more interesting, and very aggressive from both sides. I get to summon four Ball Lightnings throughout the game – three of them the same one! Yes another goal. I played it. Animated it – and Unsummoned it. To play it again. This deck is cool. I ended the game at two life, so it was quite a close one!
It was also a bit of a thinker, so I forgot to take a photo of this match.
5-2
Ball Lightnings summoned: four (20! Yay!)
Finishing thoughts
Okay, 5-2 and a twelfth spot in a 72 man tournament is not too shabby in my book. Especially playing a deck without white – and with four Unsummon and a set of Ball Lightning! But as I mentioned the last time I played Unsummon, it is really not a card to dismiss upfront. I did not get to bounce a single Factory Worker, which is always a joy – especially early in the game – but one should definitely not scoff at getting a single extra turn by bouncing an opposing Serra Angel or Erhnam Djinn. It is just paramount sometimes – and when you are playing a burn deck, it is really nice that you don’t give your opponent a lot of life, while removing his blockers or his threads. And then there is the synergy with Ball Lightning and Triskelion which is just so cool.
I know it is not interesting in any way, but I still want to mention it: it is really striking – and a bit sad – that almost all the top contenders in the format play white. I know, I know. But I really find it uninteresting. I am not entirely certain, but I don’t think there was a single deck in top8 that did not play white.
But that doesn’t matter. It just goes to show that if you want to do really well in this format, it is probably not enough to play power (/aka blue) you also have to find some white cards. Luckily I am not that much in it to win it, and I know that there is not really anything you can do about the dominance of Swords to Plowshares and Disenchant. It is what it is.
Anyway. I was not the only one doing okay in Team Metageyser. The Other Thomas was also playing in the top tables room almost the entire day. He ended up 3-4, but he had a nice streak!
And then again: What an immense treat and privilege it was to attend the LIC6.0! So much fun and insanity. So many great people all around. Great plays, beautiful decks.
All in all, I really can’t find anything (except for the white-rant) that I could complain about. So thank you to everyone who had a hand in making the experience as great as it was.
I guess that was the last tournament for me in 2024. It has been a great year tournament-wise, but I will make a new years recap in a month and a half or so.
One thought on “LIC’ing Balls”
Always good to see new posts from you 🙂