Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - Drive to Work #304 - Firsts, Part 2

Episode Date: February 12, 2016

Mark concludes his two-part discussion with Melissa DeTora on their Magic firsts.

I'm pulling out of the parking lot. You know what that means. It's time for drives from work. So this is the only third time I've ever done this. So with me is Melissa DeToro. Hey, everyone. And we're doing part two of our first podcast. So if you haven't listened yet, go listen to part one.

We're going to assume you listened to part one. We're not going easy on you to assume that you... We're not going to fill it in. Go listen to part one. And we're talking all about... First, first with magic. So we left off... What did we leave off, Melissa?

We left off with what was the first card you traded for. So in part one, I already sent you the card that I traded for. Yes. So I have a pretty crazy story. So I don't 100% know this is the first thing I traded for, but I don't remember my early trading. This is the only story I remember from my early trading. So... And I wasn't a big trader. So This is the only story I remember from my early trading. So, and I wasn't a big trader.

So this is the story I'm going to tell. So I'm not sure it was my first trade, but it was an early trade. So I got into magic, but I really didn't even know what to play with because there wasn't a lot of magic tournaments or anything yet. This didn't exist.

And so I saw an advertisement for a magic, I don't know, convention or something. And I was all excited because I didn't know any magic players. And so I go, and there was this, like, hotel, and I think, like, 30 people showed up. It was this tiny, you know, I was expecting, like, oh, like a game convention. I've been to a lot of game conventions. But nonetheless, there were people, they were magic. So we were playing magic, and I was excited.

Even with just 30 people, it was very exciting for me. But anyway, there was somebody there who was a Magic collector. Not a player, but a collector. And this is right after, I think, Beta came out. And so they were trying to get a full set of Beta. And I had three of the four cards they did not have. I had a Volcanic Island, which was not in Alpha. I had a Mana Short, and I had a Volcanic Island, which was not in Alpha. I had a Mana Short,

and I had a Balance. And they did not have, that was three of the four cards they needed. So they wanted to trade with me. And I wasn't particularly interested in trading. I really was there to play. I didn't, you know, I did some trading,

but I wasn't there to trade because I knew that I could trade other times, other places, but only here could I play more Magic with people. I was very excited to play. And so knew that I could trade other times, other places, but only here could I play more Magic with people. I was very excited to play. And so at first I said, you know, I'm not interested in trading. And so they went around the room, but eventually

they came back to me. There's only 30 people in the whole thing. And they're like, okay, you have the cards we need. Nobody else does. So the first thing I said, I'm not trading Balance. I even then I could recognize that this card was good. And I'm like, I'm not trading balance, I'm keeping balance but I said, okay, maybe I'm willing to trade the Volcanic Island and the Mana Shore

and so they offered me some stuff and I'm like, nah, I guess I'll just keep my cards and they're like, no, no, no and so they kept offering me more cards and I really wasn't that interested in trading and so I kept declining it and so they kept throwing more cards on because they really wasn't that interested in trading, and so I kept declining it, and so they kept throwing more cards on, because

they really wanted to trade with me, and because I honestly didn't care, I wasn't trying to goad them into putting more cards on, I'm like, yeah, I don't think so, and so they just kept throwing more cards on, and eventually there was so many cards, I think from my two cards, I got

18 cards, all of which were rares, or all of which from my two cards, I got 18 cards, all of which were rares, or all of which were... I mean, I guess we didn't know they were rare, but we could sense they were... We had a sense of what the rares were, even though there was no rarity back then. You couldn't tell the rarity. Among the cards I got, I don't have the list of all 18 cards, but I know I got a Time Walk and a Time Twister.

It was just all these crazy cards from my two cards that... I'm not the volcanic island. I guess it's the only thing that's sneezed at these days. But anyway, it was an 18 for 2 trade including multiple numbers of the power nine, which once again weren't at the time

called that. But I realized that I was telling the story in the pit today because you were talking about this podcast. I realized that's not the craziest trade I've ever made. The craziest trade I ever made was I traded four Star Trek The Next Generation rares

of, like, you know, Crusher and Data. I think they're actual named characters from Star Trek. I traded four rare Star Trek The Next Generation trading cards for a beta starter deck. Wow. So when was this? A long, long time ago. Okay. I mean, when the

Star Trek trading card game first came out, I collected it, and I had a roommate. Hold on one second here. I had a roommate who had a girlfriend who I sold some cards to to try to get her into Magic and she decided

she didn't want to play Magic in fact never opened up the product she had a starter and she had never opened it up and so I went back to try to buy it back from her and she didn't want to sell it back to me and so I offered her double and I offered her triple and I kept upping it she just wouldn't sell it to me and so i i offered her double and i i offered her triple and i like i kept opting and she just wouldn't sell to me and so at one point i got into i was collecting star uh star trek and she's she started playing star trek for some reason and so i made the trade

and i got the i got my beta starter so nice anyway okay what's our next one our next one is the first time you played magic with other people so the first time that you played magic with other people. So the first time that I played magic with other people was actually the first time I played magic. And if you listen to part one, the story may seem a little bit familiar because I talked about it in part one, but the first time I played magic was I was about 16 years old and some friends from high school, including my high school boyfriend, they said, oh, you'd really like this game, Magic. You should really play. And I didn't really have any interest in playing, so...

Tell new stuff, because they have to listen to part one to listen to part two. Oh, okay. You guys listen to part one. Assume they listen to part one. We're not going to repeat the story. Do you have new parts of the story? Yeah, I have new parts of the story, yes. So I learned how to play Magic. I thought the game was super cool. We played a four-person multiplayer game, a free-for-all game. I don I learned how to play Magic. I thought the game was super cool. We played a four-person

multiplayer game, a free-for-all game. I don't remember what deck I played, but I kept losing, and the card that I kept losing to was Feast of the Unicorn. That's a... Oh, I remember Feast of the Unicorn. Plus four, plus oh? Yeah, so it's a Homeland's card, right? Yeah, Homeland's card. Okay.

So it's three and a black, Enchantment Aura, and it gives a target creature plus four plus zero. Not the strongest card, but maybe he had it on a flyer or something, and I just kept dying to it. I was like, what's the thing that's killing me? And it was just this unicorn with, I guess, an apple in its head or something. Yeah, yeah, they're eating it or whatever. Yeah, so this card just stuck out in my mind when I first started playing it,

being a very strong card. It's not that strong of a card. stuck out in my mind when I first started playing it being a very strong card. It's not that strong of a card. So that's my story. So you've been the first to mess with me. I mean, obviously at the convention where I picked up the cards, I talked about how I got taught by somebody. The interesting thing, actually, one of my favorite stories is, so I was working at the Gamekeeper. And so once I got into Magic, I convinced the game store to start selling Magic. And then what I would do is I would demo, when people would come in, I had a starter deck, and I would demo the game.

And what I started doing is I let people trade with my demo deck as long as they traded one for one. And I had a rough idea of rarity, so they had to match rarity, and they couldn't give me a card I already had. But I let people trade out of it, and so one of the people that I became friendly with who kept coming in and trading with me was a guy named Henry Stern, who I became very good friends with, who I ended up working with for a long time. So, um, Henry was one

of my earliest Magic-playing friends. Um, so I'll, I'll I don't remember exactly who the first person I played with, but Henry's one of the earliest people I played with. Okay, next question. Next. First time meeting Richard Garfield.

Oh, the Richard, okay, so go ahead. What is your meeting Richard Garfield story? Okay, so first I just want to say that back then there weren't really magic celebrities. Like these days pro players are considered magic celebrities. You know, they produce content, like they make videos. Usually you see them at events and you ask them to sign your playmat or your favorite cards that they like to play. But back then that wasn't really a thing.

So I wouldn't really say they were magic celebrities. But Richard Garfield was a magic celebrity. So meeting him was super cool. So anyway, I went to Worlds as a spectator. It was Worlds in Toronto, 2001. Tom Vandelak went, right? Yeah. Yep, you're right.

And I just went because, like, some friends were going, and I wanted to, like, see people that I haven't seen in a while, you know. So I flew out to this event, like, mostly just to play Magic, and I found out that Richard Garfield was going to this event, uh, like, mostly just to play Magic, and I knew, I found out that Richard Garfield was going to be there, and he could sign cards, and I was like, wow, this is the coolest thing ever, so I waited in line, I had my four arena promo counterspells, and I, I met him, like, I, I told him that, you know, like, I love Magic, and he's super cool, and it's really an honor to meet him, and he signed my cards, He didn't really seem like he cared or anything,

but he signed my cards. He wrote, like, so the Arena Counterspell has, like, this guy on it, and he made him say no. So that was really cool, and he, like, drew little designs on them. So I still have those cards, actually. I should find them and start playing Counterspell. There was a little... At the time, there was this rumor that

if Richard altered your card, that it was just legal. You could play it. And he had changed my Shivan Dragon into a Shivan Dragon yo-yo-ing Shivan Dragon of Doom. And he put it like... The Shivan Dragon has his hand up and he made a little yo-yo on it.

And he changed the text. I don't know what the text did. But it allowed you to like do one damage to things or something. But I got to figure out where that is. I have that somewhere. Okay. Is that your story? That is my story.

Okay. So my story is. So at this point, I went up to San Francisco. There's a thing called Manifest they used to have, which was a convention for trading card games. And not just Magic, but Magic was obviously the biggest thing there. And so I went up to San Francisco. Now, at the time, I was doing the puzzles for the Duelists. So I was a writer for the Duelists, and I was doing the puzzles. And so I had never met Richard

but I knew of him I knew that he knew of me because we had through second parties interacted I never actually ever met him or talked to him so I went into Manifest and like in the lobby or something

I ran into Richard and I was really excited because I was freelancing for Wizards. I wasn't working for Wizards yet and I obviously knew Richard. I mean, you know, I knew of Richard and I was quite excited. And Richard knew who I was because of the puzzles, because he really liked the puzzles. And so I had like an in to talk

with him. And then he invited me up to his room. He said a bunch of people were playing games. Would I like to come play games up in his room with other people? And I was like, uh, yes! Yes, I would! And so, my very first interaction with Richard was playing games in his room. I think Roborow

is the first game I ever played with Richard. And I was not very good at it at first, and they were very good. But I had a blast playing it, so... Anyway, that's my first meeting of Richard Garfield. Sweet. Okay, next question. First tournament. First it. So, you know, that's my first meeting of Richard Garfield. Sweet. Okay, next question. First tournament.

First tournament. Okay, so my first tournament, it was back in, like, maybe 98 or 99 or something. All I had done was play casual. And so I played D&D in high school. And the group that I played D&D with, like, uh, I found out that they also played Magic. And I was like, oh, cool, I also play Magic. And they're like, oh, we play in tournaments. And I said, wow, there are Magic tournaments? This is the best news ever.

I had no idea there were Magic tournaments. So, um, one of the friends, uh, who I played D&D with, um with was running a magic tournament at a comic book shop. And it was, like, he invited me to go. So, it was a single elimination tournament. Free entry. Standard. And standard at the time was Tempest and Urza's Saga. And first place of the tournament...

What was it called at the time? Oh, okay, sure. So, it wasn't called Standard at the time. It was called Type 2. We had Type 1, which was now Vintage. We had Type 2, which is Standard. Type 1.5 is Legacy. And Type 1.X was Extended,

which is not a format anymore. Yeah. So, piece of trivia for you guys. All right, so this tournament, first prize of this tournament was a Mox Diamond. Mox Diamond, okay. Second place, Cursed Scroll. Now, interesting for me, I had no idea what these cards even were. Never knew what these cards were. My decks were just like packs I opened, and that was it. Those were my decks. But anyway, I did prepare for this tournament. I built a deck out of my cards. It was a green stompy deck. Didn't really know what I was

getting myself into. I mean, I thought I was good because, like, I won all my games at my school. But as it turned out, real magic was, like, you know, much harder. So round one, I got paired against a high school friend and I won. You know, no big deal. He was just a high school friend. But then I played against a real player, and I pretty much got destroyed. And the cards that I lost to, I talked about in part one, so you can go listen to that. It involved Creator Elliot. So I was eliminated for a tournament.

That was your first tournament? That was my first tournament. Wow, that's a... Before that, I only played casual. And you went back after that tournament? I did. for a tournament. That was your first tournament? That was my first tournament. Before that, I only played casual. And you went back after that tournament? I did. I went back. It was still like... I really like competitive games.

If I could, I would have played competitive Tetris or something. I only played video games before that. But once I found out that there were Magic tournaments, I was like, well, this is exactly what I want to do. I also used to play competitive sports, so I'm just very competitive. So that was my first tournament. I'm trying to remember. So my first tournament, the problem with early Magic,

because I started super early, was there wasn't any sort of structured thing and that you would go places, there would be people, and you kind of do pickup games. But the first tournament I remember was, I saw a flyer at UCLA. I lived in Los Angeles at the time. And so UCLA, I lived,

it was in Westwood, which I live near. And I saw a flyer because the game store that I bought Magic at was in Westwood, near UCLA. And there was a tournament. I'm like, oh, I'm going to go to a tournament. So I sit down with my first opponent and he brings out his deck, which I'm not exaggerating, was a foot high. It must have been every card he owned, or it seems like every card he owned. And he calls it his Leviathan deck. And so I asked him,

oh, is that because it's so big? He goes, no, no, no. I have a Leviathan. Oh my god. So a Leviathan, what is it, an eight man or something? It's a really expensive creature that costs a lot of money to get out and it's a... It like enters the battlefield tapped and you have to

sacrifice two islands to untap it. Yeah. And it doesn't untap ever. You just always have to sacrifice two islands to untap it. Right. It doesn't untap ever. You just always have to sacrifice two islands to untap it. Right. Something like that. So, I mean, it's this giant creature. I don't remember how big exactly. 10, 10, 11, 11 something.

It's this giant creature. It has this really restrictive cost, and it's really expensive. So this guy is playing a deck a foot high that has all Leviathan in it. He gets it out and beats me with it. Oh my god. Come on. And I'm like, I remember when he brought this deck,

I was like, okay, I can beat this guy. He's got a foot high deck. I have a lean, mean, you know, tuned deck. And I lost to the Leviathan. I for sure lost the first game. But I remember losing to the Leviathan.

That's all I remember that whole match is I lost to the Leviathan, that's all I remember that whole match is I lost to the Leviathan, and his, his Leviathan, he backed with one Leviathan in it, um, but that was my first tournament, I think I actually did pretty well at the tournament, um, maybe I won that match, I don't, I actually don't remember, but I remember doing pretty well at the tournament in that, um, I felt pretty confident, like, I, I had, I had played a lot, sort of, of against i hadn't really been to a tournament before and it was early enough in magic that like just having a little bit of expertise was a lot

back then okay what's the next all right first set you drafted okay so for me so after that first tournament i um ended up finding a magic store that i would go to every week to play Standard. It was called Type 2 back then, but, you know. So it was every Saturday. There was no FNM back then either. It was just, you know, Saturday Type 2. So I went to this tournament every week and played Standard. And then after the tournament, all of the good players at the store would stick around and draft. And I didn't really know what drafting

was or anything, but, uh, did they booster draft or they rostered draft? They booster drafted. Okay. So, um, like eventually I started like, you know, getting to know the players at the store and they're like, Oh, you should come by and you should stay one night and draft with us. And I was like, all right, well, you know, sure. I'll see what it's like. So the first night I just watched and then, uh, the next week well, you know, sure, I'll see what it's like. So the first night, I just watched. And then the next week, I ended up staying and I actually did a draft. So the format was Urza's Saga, full block. So Urza's Saga, Legacy, and Destiny.

Okay. So at first, I just watched. So, like, we had this player. He was the best player in our entire state. His name was Chris Stegnick. I don't think he went on to do anything like in the Magic World He was just a good player from our state and I watched him do a draft and I remember he drafted a white deck with Jasmine Seer. It was a it's like a 2-2 creature for four mana You pay like four mana and tap it reveal white cards from your hand and gain that much life. So every turn you would be gaining like ten life. And I was

like, oh, okay. So I was starting to like, you know, figure out what people were doing while they drafted. Then I finally tried drafting myself. I drafted a terrible deck. It probably didn't have creatures in it. It played all the cards. I played like, you know, main deck fog, main deck enchantment removal. they all had cycling, so it was okay, but I didn't know that at the time, and I probably didn't win, but, um, eventually I would, like, go on to actually learn how to draft, so I would say the first set that I actually drafted where I actually knew what I was doing, and I knew to draft, like, a mana curve, and that creatures in removal are good, and don't play fog, like, that kind

of thing, that would be Mercadian mess. And I drafted that set quite a bit, actually. Okay, so my first draft, actually it's an interesting story. I got flown to Toronto by Wizards of the Coast to, they were having the very first pre-release ever, which was for Ice Age. And I got flown as a member of the duelist to write

the article about it and I was asked to play in the event so I could write an article about from the perspective of being in the first pre-release and then there was a cut to day 2 which was top 32 and I made the cut to day 2 and I was asked to drop out because they didn't want

me doing well since they had flown me there David Humphries by the way would go on to win that event I actually listened to drop out because they didn't want me doing well since they had flown me there. David Humphreys, by the way, would go on to win that event. I actually listened to a podcast that you did. Oh, yes. So anyway, after hours, after we were done, I was hanging around with some of the staff because I was pseudo-staff, and they were going to draft Ice Age.

And I'm like, what are you talking about? Because the early Magic, drafting was something that we really didn't start pushing until the Pro Tour. In fact, there's interesting stories about the very first Pro Tour was limited, which was PTLA. So PT New York was the very first Pro Tour.

PT Los Angeles was the second Pro Tour. And that was the first time we had introduced kind of push drafting in any way, and most of the Europeans in Europe, they weren't drafting at all, so they didn't really

know much about drafting, and the Americans, we had pushed it a little bit, so the Americans had a little more knowledge of it, but anyway,

this is back in Ice Age, this was long before that, or a year or two before that, and so I drafted with Ice Age but the brand new set I had only played

in the pre-release and I drafted with employees R&D people and stuff and I had a blast I'm sure I did horrible just because I had never ever drafted before

but anyway that was my first draft was drafting Ice Age cool alright what's the next one? next one first Grand Prix that you attended But anyway, that was my first draft, was drafting Ice Age. Cool. What's the next one? Next one, first Grand Prix that you attended. Okay. So mine was a local Grand Prix.

It was Grand Prix Boston 2001. So Grand Prixs were much different back then than they are today. Like today, they can be 2,000 players. They're very long, nine rounds. This was not like that. Okay, so this was, uh, it was a larger Grand Prix at the time, there were probably about between three and four hundred players, that was like record-breaking at the time, and, um, instead of like, like, uh, X and 2 making the cut to Day 2, this was a top 64 would make the cut to day 2.

So what that would mean is the pro players had three buys, um, and generally, if you had three buys and you went 6 and 2 in the tournament, you would make day 2. Um, if you went 6 and 2 and you didn't have any buys, it was all about tiebreakers. So my first Grand Prix, eh, I, at the time, I had played in, like, you know, plenty of PTQs, so I was, like, I knew what I was doing. The format was Invasion and Planeships Limited, so, like, I had a pretty decent deck, uh, I was, I went, I had no buys, I went 6-1, right? So, at 6-1, if I intentionally draw the final round, I automatically make day two. But if I lose, I don't make day two at 6-2 because I don't have any buys, so my tiebreakers are likely not good enough. Okay. So my plan going into this last round was

to ask my opponent to draw with me. But they're also 6-1, right? Yeah, but if they draw, they automatically day two. Right. If they win, they're in a very good position for day two. If they lose, it depends. If they have three buys, they make day two. So my opponent is none other than Hall of Famer Darwin Castle.

Oh, Darwin. Okay. So I knew who he was because he was one of the best players at the time. And I had a feeling that he was not going to draw with me because if he draws with me, it doesn't really help him. If he beats me, he's in a great position. If he loses, he makes day two anyway because he has three buys. Right. So anyway, we play. Long story short, I don't win. So I don't make day two anyway because he has three buys. So anyway, we play.

Long story short, I don't win. So I don't make day two, and he goes on to make day two. But a really cool thing happened. Back then, there was this prize called the Amateur Prize, and this prize was awarded to the top players who didn't have any pro points, never played on the Pro Tour, and I fell into that category. So I ended up winning the Amateur prize, which was probably about $250. So even though I didn't make day two, I still made money at the tournament.

And I was able to play in the PTQ the next day. So it was a pretty cool experience for my first Grand Prix. That's cool. So the first Grand Prix I was supposed to attend, or first thing that I attended that was supposed to be a Grand Prix I was supposed to attend, or first thing that I attended that was supposed to be a Grand Prix, was Hong Kong. The event that the very first Magic Invitational, then called

the Duelist Invitational, was held at was supposed to be the very first Grand Prix ever. And in fact, the reason the Invitational was there was we realized we couldn't get the Grand Prix started quick enough and they wanted some high-profile thing there, and so they asked us to move the, the Invitational was originally going to be in San Diego, and they asked us to move it to Hong Kong, which

I said yes to. So I think the actual first Grand Prix was in Amsterdam, if I remember correctly, and I was not at that, but I was at the next Grand Prix, I believe, which was in Tokyo, Japan. And so the first Grand Prix I ever went to was in Tokyo. That's pretty far. And I've written, I've written about this. That's, I think that was my first time in Japan. I've been to Japan a bunch of times, thanks to the Pro Tour and stuff.

And this was the, I think I've written about this in my articles. This was the one where I did a draft, where they did this thing with drafts with wizards people. And so I did a draft, and I opened up something, I forget what I opened up, I got past a fireball. And I'm like, oh, what did they open? Did they pass me a fireball? Did they open like a Sanger vampire? What did they open? They passed me a fireball.

And then the next card I get passed is a lightning bolt. And the next card I get passed is a fire vampire. Like, what are they open? They passed me a fireball. And then the next card I get passed is a lightning bolt. And the next card I get passed is a fireball. I'm like, oh, they've never

drafted before. So I had seven people that had never drafted before. I made the craziest, craziest burn deck you've ever seen. Not only was I undefeated,

I didn't lose a game. But anyway, my first Grand Prix was in Japan, so that was pretty cool. Okay, what's the next question? Alright, first Pro Tour that you attended. Should I say the first Pro Tour I attended as a player? Do both.

So what's the first one you went to and the first one you played in? Okay, so the first one that I went to, I was not qualified, of course. It was Pro Tour New York. Which one? I think it was like, yeah, all right.

It was definitely 2001 because it happened right before 9-11. It was September of 2011 that I went to. Oh, right. What most people don't know, by the way,

is that there was a Pro Tour in New York that ended September 9th, I think. Yeah. And then it was like, I flew out on the 10th. Yep, yeah.

I didn't fly to this one because this was, like, somewhat local for me. It was a three-hour drive for me. So I just went there because, like, I heard that there are cool side events. You know, there are, like... Did John win that one? I believe this was teams. Oh, it was teams. I think.

New York teams. Who won? I don't remember. I wasn't really paying much attention to the pro tour. I only went up just the one day. I went up on Saturday. Because the first team event was in D.C.,? I don't remember. I wasn't really paying much attention to the pro tour. I only went up just the one day. I went up on Saturday. Because the first team event was in D.C., Washington, D.C. It was won by, you know, with games.

Yeah, I, honestly, I don't remember. But it was definitely teams because I remember I had a bunch of friends who were playing. So anyway, I just went up for the day and I just went to go play in some side events. Oh, I know who won. Phoenix Foundation okay yep I kind of vaguely remember uh Phoenix Foundation was Kai Buddha, Marco Bloom, and Dirk Babrowski uh three really really good German players obviously two of which are the hall of fame so okay so I just went to this uh pro tour to uh like like I said I played in some side events

um it was pretty fun. I also randomly, out of the blue, decided to take the level one judge test. Now, back then, judging was a little bit different. They'll just give the judge test to anyone. You want to be a judge? Sure. Here's a piece of paper and a pen. Take this test. If you pass, you become a judge. Why not? So, like, I just thought it would be cool to be a judge. I didn't really want to be a judge at the time. So I took the test. I didn't pass it. I didn't really, like, study or anything. I just thought it would be cool to be a judge. I didn't really want to be a judge at the time So I took the test. I didn't pass it. I didn't really like study or anything. I just like took it randomly a Year or so later. I would go on to take the test and pass it and be a judge for the next like

More than ten years, but at the time I wasn't ready to be a judge, but it was still like Pretty interesting that like you could just take the test out of nowhere. If there was just a guy, apparently he was a judge, and he was just, like, you know, giving out tests to people, to anyone who walked up there. But anyway, that's pretty much it for the first Pro Tour that I attended. Okay, what's the first Pro Tour you played in? Okay, so, first, how did I get there? I won a PTQ. This was in 2002, December 2002 I won a PTQ. This was in 2002. December 2002. Okay.

With the PTQ. And it was extended format. And the deck that I played was an Oath of Druids deck with Cognivore. Okay. So basically the idea is... Green-blue deck? Green-blue deck, yeah. Just green-blue.

The idea is you play Oath of Druids. Your opponent has a creature. You mill a bunch of stuff into your graveyard. Eventually you hit a Cognivore. And he's likely pretty big because you just milled a bunch of stuff into your graveyard eventually you hit a cognivore and he's like likely pretty big because you just milled a bunch of stuff and you just win with like an 1818 cognivore so i won that tournament um and the pro tour that i qualified for was pro tour venice which was uh onslaught block constructed um and that that was uh like you know a couple months

later 2003 oh that was a fun pro tour yeah it was fun i later, 2003. Oh, that was a fun pro tour. Yeah, it was fun. I mean, like, it's a great first pro tour because, like, for me, it was my first time going overseas. Oh, wow. Venice was your first time overseas? Yeah. That's cool. Yep.

I mean, it was, like, 12 years ago. But, yeah, like, it was my first time overseas. Like, I got my first passport and everything because back then you didn't need a passport to, like, go to Canada and stuff. So it was my first time overseas. I got my first passport and everything, because back then you didn't need a passport to go to Canada and stuff. So it was my first time getting a passport. I worked with Team Your Move Games, because they were local to me. So people like Darwin Castle, Dave Humphries, Rob Daugherty, Justin Gary, the Guevin brothers, Tom and Peter, who were the best players at the time. Tom actually made the finals of a Pro Tour.

Very well-known player back then. He made second Pro Tour, PTLA, the very second Pro Tour. No one knows who he is now. But anyway, that was the team that I tested with. I love putting him on feature matches. He was awesome with feature matches. I put Tom on feature matches all the time. Yeah, he's a very entertaining person.

If you ever go out to dinner with him, he's the biggest troll to the server. It's hilarious. But anyway, like, to the server. It's, like, hilarious. But, anyway, so I tested with Team Your Move. We, uh, most of the team played this beast bidding deck, which, uh, it was, like, a deck that played a lot of beasts that had cycling. So you would cycle all of your beasts into the graveyard and then play the card Patriarch's Bidning, which is name a creature type, and all the creatures of that type come back to play for both you and your opponents. Like, if your opponent's playing goblins, he can name goblins or something. So you get all the beasts back and all the goblins.

So that was our deck. It wasn't a great deck. Like, I didn't personally do very well with it, but one funny story that I have from it is actually Dave Humphreys. So, Dave Hum humphries is one of the slowest players ever and like we uh like to uh troll him a lot in uh in r&d for being so slow he's he's pretty slow like when we uh play touch with him he's like one of the slowest players but his like story about how he's not slow is that the only slow play warning that he ever received was at this

tournament, Pro Tour Venice. And it was while he was resolving the card Read the Runes. Read the Runes is like a pretty hard to resolve magic card. It costs X and a blue and it's draw X cards and then either discard X or sacrifice X permanents, any combination of that. So if you play it for, like, five, you can draw five cards, and you can either, like, discard two and sacrifice three or whatever you want. But anyway, I remember I was watching him play because, like, you know, he's one of the best players in the world.

I wanted to become a better player. So I wanted to, you know, watch him play and learn from him. And I knew he was a slow player, but, like, whatever, I was watching him anyway. So he's resolving this read the runes, and he's just taking forever. And it was like watching paint dry. And I was just like, maybe I, like, was talking to my friend or something, and then I would go back and watch the match. I was like, wow, he is still resolving this read the runes, you know?

And then, like, I would go and do something else, like walk away and come back, and it's like, wow, he is still resolving this read the runes you know and then like i would go and do something else like walk away and come back and it's like wow he is still resolving this read the runes and i guess finally he got a slow play warning for it and resolved the read the runes but yeah that's my story from that event so my first pro tour i attended uh i did a whole podcast on this, was the very first Pro Tour which was in New York. It was in 1996. I think in January or February 1996. And so, I've talked about this podcast.

But anyway, it was the very first Pro Tour we ever had. And I actually did commentary there and I shot video. We made a video of it. Anyway, I think I've done a whole podcast just on the first Pro Tour. So if you want to hear more, I've done the whole podcast. But we just pulled into my driveway. Yes, we did.

So we got through the list, though. Yep, that was the last one. All the first. That was the last of the first. So anyway, I want to thank you, Melissa. This was fun. Thank you. And sharing all our firsts.

This was pretty cool so anyway I hope you guys enjoyed our podcast and I pulled in the driveway so we know what that means means

my day is done and it's time for me to go get some dinner yep but anyway thanks for joining me Melissa and we'll see you guys next time

so I guess I'm done talking magic and ready to go eat dinner yep so thanks for joining me guys

bye bye