Spoils of War

With the weekend's Grand Prix in Las Vegas over and our mental wounds licked clean, I gotta say it was a pretty awesome experience. Not only in the competitive sense but being a part the biggest event that Magic's ever had is something we'll have forever. 

But that's enough jibber jabber on that topic. I'm here to talk about how it went. Clearly I made day 2 and won the entire thing. I'm on my way to the pro tour, practicing with all the greats as I type this. I'm just that awesome.

In a world where I had all the free time of a bum and all the money of a working stiff, then maybe this could be the case. But seeing as how this is more reality than anything, I, in fact, did not make day 2 and actually dropped after 4 rounds. Sad I know. You could even say I was robbed! But let's not dwell. I've learned so much from this experience and had a fun time along the ride. Here are some shots of the event over the 3ish days I was there.

Imagine this scene multiplied by 20. That's how crazy the venue and turn-out ended up being. The event totaled at 4500 for the actual event plus whoever else just showed up to do side events. The lines for everything were crazy. My group ended up getting there at 7 AM on Friday to check in and get our prereg card and playmat. Even at 7 AM, we were around #600 in line. Ridiculous.

A few artists were there like Daarken, Steve Argyle, and Chris Rahn. Like I've mentioned before, I really enjoy the art of magic and it's awesome how they can come out to these events for fans to meet them. One day I'll be able to meet Raymond Swanland and Todd Lockwood. One day...

They had a pretty cool setup near the artists to showcase some of the art used in Modern Masters. I kind of wish they had it out in an area with more traffic but even still, people swung by to check it out.

And now for the spoils. While I may not have come away with the grand prize of $3000 (?), I did come out on top with the cards I did pick up. Combined with my girlfriend's pool, we definitely made our entry fee back. Most notable and profitable was the Tarmogoyf I pulled during the free mini-masters side event. We also got a foil Arcbound Ravager and foil Kira, Great Glass Spinner plus some nice commons and uncommons that are worth a few dollars. In the end, we didn't walk away empty handed and had fun in the process. I can't wait for the next event to roll around in my area because I'll be damn sure to sign up for it.