I barely found out a week before that I was going to Iasi at the Convention the local Tournament Organizer ( Lex, in short ) was holding, but I have to say, I was excited as hell to take part in a tournament outside our capital city. New people, new sites, new experiences all waited to be felt, grasped, taught, enjoyed and laughed at.

It all started with the road trip with the bucharestian TO ( Kashu, in short ) which offered a ride up in the eastern moldavian hills where Iasi was positioned. Not only is he a good friend of mine but we also  test together, and the way there and back was peppered with personal conversation which gave a good feel to the trip. And Linkin Park, Metallica and The Meridians made our way there very high ( melodically speaking ).

After racing through the European 60 road, dodging sunday drivers at loads of miles per hour, we got to Bacau ( my hometown, “Judetul Pricopoaea” in short ) after a two-and-a-half hour drive. We meet up with my mom, who served us some very tasty chocholate pancakes and more tasties for the road and head upward for Roman, Targu Frumos and finally Iasi. We barely got out of Bacau when Kashu asks me how my mom's car is registered. I look puzzled and say T .. C .. and then I realized why he asked me that. My car's labelled BC 22 TCG, from my mom's day of birth and our names' initials. But coincidence made it so that that certain label was also the one of our favorite game's domain, namely Trading Card Games. We had a good laugh about it and moved on, a bit more joyous, considering our delightedly filled stomachs.

We knew the road was slightly less favorable for speeding, but that didn't stop Kashu from racing through the hills like a pro, with me jaw-dropped at the sights Iasi had to offer: not just the hills, but the woods and the sunset all contributed to a fabulous afternoon during which we entered Iasi. After a few phonecalls concerning the exact location of the shop and our lodging arrangements ( I for one was up in the air as far as sleeping the two nights was concerned, for I didn't take the time to find out with whom,  how and where I would spend the nights ).

The hobby store was not the “hobby store I was looking for” ( Jedi hand waving ), as my expectancies were tricked when I entered a copy center, shelving all sorts of pencils, pens, rubbers, papers on one side, printing/scanning tech on the other side and a bunch of hobby shelves in the back. I gotta say I was impressed by the way Lex Group managed to merge all these in a logical sense. Sure, it was a small location, with a housing of about 30 players, but it's miles better than playing in a pub or in a park, trust me on this one, I felt the wierd looks from passers-by and it always felt awkward.

So, getting there two hours before the Friday Night Magic event was scheduled to start, what can visitors like us could do … other than propose a game of Battlestar Galactica !? There were a few of the locals at the shop, and they wanted to learn to play and that posed a challenge to us seasoned players: to teach them how to play the game and make it so that it doesn't take too long. The challenge was simple as it turned out, as after characters were chosen, Lex secretely got his wish come true – he received the first cylon loyalty card and in the middle game Sleeper Agent Phase he recieved the second one - and watched us in secret delight as we prudently tried to determine who was the cylon, all the while ignoring him completely, as he was playing Boomer, a character who becomes irrelevant after a certain point in the game.

Then he decides to drop the bomb on us and reveal himself as a cylon, pass on his other cylon card to a notoriously human player up to that point, namely Kashu, and twisted the game state to such a point when we as humans were already far behind on resources and we swiftly lost to that combo. Nice hour-and-a-half game of Galactica, right on time to start the FNM and the Draft Flight.

The event was larger than usual, as a lot of the people attending the Convention arrived on Friday night and played at the FNM, but to my surprise there were also plenty of people for the Draft Flight, enough to put together a table of 8 people. I leave Kashu to play at the Standard FNM with the funny Mono White Artifact Deck I made for him, while I head to the drafting table, as I had no other deck beside the tech I had prepped for Saturday and didn't enjoy revealing what I was going to play the next day.

I sit down at a table full of unknown people in regards to playskill and hope for the best. The organizer tells us we don't need to use a timer for our draft, and I start to think it's going to be something of a casual tourney.

We begin the draft and I open Spikeshot Elder pack 1 and I decide to completely disregard everything else in the pack, since not only is it a solid one drop for a colour that has strong archetypes ( WR and GR are very strong in limited ) but it's also able to take control of the table as soon as turn 3. The next few picks give me two Auriok Edgewright, and I dare to take them, as the reward is strong in the sense that if I get more artefacts in the next 2 packs, I'm golden, if not, I will either play them as decent 2 mana 2/2s or just go another color alltogether.

Thing is, I got passed Revoke Existence by pick 5-6 and later on I got a Kuldotha Rebirth, so I knew I was going to force some artefacts in the next packs. The last picks of the pack include an Oxidda Daredevil ( I am a firm believer of the power of two-drops ) and some hateful anti-infect drafting in the form of Untamed Might and Instil Infection ( turned out, by the end of the draft no one was drafting Infect, and I ended up with 3 Instil Infection and 2 Untamed Might, along with a few infect dorks ).

The next pack offered very weak cards, but that was due to the fact that the person on my right went for green-white apparently, and decided to cut me off white almost completely. Of course I manage to rip Sunblast Angel ( pick 1 ), Turn to Slag, another Kuldotha Rebirth, an Arrest, an Origin Spellbomb and a very late and unexpected Glint Hawk Idol ( which I would gladly draft 10 of if I were given the chance ).

The last pack offered me two Horizon Spellbombs, a Bladed Pinions, a second Daredevil and a second Turn to Slag ( which I ended up not playing, as I found I had a tad too many high-drops for the deck I wanted to play ). I also took a Molten Psyche for the sideboard against slow decks, but I never brought it in, as I was curving like a pro and didn't want to waste time not impacting the board in any meaningful way. 

The draft ended and I hear someone around me picking Mox Opal thrid pick. I quirked an eyebrow at the lack of playability in draft, but I also understand that these people are also fun-drafters, and I can relate to wanting to collect chase mythics. And by the end of the tournament, I hear that person talking about the deck and after hearing her plea about it, it made complete sense to play the Mox in a three color control deck with plenty of artifacts and Riddlesmith, so I believe it was a solid choice. I just hope it didn't dictate the way she'd draft her deck, forcing too many bad artifacts.

The rounds started and I win the first round with relative ease, as I took control of the game with Golem Foundry, Tumble Magnet and Glint Hawk Idol and a well-placed – sorcery speed, of course I know it's a sorcery - Turn to Slag on a huge Ghalma's Warden ( which disabled metalcraft, lowering its stats ).

In the second round I played a decent local player, but he had a few lapse moments, missing a few important aspects on the board which proved decisive. The most important moment was probably the one in the second game where he had plenty of creatures on the table and a Heavy Arbalest ( I later found out he was particularly fond of that card ) and decided to tap out to leave me at two life, after a long grinding game. I was in top-deck mode, with an Arrested Glimmerpoint Stag equipped with a Bladed Pinions. I have been drawing thin for the last few turns, but I knew I had 2 outs in the deck – the two Daredevils, which can gain haste if I sacrifice an artifact. Of course I topdeck the only out I had at that point, and I haste my Goblin to kill a tired opponent. I knew he was discrediting me in his mind, that I shouldn't have defeated him in that game, and I hoped we'd get to play again in the future, to settle the score.

My last round opponent was playing a mono blue deck packing counters and Wurmcoil Engine. Game one I start laying beats as I curve out while he's stuck on 3 lands but holding the fort with Wall of Tanglecord and Plated Seastrider. He began to consecutively hit his next 3 land drops and dropped Wurmcoil Engine. Fortunately I rip Revoke Existence and then swing for the win with my army of weenies. In the second game, I keep a hand with 6 lands and Spikeshot Elder, and I begin pinging his life away and machinegunning his x/1s and x/2s. Soon enough, our boards develop and I draw Sunblast Angel, but am hesitating to play it because he's on the defensive. He then plays Wurmcoil Engine again, but this time I got no removal in hand except the angel. So I decide to just let him attack me with it and hope to have my angel resolve in order to destroy the wurm and be able to block his 3/3s. But after I let the wurm get through and get passed the turn, I rip Arrest for the wurm and am able to win the game in a couple turns, as he apparently draws thin.

Sure, I got suspicious looks from all around the local players as the lucksack that I am, but what was I supposed to do? I played the best I could and, more importantly, I played to my outs when the situation became very tight for my weenies to handle. I tried to stall the board or push aggro according to the game state. I calmly accept my boosters and check with Kashu to see how he's doing. To my surprise, he ends up taking 5th place out of 14 people. He tells me he had a fun time with the deck, points out some of the discrepancies in deckbuilding ( it was supposed to be a White Artefact Aggro deck, so All is Dusts had no place being there despite the one Eye of Ugin and the full playset of Eldrazi Temple, for example ). 

So the evening turned out well for us, and it did give me the chance to do some scouting around for what I would be expecting the next day. I saw a lot of aggro decks roaming around, and I was pleasantly impressed to see a few control deck as well. But what seemed best for me was the great number of people from all parts of the country, which meant different people, decks, mentalities, accents :) . I was looking forward to the tournament the next day.

But first … another game of Galactica! We sat down after the FNM and rolled another board game, the details of which I do not remember as I was both tired and a bit tourmented ( the beers I drank took their toll on my tired body after the full day we had ). After the game, we remembered a pressing matter, for me at least, which involved the bed I would spend the night in. We were so tired and Mishu was so kind that we just ambushed his apartment and double couch which I shared with Kashu.

Mishu was the local aspiring Judge and he played the role of the organizer of both the FNM and the Convention, and he was also the foiled card collector which traded for my foil Jace, the Mind Sculptor with two normal ones and helped me complete my playset. Props to us for finding a convenient win-win situation.

The second day started with an omlet and a veggie salad which provided me the vitamins and proteins I needed to last a long day of competition, and judging by how I felt in the morning, one could promise I would have a successful day in the Convention. To my surprise though, the first part of the tournament, namely the Standard portion, went out in a disaster. Here's what I learned.

My Blue-Red deck was unprepared for such an aggro-intensive metagame, or at least pairings. All three games I played against Boros, Green Aggro and White Weenie Quest. In short, I lost all of them. Concluding my experiences against those decks, I can say that I could have beaten both Boros and Quest, but it was required of me to play a game so tight it was unreal. I know I had answers in my hand/deck, but I had moments when my focus lapsed and made the wrong decisions at critical times. Looking back after the matches ended, I realized how I should have done the plays in order to win in those points, so I feel I won better understanding of my deck, if nothing else. I belive I will probably end up doing a follow up article on control decks, but this specific one is dedicated to describing how we fared at Iasi.

After the Standard rounds, I was pretty beat up. I felt remorce hiting me all over for failing two games. I had something to eat, and after that I talked to Kashu, who was 2-1 piloting Vengevine Elves. He told me I still had a chance for top 8 if I won 3 straight games in draft ( and ending with 9 points ), because a lot of intentional draws will take place to assure top 8 position. I knew my tie-breakers were minuscule, but I let that specific chance fuel my fire and do my best to win the draft at my table.

I sit down at the last draft table and see my previous round oponent to whom I lost, and figure I could take this chance to seek a rematch. With all this tension building up, I start drafting. Or rather I begin to let myself be fed like a fat pig before Christmas. I open Carnifex Demon first pack and slam it on the table face-down. I start dipping into white for the next few picks and also pick all the black quality cards I can find, namely the Necrogen Scudder and a late pick Exsanguinate. The rest of the cards were all white, namely Arrest, Revoke Existence, Kemba's Skyguard ( compensates the draw-back from the Scudder ) and a Glint Hawk Idol. I carefully remember to send to my left the clear signal that red is open by passing double Galvanic Blast ( in a deck full of 3/3s and 4/4s, I wouldn't mind letting my opponents have acces to a Shock ).

The second and third packs let me pick the rewards for paying close attention to the draft evolution, and by the end of the draft, I end up with 3 Glint Hawk Idols, 2 Perilous Myr, 2 Chrome Steed, 1 or 2 Spellboombs, 2 Kemba's Skyguard, 2 Revoke Existence, 2 Arrest, 2 Ghalma's Warden, a Carnifex, 1 Necrogen Scudder, a Skinrender, a Flesh Allergy, a Moriok Reaver, an Exsanguinate and some other jank. I realized my deck had zero combat tricks, but if played properly it could curve out “like a boss” and take the game. I honestly believe I wouldn't have ended up drafting all these powerhouses if I would have been drafting at the higher tables, but my consolation is that I proved to be the best of the lower-placing players.

The deck turns out to be better than expected, in the sense that the combination of cheap removal and brutal 2/2 flyers finish my first round match in less than 15 minutes. This gives me time to both relax and build up more mental tension, as I felt that's what I needed in order to remain in the game. If I play my games in a relaxed way, I don't get positive results. So I figured I tense it up a bit by mentaly invoking songs from Eminem, Linkin Park and Breaking Benjamin.

As pairings for the second round of the draft started and I see my opponent was the one from last night's draft ( which I really wanted to meet up again and play against ), I realise I have to wait 10 more minutes for the deckcheck at our table to end, and regretfully my opponent started the round with a loss due to an issue regarding his decklist. He elected to play first and I say “Nice, I like drawing cards even in limited”. This statement is also very important in Scars Block due to the lack of card draw, so my advice is if anyone plays a mid-range deck, he or she should think twice when given the choice to start or draw. Card advantage is scarse, and bombs unfortunately define games.

I mulligan to 6 into a hand of 3 Glint Hawk Idols, something and 2 lands. I tell myself I cannot lose this game, so I start triggering and swinging in the air. But I'm forced to pause my attack as he's also playing a white-based deck with some flyers ( namely Indomitable Archangel ). I remove the angel and we start another grueling back and forth game where dominance is hardly determined. He ( again ) plays Heavy Arbalest, and thanks to a well-played Myrsmith, has enough mana and dorks to start pinging my table and eventualy aiming at myself. However, I topdeck Trigon of Corruption which gives me the chance to buy a lot of turns in order to draw the next 2 lands I needed to Exsanguinate him for lethal. Despite my tightest plays, all I draw is Kemba's Skyguard, which also buys me some time in terms of life. He has a Tumble Magnet on the table with one last  counter which kept my creatures back long enough for them to become useless or dust. But he focuses  his Arbalest-equipped shooters at me and ignores my Kemba, disregarding its importance. I fall to 2 life and get passed the turn with just Kemba's Skyguard, a depleted Trigon and an Arrested Ghalma's Warden. I have to draw land to Exsanguinate for exactly lethal, or do it without and leave him at one life and buy myself another turn or two. I draw blank, but I have a fraction of a second time to realize I can bluff futility and resignment at the board state, and just anounce my intention to attack with the Skyguard just for the heck of it. I sweat on the inside, while on the outside I show the frustrated look of a loser. He says that ok, I can attack. .. I attack and it connects. Awe.. I completely disregard the possibility of him slow-rolling rolling a counterspell ( namely Stoic Rebuttal ) precisely because he's been playing from the top as well and slam the Exsanguinate resting in my hand since the first turn, waiting patiently for the moment to hit the final blow. I see him mimic a “That is so lucksacking lame!” but I silently and contently accept my win on the back of mental play and move to sign the results slip.

My last round opponent for the draft was the last round opponent from the Standard portion, namely the White Weenie Quest pilot. He asks me about conceding to him because he could gain 12 points and make top 8, and I tell him - “Why don't you prove to me you got what it takes to make top 8 ?” . I am a firm believer of playing for fun and for the sake of playing the game masterfully. It sounds sort of twisted and lame, but I didn't come at the Convention bent on making top 8 at all costs. It felt lame a few years ago at Nationals, when I was sitting at 4-0 and I drew with my next opponents in order to secure top 8. I said that this kind of fear-based attitude won't dictate my actions in the future. Even more, I won't give others the chance to use it when asking me about a concession to make top 8. It's a personal decision, and as long as it's up to and directly related to me, I won't let it dictate my competitional fate. Just play to the best of your ability and if you make top 8, then congrats. It's simple in my book.

I end the round going 2-1, after I made a mistake that costed me the first game. The games were liniar and nothing eye-catching happened, but they were peppered with game-state mistakes due to a very long day. I try to talk to my opponent to make him understand my position and hope we remain friends despite me doing a clearly hateful move by not offering him the top 8 spot. I'll take the responsibility for the labels I get for believing in “playing to play” and go to sleep well at night. So the 6 rounds are up and I half-heartedly head to Mishu's laptop where the pairings/results/standings were posted and I'm notified that the top 8 will be determined in a short while, as there were a whole lot of people ( around 8 players finished with 9 points ) fighting over the tie-breakers for the top standings. I know Kashu made it because he scored 10 points, and I remember hearing him jokingly lamenting about the fact that he had to play even more Magic, and that he was pretty tired as it was around 7 PM when the top 8 started playing out.

I didn't realistically expect to make the cut, and truth be told, I didn't really deserve it, as I made huge mistakes during the constructed portion of the event that didn't really qualifiy me for a top standing. But in the end, two 9-pointers made top 8, an Elves player and a Oracle of Mul Daya – Jace, the Mind Sculptor – Raging Ravine one. The others were Kashu with Vengevine Elves, a Blue White control, a Mono Red Spitfire/Fiend Deck, a White Weenie Relic ( not the one I kicked out, but actually the one that won the whole thing ), the Boros that beat me round 1 and a new reincarnation of Soul Sisters ( Green White mid range ).

I rushed to get Kashu an energizer just as he started playing his quarterfinal oponent, the mono red. I knew the matchup was well in his favor, but I see him walsing through his first game just by the tip of his life total, as he won just before his opponent could go lethal with a Chandra's Spitfire. The second game he brought in Leatherback Baloths and Leyline of Vitality, which made his opponent's controling hand useless, as he kept a hand full of burn for the elven creatures, but the opening hand Leyline nullified that plan. So Kashu quickly advanced to the semifinals, which proved to be against Blue White control packing Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Gideon Jura, Sun Titan, Frost Titan and cheap removal.

My man won the first game easily. In the second game though, fatigue took its toll on him, making him miss a Fauna Shaman fetching into a lethal quad-Vengevine alpha strike, which led to his demise. In the third game, he kept a hand with mana dorks and Garruk Wildspeaker, but his opponent's combo of Ratchet Bomb and Sun Titan quickly took care of that plan, advancing into the finals against the White Weenie Relic player.

We were a happy group, though, as we opened a nice batch of boosters which contained some playable bombs. We waited in tension as the finals finished up playing and after it all ended and the aggro player won the whole thing, we slowly settled down for … a final game of Galactica for 6 people. We were exhausted by that point, so we all agreed to play nice. It turned out to be a pleasant game where Mishu received an Executive Order and reveiled himself all the while executing a human player who was in the brig ( nice president card there ! ). All in all, the humans won by the tip of the 1 population we had in the end, but it was a fun game.

After that, we slowly head for Mishu's place to rest for the remainder of the night, getting a full 5 hour sleep which in road trip situations is much more than one needs. The next day was also a relaxing one, as we spent it playing demonstration World of Warcraft card games with people. We almost had time to fit in yet another game of Galactica, but decided enough is enough, plus we needed to hit the road so we get to Bucharest at decent evening hours.

So we head out of Iasi, amazed as I am as we witness the bloodiest sunset I've seen lately. The rest of the trip back was very calm, as we were both mostly exhausted after the weekend.

So this is it, our trip in northeastern Moldavia and how we fared. Hope you enjoyed the read. Until next time.

Cosmin Pricopoaea, GS Team.