Magic in Spain part dos.

This is not at Star City because it is very short and not because I no longer love them.

(Read part one below before reading this if you haven't already.)

Michele takes me aside. “Hilary really wants to play Magic while we’re here. It would mean a lot to him.”

Wendy tells me “Hilary doesn’t usually ask for much. Never actually.”

“FINE!”

I don’t actually say that of course, instead I sigh, slump my shoulders and say “okay, I’ll find him a tournament that fits our schedule.” Living in Madrid with two shops within walking distance, which each run two tournaments a day has its advantages. I find us a draft for the next morning. Now, if I was smart, we would have then gone online and actually looked at the cards.

Do you know that thought hadn’t occurred to me until just this moment? Holy dumb.

We show up and I recognize no one but the shop owner who greets me warmly. Hilary has informed me I no longer have to add the 6000 to the front of my DCI number. I pay for my draft and he asks me my DCI number and I tell him (in Spanish) “seven, five, five, eight.” When I stop he looks at me expectantly, waiting for me to continue. “That’s it” I tell him. He does one of those jerk your head back and blink when you’re surprised moves and says “wow, early.”

Yes, my epeen is that big.

We get our three packs and I think of my strategy. Let’s see,

1. Take fatties.

2. ???

3. Profit!

Number two should probably be “smash face” but that ruins the joke.

I don’t know the cards but it’s pretty easy to figure out which ones have infect, trample, metalcraft etc. This is a lot easier than I thought it would be. Also, I am surprised by how much Spanish I have that I can actually read the cards. Not every single word but if I can figure out 80% of the words, I know what a card does. Like “Cruza Montanas” is pretty easy to figure out is “Mountainwalk” and “Destruya la criatura que tenga la habilidad de volar” clearly means “Destroy a creature with flying.”

Cake.

I end up with 4 metal Rhino’s, an 8/8 generic wurm, a Viridian Corrupter, a Replica of Silvok, a couple other metal fatties, a mantis that has what I think is reach, three mana myrs to accelerate to my fatties and a few guys with infect. Oh yeah – and two Genesis Wave!

WOO HOOO!!! I loves me some Genesis Waves.

Hilary asks me a few questions about the cards he picked and I clarify a few things for him. The last card he ask me about is the Mantis and what does Arrolla mean?

“I think it means reach.”

A guy next to us says “Actually, it means trample.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

Now that is weird. Why would a mantis have trample and not reach? Mantis’ pull things out of the sky all the time. And second, how cool is that to find an English speaker at the draft. Sure, there is always a few but throughout this (very small) draft, I will find that almost everyone speaks it well. Very good luck for Hilary and I.

And now to the beatings portion of the day. My first opponent is playing a nice three color deck while I am with mono green and fatties. Shocking, I know.

I get off to a nice fast start, metal mana dork, blow up his artifact with my viridian, play a Metal Steed and then a Rhino.

Then I play another.

He’s been back pedaling the whole game, on the defensive the entire time and I just keep turning guys sideways. Joshie told me long ago MTGO needed a button that said “Wakefield” and when clicked meant “Swing with everything!”

He’s throwing chumps in the way and then I tap my two mana dudes, tap all my lands and “Ola de Genesis” for six. He reels. I get four lands and a couple guys. Next turn I Ola de Genesis for ten and he extends the hand.

He mulligans down to four, plays a swamp, slumps.

Me: “Dude, dude, dude, another dude, another dude, Rhino. Sorry man.”

Hilary has lost his round but took his opponent to three.

Round two my draw is nowhere near as spectacular in either game and my opponent actually knows how to draft whereas I simple know how to collect Green cards and add forests to my deck. He beats me in two quick ones, we shake hands and I think “When am I ever going to learn that fliers win you drafts? When am I ever going to learn that one simple fact? How many years have I been playing this game?”

I go to McDonald's for a burger and when I return Hilary is just leaving the store and says we’re done. “What?”

“Yeah, it’s only three rounds today and you’re my next opponent. I got what I needed and we can play at the apartment.”

“Okay, cool, I’m just going to go in and say goodbye and thanks.”

You know what? I had a blast.

In fact, I’m going to post this, then check the web to see when the next morning draft is. Maybe you’ll even see an article up at Star City soon.

Hilary and Michele enjoying one of our favorite restaurants and one of our favorite meals in Spain. A rare sliced up steak that comes on a plate so hot you can cook the food on it if you want it more done.