Showdown at the CK Coral

In 1999, I was working as a pizza delivery driver.  The pizza was reportedly better and you can blame the ingredients.  (The celebrity chef is now BFF's with Peyton Manning, if that helps you figure it out.)

Sean was assistant manager.  JJ was the GM.  JJ refused to play Magic, but we often played chess during the lulls in our shifts.  It was a terrific place to work and fun times were had by many.

The money wasn't great, but good enough that I spent about half my tips on Magic.  Sean would sell me cards out of his binder, or I'd go to either one of the card stores in town and buy everything I could afford.

I was dating a coworker, but when she dumped me in December I laughed because now I had even more money for cards.  It was her loss for not waiting until after Christmas.

Around that time, CK hired on as a driver to help pay her tuition at UMR.  She was cute, funny, smart, and completely different than my Ex.  One thing led to another, and I ended up inviting her back to my place to watch movies after work.  She let me know that she had plans with her boyfriend, but she'd love to come over the following night.

Being the suave, debonair gentleman that I am, I gladly accepted the rain check which made her smile.

The next night, she came over to watch Fight Club and introduced me to Baron Munchausen.  She also played Magic with me until 4 a.m. 

She broke up with her boyfriend less than a week later.

#2 White isn't the best color and Serra Angel dies to Terror.

No matter how good your strategy or tactic may be, the inability to adapt will lead to your defeat.  Sun Tzu wrote extensively about this in the Art of War over 2600 years ago.  This important idea transcends it's martial nature and applies to any competitive endeavor.  Magic is no exception.

Due to a quirk of upbringing and personality, I refused to play any colors other than Blue, White, or Green for the first few years of my Magic playing.  Furthermore, Parfait was a monowhite deck that was just a step below the most Powered out decks of the time.  I was playing the budget version as my go to deck until I sold my collection for the second time in 2001.

God bless Rolla.

A few weeks after I began dating CK, I was hanging at her place while she wrote a paper.  Her ex was also her neighbor and, upon seeing my car in her driveway, he came over to introduce himself.

When he asked me to step outside, I was honestly expecting a fight.  Instead, he asked me if it was true that I played Magic.

God bless Rolla.  That moment was Rolla in a nutshell.

So, I broke out Parfait.

He says he's playing Suicide Black.  (Oh man.. I'm so boned.  Sean's Sui-black deck was unforgettable & nigh on unbeatable.)

First turn, I drop Sol Ring and Scroll Rack.

He dark rits into Sol Ring.

And Gloom. 

(Full-and-screeching stop)

He is packing main deck Gloom.  (Who main decks Gloom?)  Seriously.  If you are unfamiliar with the card, follow the link.  (?!)

Second turn, I play a land, and rack away my entire hand digging for Disenchant.  No luck, but I did find Land Tax and Zuran Orb.

I dig and dig.  He durdles his turns away, playing such world beaters as Abyssal Specter and Megrim.  (Where's the suicide? His deck sucks!)

When he finally casts a good spell, Hypnotic Specter, I have StP in hand.

(There's no way I'm losing to this chump!)

I manage to dig up Serra Angel, the first love of my life, and enough mana summon her.

"End of turn, I cast terror."

... (?!!)

I finally find Disenchant after he durdles another turn away by playing a second Megrim.  (Thank you, Land Tax!) Wrath of God quickly followed.

I cast another Serra, putting Empyrial Armor on her.  I won the following turn.

Or I should say, he lost. 

Both of us were guilty of making the same mistake.  We each decided to utilize a single "strength" to beat our opponent.  Parfait's strength is its incremental advantage and survivability through the Land Tax, Zuran Orb, Scroll Rack combo.  My opponent that day was not playing Suicide Black.  His jankness was dependent upon Megrim and discard with the occasional Gloom thrown in. 

The lack of raw power in Parfait is what I ignored the longest and most studiously.  While my opponents were ritualing into Necropotence on turn one, I was falling behind with good cards like Sol Ring, Serra Avatar, or Worship.

When my opponents were tapping Tolarian Academy for 6 mana on turn two to play Palinchron for infinite mana, I was playing Savannah Lions.

As I said in yesterday's post, cards don't exist in a vacuum.  Cards are only powerful relative to one another.  Parfait has a wonderful toolbox to deal with nearly any problem.  It's synergy is so strong that it almost keeps up.  Perhaps if I had a better player, it would have kept up.  But the incremental, card advantageous, resiliency of the deck blinded me to my weakness as a player.

The funniest part of this whole thing for me is that I just realized I have the same problem in the martial arts. 

 

Exercise:

Analyze your preferences.  Figure out your comfort zone.  

Those are probably the soft limits of your adaptability.  Expand your playstyle by making yourself uncomfortable.  

Play bad cards until you can build a playable deck out of all sub-par cards.

Go draft.  Play vintage.  Play online?  Go to your LGS.  

Do whatever it takes.

Oh...and don't main deck Gloom.