‘Journey Into Nyx’ Fat Pack challenge results, afterthoughts, and more

Thursday, May 8th, 2014

Last weekend, Battleground Games & Hobbies hosted another Fat Pack challenge for “Journey Into Nyx.” This is always a fun event. In regards to a sealed event, this one is different because players get nine packs of “Journey Into Nyx.” At a regular Sealed event, players would have normally gotten  two “Theros” packs, two “Born of the Gods” packs, and two “Journey Into Nyx” packs.

 

In the end, Carl Godon defeated Josh Warren for the special “Journey Into Nyx” plaque that Battleground Games had made just for the event. Here’s a picture of it. Pretty sweet, huh?

 

 

How did I do? First, thanks for asking. Secondly, I did very poorly. I ended up with only one win and three losses for the night. It was six rounds that night, so I ended up dropping early to save me the trouble of going one and five.

 

Unfortunately, I took my decks apart, so I can’t tell you exactly what I played. Yes, you heard me. I said, “decks.” That’s plural for more than one. After initially suffering two losses in the first two rounds, I had decided to change it up. I won the third match I played once I changed my deck. It felt good, but then I lost the following match and was gutted once again. It’s alright though. I took away many things from this Fat Pack challenge that should have me ready for the next one.

 

To have fun or to crush your opponents?

 

I wasn’t very impressed with my pool when I first looked at it. I had given up before I had even played one game. This is probably the biggest reason why I did so poorly. Could I have done anything to better my chances? Yes. By looking at things much differently.

 

I had built a “fun” deck. I basically took the fattest creatures I had and did my best to quickly get them out. I thought this would be fun. I was wrong. You know what’s fun, though? Winning is fun! I guess I’ve been playing this game too long. I’m at the point where I don’t enjoy losing as much. It’s understandable though, I think. I did pay to enter a tournament. If you and I are playing casually though, and I lose, the chances of me flipping the table a really low.

 

I paid to play, I shouldn’t have gone in with that attitude. I’m the only one to blame. So, what’s the lesson here: There is a time and place to have fun; this isn’t one of them.

 

‘Sigiled Starfish’ is a really cool card

 

One of the cards I was really impressed with was “Sigiled Starfish.” This little guy is a blue common from “Journey Into Nyx.” He only cost one and a blue, and has a power and toughness of 0/3. At this point, he’s just a cheap wall. Why is he so special? The reason being is that he can scry for you every turn (as long as you tap him)! Being able to cast him on turn two stopped a lot of early aggro. By turn three, you were fixing the top of your deck and digging for whatever answer you may need at the time.

 

The Starfish was so impressive I even thought about playing it in Standard. Would it be possible? Maybe. If “Augur of Bolas” was played, so why not the Starfish?

 

‘King Macar, the Gold-Cursed’ is the worst card ever

 

To clarify, “King Macar” is the worst card to ever go against. I’m not the only one who thinks so. Here’s a Tweet from another Magic player and host of his own FNM stream on Twitch.tv.

 

@simeoncortezano One of our guys had that in his prerelease pool. I have no idea how you win a game where you cant immediately kill that guy

— ZachSellsMagic (@ZachSellsMagic) May 7, 2014

He’s right. The King is a beast. At the Fat Pack challenge, I played Sundy who had to mulligan down to five cards. I applied as much pressure as I could and then he cast the King on turn four. I wasn’t playing any kind of removal and the king eventually removed all of my creatures. I couldn’t even play them fast enough for him to remove one and leave me with another.

 

If you can’t remove the King, then hope you can play something bigger than him to stop him from attacking or tapping.

 

Now a word about Extra-Life

 

If any of you follow my Facebook page or are friends with me on Facebook, then you should know that I’ve been advertising my Extra-Life fundraiser campaign. If you’re not part of any of the above, then you’re in luck. Here’s what’s going on.

 

For the month of May I have set a mini-goal of hitting $300 out of the total $1000 I have set for Extra-Life. If I hit this goal, I’m going to give away a copy of “Takenoko” to someone who donated in the month of May. If you play at Battleground Games & Hobbies then you can pick up the game there. Otherwise, I’ll gladly ship you the game.

 

 

I have additional plans to give away more games, but I want to be able to hit this mini-goal first. Technically I shouldn’t say it, but I’m terrible at keeping secrets. If I break this goal I plan on setting another mini-goal. If I hit that other mini-goal, I’ll give away a copy of the “Rampage” board game. Also, I’m still talking to Logitech G about some logistical issues, but I might also be giving away a pair of Logitech G230 Stereo Gaming Headsets.

 

So, if you want to help me reach that goal then please click on the banner below and donate today.

 

That’s it for now. Tune in next time for gaming news, previews, and reviews. This weekend is the TCG 5K in Boxborough. Hopefully, I’ll be in attendance. If I make it, I plan on writing a full tournament report as well as my overall experience. It should be a great read especially if you’re wanting to attend your first major tournament.

 

I still don’t know what I should play, but if you have any suggestions, then let me know in the comment section.

About the author

 

Simeon is an avid gamer who loves to play board games and video games. He graduated college with a degree in Political Science, and now serves the public by writing about games. You can check that out here. Don’t forget to “like” him on Facebook as well. It’ll update you on all of his newest content. Best of all, you can follow Simeon on Twitter (@SimeonCortezano) for some real time hilarity. Thanks for reading!

 

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Tags: extra life, Fat Pack Challenge, Magic the Gathering, MTG, Rampage, Takenoko, Wizards of the Coast
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