Gunslinging Kansas City "Tournament" Report

by Bill Stark | posted at 2010-02-04 01:19:00
tagged: MTG, Magic, Magic the Gathering, Worldwake, Prerelease, WWK, Kansas City, Gunslinging, Gunslinger, Feral Events

 

Steve Ferrell

 

 

When I lived in the Midwest, I attended quite a few tournaments hosted by Steve Ferrell of Feral Events. Steve had a reputation unique amongst tournament organizers; his tournaments always ran on time, players were always polite, and each event kicked off with a moment of appreciation for members of the armed services, emergency response teams, and other civic-duty minded employees. This is almost certainly related to Steve's career in the National Guard; his tournaments started on time because if they didn't, they'd start without you, players were polite because they knew it was expected of them and that there were consequences for misbehaving. Steve placed the responsibility for being responsible on his community and they stepped up.

 

That was a lesson I learned from attending those events, that challenging a community to be better than it thought itself to be capable of being could merit results. I always admired that about Steve, and of course appreciated his military service (I come from two generations of military veterans, and was even born on November 11th, Veteran's Day). When he extended the opportunity to gunsling by way of his right hand man Lloyd Dodson, I jumped at the opportunity. After all, a chance to game, head back to my beloved Midwest, and interact with players is a pretty sweet deal no matter how you slice it.

 

The midnight flight kicked off with over 150 players, but I was beat from traveling all day and slept through it in my hotel, provided by Steve, to be up bright eyed and bushy tailed for the morning flights to begin. Throughout the day Steve's Kansas City players were happy to battle with their Standard decks and Sealed Pools. I even got in a few games against Legacy and EDH players with my Bears! deck (that'd be a playset of each ACTUAL Grizzly Bear creature, with some lands specially illustrated by various artists I've been to shows with).

 

Late in the day Saturday, Steve sat down to try his hand at gunslinging alongside me. I'm not going to point fingers, but our stock of Worldwake boosters to give away sure seemed to deplete a lot quicker after he sat down, but players ate up Steve's antics. He might expect big things from his players, but he knows how to goof around too (and he gives back: at Grand Prix-Kansas City he purchased a box of Beta and gave away free drafts to participants at the tournament).

 

Saturday evening Steve and his lovely wife Tia treated artist Rob Alexander and myself to Jack Stack's Barbecue, and it was even better than advertised. I'm always a little wary of restaurants people rave about, particularly BBQ joints (I've been to a lot of horrible "great" BBQ restaurants), but Steve did not disappoint. I was thoroughly defeated by dinner, and it was all I could do to stagger back to my room and pass out in preparation for a second day of 'slinging on Sunday. Throughout the weekend Steve was a great host, clearly a strong TO and a fan of the game (he had Rob custom design a mat illustration for him of Fire Elemental and Serra Angel). I was glad to have the opportunity to game at his Prerelease, and the local community was an absolute blast to play with.

 

Lloyd Dodson

 

 

A familiar voice greeted me as I got off the plane in Kansas City: Feral Events' right hand man and level 3 judge Lloyd Dodson. I've known Lloyd for a long time. Wearing a trench coat Lloyd would be a dead ringer for Kevin Smith, but our first meeting could easily have led to us starting off on the wrong foot. Five to ten years ago I was attending a PTQ run by Feral Events in Missouri. The format was Extended, and I was paired against St. Louis player Larry Waymon (who would also become a friend after the incident).

 

While shuffling Larry's deck, I inadvertently flipped over one of his cards, revealing the archetype he was playing. I called a judge, who gave me the appropriate warning and we got under way. I notched up a quick win, and we moved to the second game. While pile shuffling Larry's deck for that duel, I again flipped a card from his deck over. I was a bit frustrated by the looseness of my play (I'd never flipped two cards up while shuffling in an entire TOURNAMENT before, let alone the same match), and we called a judge over to hand me my game loss for committing the same infraction twice.

 

The judge did exactly that, and I declared I would play first for the third game. Larry cocked an eyebrow at that. "No, I'LL play first." Impasse. Larry was convinced that because he had lost the game we had actually played, the decision to play first or second was his in the final game of the match. I was certain that because I was the last player to have lost a game, the game loss, that the onus was on ME to choose who would play first. Our tones remained respectful though we disagreed with one another, and we called, yet again, for a judge.

 

It was Lloyd who came to our table to settle the matter. As the head judge of the event, he had the final say and whatever ruling he determined would be what we'd both have to live with, for better or worse. He elicited both of us to share our side of the story, then considered things for a few moments. After considering options for a few minutes he declared that Larry was correct, and that despite being the last person to have lost a game in the match, I would not be choosing to go first in our final game.

 

This was wrong, and I was certain of it, but the entire situation is one of the toughest breeds a judge can find themselves in. Two players disagree about something, and one of them is going to leave the match disappointed that the judge didn't agree with them. How easy is it to approach a situation you KNOW is going to cause a person to potentially think poorly of you? In any case, I pressed my case arguing respectfully but fervently that I was sure that ruling was in error. Lloyd, who maintained composure and a calming, respectful tone throughout the "ordeal," responded with something to the effect of "I'm not 100% certain that my ruling is correct, but I am the head judge of the tournament and my ruling is final. After the conclusion of the event, I'm happy to research the correct answer and amend future rulings accordingly, but for now my ruling stands."

 

That was that, and I turned back to playing the game (which I won to take the match). I was disappointed the judge had made a ruling I knew was wrong and that it penalized me, but I also knew judges were human and I appreciated that Lloyd had handled himself as professionally as any judge I've seen to this day. He made a call he felt was correct while owning up to the reality he was fallible and possibly wrong. I respected that as plenty of judges, afraid of suffering damage to their reputations, will hide from a missed call for fear that drawing attention to it will decrease their star in the eyes of the DCI higher ups.

 

Lloyd, however, remained true to his word. After the event he DID research what the correct ruling was, and he DID determine he had ruled incorrectly. Not only that, he contacted Andy Heckt, the DCI's top dog at the time, to explain what had happened, verify he had been incorrect, and even tagged me in on the email conversation so that I knew he was aware of the mistake and had worked to correct it. I was floored to say the least; here was a judge most concerned not with seeming to have a reputation of never having missed a call, but being the best judge he could be for events both present and future. Such a mantra is great for the long term (who is ever actually perfect all the time?) but the short term "easy" rewards of the former have snared more than a few shortsighted individuals over the history of Organized Play.

 

Suffice to say the experience left me very impressed with Lloyd and Steve's events, and I played at plenty of them afterwards. When Lloyd contacted me about coming out for the Prerelease to gunsling, I jumped at the chance. He was a more than gracious host, picking me up from the airport, taking me back, and providing for a smooth tournament weekend, plenty of good times, and great dinners spent amongst good people (the occasional draft too!).

 

I consider it a blessing to get to do something like travel across the country to play Magic all weekend simply so people can have the chance to play against me. Having folks like Lloyd involved in the experience simply makes it that much better, and as a tournament player knowing judges like Lloyd exists gives me confidence in the judge program and the individuals who represent it at tournaments all across the world every day.

 

T Galbs

 

 

I met Tim "T Galbs" Galbiati on the Midwest PTQ circuit. He played with groups from Kansas City and St. Louis (he spent time back and forth between both towns) and he was easy to pick out at events because he always had a Kansas City Chiefs jersey on. It was Tim who introduced me to Zac Hill at Pro Tour-Prague, and by the end of that tournament weekend the three of us and my fellow Iowan and traveling partner Brandon Scheel had agreed to spend a few days in the Czech Republic afterwards scoping the country out. We had some crazy adventures (poor Tim nearly died in a Prague grocery store at the hands of a stock manager already angered by my taking photos in her store), and have pretty much been in touch ever since.

 

While in the Denver airport headed to Kansas City I posted a status update on Facebook that quickly got a hit from Tim. "You're coming to Kansas City? Call me stat!" I gave T Galbs a ring, though I refused to call him "stat" (he'll always be T Galbs to me!), and we made plans to meet up at the event. Our original plans of grabbing dinner on Saturday night were pre-empted as Steve wanted to treat both myself and artist Rob Alexander to Jack Stack's, but replacement plans were put in place for Sunday.

 

Throughout the weekend Tim could be found riding shotgun with me, goofing around like old times, or battling when no one else was around to gunsling. I love testing with Tim because he's the type of heads up player who's not afraid to lay his hand on the table and say "Here's an interesting situation, how would you play this?" Being willing to possibly admit error or flawed play is something a lot of players don't have the confidence to do, but years of battling together has built up a relationship of mutual respect that allows Tim to trust I'm not going to judge his overall competency as a player through one series of discussed plays. Walking through possible scenarios then makes both of us better (two heads analyzing a scenario are better than one, after all). Playing with T Galbs makes you a better Magic player.

 

I was glad I got to see Tim while I was in town; it was like extra frosting on the gunslinging cake. Good times picked up right where they left off even though lives, locations, and Magic have changed. Seeing part of the gang back in the Midwest made me miss my ancestral home (though I love Seattle and the Pacific Northwest) and made me relish the chance to get back even more.

 

Sugar Packet Magic

 

(The Sugar Packet Magic Gang: L-R around the table Wes, Adam, me, T Galbs, Peaches, Rader, Josh, and Lloyd)

 

On Sunday night, Lloyd planned to take his staff from the weekend out to dinner at Old Chicago. This is, apparently, a tradition for Feral Events. Alongside eating at Old Chicago is something called "Suger Packet" Magic. Here's how it works:

 

Everyone at the table gets a sealed pool's worth of boosters. Each player opens their packs and shuffles them together WITHOUT LOOKING AT THEM. You then draw 7 and play a regular game of circle Magic, attack left defend right style. There is one caveat: each turn you may skip your draw step to put a sugar packet onto the battlefield. Sugar packets function as pain-free Cities of Brass. You can, of course, simply play a land from your hand instead, if you have one, triggering landfall (sugar packets weren't actually lands, so they didn't trigger landfall nor count against you for landwalking purposes) and enabling you to land drop and draw a card.

 

It's a fun variant, one in which Steve has been known to put a bounty on opponent's heads to keep himself in the game ("I'll buy a sundae for the person who takes Player X out!"), and we had exactly eight players in for the bout. Alongside myself, Lloyd, and T Galbs (who lucked himself into tagging in on the staff dinner; being a nerdlebrity has some perks!) were Matt "LS" Rader, Josh Olson, Adam Boyd, "Peaches," and Wes, one of the judges from Steve's staff.

 

A brief word about Peaches: one of the players at the table I was unfamiliar with was a giant of a man introduced to me as Peaches. I found this nickname hilariously ironic because of his massive size and clear ability to rip apart a family-size sedan should the fancy strike him. I inquired as to the nature of the name and he pointed out it was bestowed upon him at work, where he ferries the elderly around as a nursing home employee. The thought of this brute of a man tenderly carrying old ladies from one wheelchair to the next or their bedroom to the sitting area while they labored out a "Thank you Peaches!" brought a huge grin to my face. Peaches was good times, always wearing a huge smile and a hearty laugher too.

 

Unfortunately for him, he was mowed down by Adam Boyd before we had even finished the appetizer sampler we had ordered. Boyd had taken down myself then T Galbs before turning his attention to Peaches and eventually devoured five players. I lost track of some of the details when my Super Meat 5000 Calzonearooskie showed up (or whatever Old Chicago calls it; restaurants with shit on their walls as a rule have the worst naming conventions in the food service industry), but by the end of the night stomachs were stuffed, good times were had, and we headed off into the evening to get some drafting in.

 

(And I want to thank Matt, Tim, Josh, Peaches, Wes, Adam, and particularly Lloyd and Steve for the good times.)

 

Last Call

 

After Old Chicago, Boyd, T Galbs, Josh, Rader, Wes, and myself all headed to Josh's shop for a late night draft. It was the first chance to get a crack at a WWK draft and we settled in for battles. I wound up drafting Monoblue, an archetype I've been fond of lately (I can't help myself with archetypes; I hit upon something, and I kind of just stick with it forever). The goal was to win, not simply because you got first pick of the rares at the end of the draft, but because at Josh's store, the winner of any tournament gets to sign their name on a card from their deck and stick it to the Wall of Fame.

 

I thought that was a really neat concept for a local store, a way for players to take pride in their own local events and to sort of celebrate those who have come before, and it's something I think I'll start doing with my local draft group in Seattle. The wall even featured some pricey rares. Josh pointed out that generally the type of player who put up an Elspeth on the wall (there was one), was a weaker player without a lot of copies of that card. "They figure it might be their only time on the wall, so they want to make a big impression." He explained. Alongside the pricey planeswalker were copies of Cruel Ultimatum, a foil Damnation, and literally dozens of pricey rares, foils, uncommons, and draft picks.

 

We finished up the drafting and got down to business. I took down Wes, then T Galbs, and finally Adam Boyd if memory serves me correctly. The key to the late night draft, of course, isn't actually drafting but the adventures you discuss with one another and the goofing around that defines a casual night of gaming. We had that in spades, but I was still pretty happy to get to add my card to the wall at the end of the night.

 

Adam had to leave to get back to college in time for classes the following day, so the remaining five players drafted rares and discussed life and the meaning of things. I had a lot of fun, but all good things must come to a close. T Galbs volunteered to drop me off back at my hotel, and on the way back we caught up on a number of things. The weekend had been a sort of introduction for him as well, meeting some of the new members of the Kansas City community he'll now call home.

 

By the time I was boarding the plane to head back to Seattle on Monday afternoon, it had been a long, rewarding experience. I got to play Magic with a new set all weekend, meet a lot of great players, hang out with some old friends while making some new ones, and be reminded of how bizarrely great a life I lead.

 

I'd like to thank, again, Steve Ferrell and Lloyd Dodson of Feral Events for inviting me to game with their players and enjoy the Worldwake Prerelease in Kansas City. I'd also like to thank all the players who took time out of their tournaments to show some love for TheStarkingtonPost.com (which you can find here) and gunsling with me. I always enjoy those experiences, but the players in Kansas City were a particular treat, whether they were trying to hate out my red deck in Standard with Dragon's Claws maindeck (got there anyway!), arguing over the addition of mythic rares, or simply playing Magic. Big thanks to T Galbs; every time I see friends from "home," I wish the west coast weren't so far away. Finally, thanks to the Kansas players I spent close time with: Wes, Peaches, Boyd, Josh, and Matt "LS" Rader.

 

Up next I'll be headed to Canada to gunsling for Jason Ness during the release of the next set. It promises to be an exciting time!

 

Bonus Section: More photos

The card I got to add to the wall, with the full display behind me.

 

A fellow Hawkeyes fan who stopped by to battle.

 

Players who show up to events with a sign showing love for TheStarkingtonPost.com get to pull a pack out of the random pack stash I bring with me to events. This lucky fan got a Blood Crypt for his efforts, just for reading the site!

 

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