Pimpvitational and Norwegian tech

Good things come to those who act. The date and format for Pimpvitational 14/15 are finally set, and in a few weeks I'll be battling with the finest of the foulest. Characters like n00bcon 6 winner Stalin, BSK winner Hagelpump, Elof, FreeSpace and Sehl will gather in Gothenburg to drink beer and fight for the Pimpwalker Champion title. 

Probably also a Time Walk playmat and a trophy up for grabs.

The format of this year's tournament is 93/94 Highlander (i.e. all cards except basic lands are restricted), with a small twist. A deck cannot contain more than nine cards from the ordinary restricted list, and additionally Library of Alexandria is banned. This means that you could play all the power cards if you want, but then you can't use Demonic Tutor, Balance, Sol Ring, Braingeyser, or any of the other restricted staples. I think that Sol Ring is the clear autoinclude in pretty much all decks, and that Ancestral is an obvious inclusion in any deck playing blue. Other than that, it gets kinda tricky. Is Mana Drain better than an extra mox? Would you play Balance over Maze of Ith? How good is Braingeyser without mana acceleration from jewlery? With only one legal copy of City of Brass, Fellwar Stone and duals of each color, playing more than one or two colors quickly becomes a gamble. A deck like monored goodstuff, sporting less-used cards like Two-Headed Giant of Foriys, Roc of Kher Ridges and the Elementals backed up with burn and some land destruction, could very well be among the top tier decks. There are after all no more than one Swords to Plowshares in each deck.

A sweet thing with the new format is that it gave me an excuse to buy some new cards. I'm currently on a quest to get up to 40/40 duals, and having that on the top of my list leaves very little room for buying other Magic cards. Turns out duals are expensive. But this was a decent enough excuse to get a Moat. And now that I have a Moat, I have a good enough excuse to get a playset of Counterspells so that I eventually can put together The Deck. Playing The Deck in a Magic tournament has to be on some kind of nerd bucket list.

Now I just need a reason to get a playset of these.

The Norwegian 93/94 scene has at least doubled during the summer btw, and today I think there are about eight players with decks in Oslo alone now. A few of them gathered last Sunday to play, but I had to pass as I had some old family friends from the US visiting. Today however I got the chance to meet up with a pair of new faces at Outland, Oslo's prime game store. Great excuse to meet new people.

Tax Edge vs land destruction and Juggernauts.

Trading time.

I had a really nice time playing. Got to do some sweet trades, test out the Tax Edge mirror, and cast a turn three Craw Wurm against land destruction :) Hope to do it again soon.

Of the new Norwegian players, at least one of them will be going to Eternal Weekend in Philadelphia to represent the Scandinavians in the Eternal Central Old School tournament. It looks to be the biggest Old School tournament outside of Sweden yet, with no less than 31 players currently signed up. Among the players represented we have old school ringers like Sean O'Brien, Randy Buehler, Steve Menendian and Roland Chang. I wouldn't mind seeing a match between O'Brien playing prison versus Beuhler playing control. That would be some serious old school. And I have to love any tournament where the entry fee is a six-pack of craft beer. My bet for winner? Well, if David Schooley shows up with his all-Alpha monoblack with clear sleeves, I think he wins by default. The possible out is if someone shows up with a six-pack of Dark Lord stout as their entry fee beer, that would be hard to beat. Last man standing though? Of course our Norwegian countryman Thomas Nielsen will finish on top. He's a former pro player who placed 1st and 2nd in the two last 93/94 tournaments in Sweden and Norway, and his deck will become even more insane with the local Eternal Central rules permitting 4-off Hymn to Tourach and unrestricted Strip Mine. Lets see what the yankees can do about that. The fight is on!

Swedish/Norwegian union Fellwar Stone, altered by Thomas. I would really like to have this for Project M :)

There will also be a Norwegian tournament October 10th in Moss, an hour or so south of Oslo. Two months left to get the decks ready. The event will of course be non-proxy, and the first price looks to be a Moss Monster. There will be beer, and hopefully a gang of Swedes joining in on the fight. Hope to see a bunch of you there!