Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Event Horizons Invitational

by Don "The Governor" Paul

This is the Governor. For those of you new to the game of Magic, that's
Don Paul to you. Thanks to a merciful invite from Don James, I'm going to play in my
third straight Event Horizon's Invitational. At this time, I don't think
people realize how big this event is going to be in five years. Finkel,
Budde and Zvi are going to relocate to
Houston just so they can qualify for this event, because they only invite
the best players from Texas and Louisiana. After we talk about these formats,
you may see why ESPN will be calling Tim and Don pretty soon.
Format 1 : Dreams and Nightmares
This format is giving me nightmares because I keep changing my mind on which
way to go every other day. You gotta play 13 cards from each of the Type II
legal sets and 10 basic lands. In the first game you get to pick your
starting 7 cards (ergo the Dreams part). The next game your opponent picks
your starting hand(ergo the Nightmares part). Third game you play normal.
I've built a deck that wins on turn 1. Just kidding. But actually, my
deck idea does come out insanely fast. I just need to win the die roll to
go first and I think I win.
Gotcha thinkin now, huh. Well, that's about all I can say about that at this time.
In game 2 and 3 I probably lose badly but I'll have a lot of fun doing it.
Format 2: Invasion Silent Auction Draft
You have to write your bids for cards down on paper. You start with 200
points and when you run out, you're done drafting. I still won't forgive
Zach and Dequan for letting Dustin have that Predator Flagship for 15 measly
dollars last year. It wasn't silent the last two years and it was all
screwy. I love this style of auction draft so much better.
I am really looking forward to this because I have a pretty good idea what a
person is willing to pay for a card after doing this for the last two years.
By the way, last year, I ran out of money with 2 packs left in the draft and
started building my deck while the others were still drafting. I'm going to
try and manage my money a little better this year.
Format 3: New Horizon's Constructed
Trent was right, these guys do have way too much time on their hands. This
whole set is original except for about 5 cards. All created by Don James
and Tim Weissman. I'm really impressed by the amount of work that went into
this. Look for the spoiler on the EHI website.
I don't think I need to post my deck when I tell you it's just going to
be a fast, stupid, red pile of nastiness. I thought I was going to try and
be brilliant and break the set or come up with some insane combo. Nahh. I
kept it simple and hope to finish my opponents off in very quick fashion, or
stall out and die miserably.
Format 4: Odyssey Double Draft
Basically draft 5 packs and make 2 decks. Play a best out of 5 match.
Everyone I've talked to about this, says just draft the best cards. I think
that would suck. But I don't know any better way, so that's what I'll
probably do.
Format 5: Type I Scavenger Hunt
They gave us 55 different categories to fit a card into and make a Type I
legal deck.
This is probably the format I've put the most time into. Mostly because
I've had to do a lot of research just to figure out if I can play a card. I
didn't know if I should think of a good Type I deck and find the cards that
fit, or find the best cards and try and build a good deck. It wound up
being the latter. I think this is the format I have the best chance in.
Anyways, this is bound to be a very fun weekend. There should be some
late night playtesting, money drafting, and other illegal activities going
on to make it fun for the whole family. I hope a lot of people show up to check
out the crazy ideas that these people come up with. I know there's a lot of
people in this tournament with a lot more imagination than me. The last two
years, I've gone 7-8. I need to finish above .500 this year and get a
trophy. Those are my goals, and I hope to make Don James look like a genius
for inviting me. Later.