UFC 92 Predictions

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva
In the big grudge match of the night we’ll see the third meeting of two of the best Light Heavyweights in the world, former UFC champion Quinton Jackson and former Pride champion Wanderlei Silva. These two fighters fought twice in the Pride organization, once in finals of the 2003 Pride Grand Prix and again in 2004 for the Pride middleweight title, with each time Silva coming out on top by implementing his Muay Tai skills and gaining knee KO victories. In this fight I look for much of the same to take place. In Jackson’s defense, I will say that he is a completely different fighter than he was four years ago, a completely new camp and new trainers and even recent move over the pond to train with Michael Bisping and the Wolf’s Lair. With that said, Wanderlei has also made a move since then from Chute Box in Brazil to Las Vegas and the Xtreme Couture camp, the camp many consider the best in the world because of the coaches and training partners you have access to. I look for Silva to implement a similar game plan his teammate, Forrest Griffin, used to defeat Jackson in July, but unlike that fight there is no way this one will go the distance, even with two fewer rounds. There is a lot of bad blood between these two fighters, illustrated today at the weigh ins where Silva shoved Jackson after repeated taunts. Look for this to be fight of night as both fighters will leave it all in the ring. I see Wanderlei winning this fight by knockout late in the second round.

Interim Heavyweight Championship
Frank Mir vs Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira (Champion)
This fight pits the coaches from the latest season The Ultimate Fighter against each other in a battle for the UFC interim heavyweight title and a spot in a title unification bout with Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar some time early next year. Frank Mir is the former UFC Heavyweight Champion and even holds a submission victory over Lesnar. While he never lost his title to another fighter, he was stripped of it when he couldn’t fight after being in a motorcycle accident in 2004. After an 18 month break from the Octagon, Mir returned with three lack luster performances and going 1-2 in those fights. It wasn’t until his next fights that he really looked like the Mir of old when he submitted both Antoni Hardonk and Lesnar in the first round. This set up Frank’s stint as coach on the popular reality show and his spot in this title fight.

Nogueira is a veteran of the sport, fighting against pretty much every top heavyweight in the world. In his nine year career he has never been stopped and since he Pride FC debut in 2002 has only three decision losses, one to Josh Barnett and two to Fedor Emelianenko, the man many consider the best fighter in the world. Nogueira’s toughness is legendary, with many of his victories being submissions that came out of nowhere in fights where he was getting his face pounded in. In his last fight “Big Nog” was getting ground and pounded at the hands of Tim Sylvia when he caught the big man in a guillotine choke, winning the interim title in the absence of then champion Randy Couture.

Both these fighters have incredible jujitsu, but there I have to give the edge to Nogueira who was perhaps the best MMA focused jujitsu of anyone in the sport, even better than BJ Penn or Dustin Hazelett. Frank Mir, on the other hand, defiantly has the advantage as a wrestler as witnessed by his pedigree of being a Nevada state champion in high school. On the feet you could say they are even in their striking, but I give the edge here to Nogueira because of the quality of training partners he has in both his brother, who is a Pan American Games medalist, and his recent camp at Xtreme Couture. If Frank Mir can take down and lay on Nogueira I can see him taking the fight by decision, but that would also mean that Mir’s gas tank will be pushed as it never has before, something he is not known for. Of coarse, Mir could also catch Nogueira in a stand up exchange, but if Mirco Cro Cop couldn’t catch him during Cro Cop’s prime in Pride, I don’t think Mir will be able to either. I see the X factor of Nogueira’s toughness coming through in this fight with him winning by submission in the 4th round when Mir’s gas tank will be running on empty.

Light Heavyweight Championship
“Sugar” Rashad Evans vs Forest Griffin (Champion)
In a fight the UFC has been wanting to put together for years we see the winners of the first two Ultimate Fighter seasons in a showdown for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship of the world. Undefeated fighter Rashad Evans is coming into the fight off a stunning, highlight reel knockout of UFC legend Chuck Liddell. The former National Junior College wrestling champion and Michigan State Spartan starter began his fighting career under the tutelage of UFC Hall of Famer Dan Severn, and currently trains in New Mexico with the Greg Jackson camp and training partners Georges St. Pierre and Keith Jardine, who holds a TKO victory over Griffin. Rashad has become a bit of a knockout artist of late with KO victories in 3 of his last 5 fights, a skill I look for him to try to employ in this fight.

Forest Griffin, the original Ultimate Fighter and current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. We all know him from the two brawls with Stephen Bonnar, fights that put the sport on the map and sent it on the current meteoric rise, as well as the controversial five round war with Quinton Jackon that saw Forest crowned champion. Known for his chin and endurance, Griffin hones his fighting skills at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, training daily with fighters and coaches such as Wanderlei Silva, Randy Couture, and Shawn Tompkins. Besides Jackson, Forest holds notable victories over Chael Sonnen, Elvis Sinosic, and Mauricio Rua.

To me this fight comes down to one thing, Griffin’s ability to get in and out of striking engagements quickly. If he can’t then I look for his night to end very abruptly in the second round after catching Evans’ right hook. But, after the restraint he showed in his last fight against Jackon and staying out of wild exchanges with a more powerful striker while tearing their legs to shreds with a barrage of leg kicks I don’t see Forest putting him self in too many positions where he can get caught, as he did in the first round of the Jackson fight before recovering quickly. This fight could go to the ground due to Rashad’s strong background as a wrestler, but I’m not sure I would look for him to take it there as Griffin’s jujitsu is very good, as seen by his submitting Rua, and I think he wants to show his confidence as a striker and stand with Forest. I look for Griffin to implement a game plan much like he did in the Rua fight and try to push the pace and tire out Evans, who isn’t exactly known for his endurance. In this fight I like Griffin by unanimous decision.

Neglience

Wow, I have really neglected this site for a while with no good reason to have done so. Over the past few months I have been really busy with school and a trip to Germany, but there was a lot of time in there I could have used my time more wisely and added some content to this site. Look for at least one new post to be added over the next week (other than the UFC 92 preview I’m posting after this one). I have many ideas for articles and for this site that I hope to implement in the new year.

Until next time,

Neeley

Summer 2008 PTQ Schedule

Hollywood didn’t go 100% as planned, so I’m back on the road this summer looking for an invite and plane ticket to Berlin, Germany at the end of October. Here’s what I have planned so far for this summer:

June:
14 – PTQ Columbus, OH
20-22 – GP Indianapolis
28 – PTQ Roanoke, VA
29 – Richie Proffitt Memorial Tournament Roanoke, VA
July:
5 – PTQ Nashville, TN
12-13 Eventide Pre Release Louisville, KY
19 – $5k KY Open Louisville, KY
20 – PTQ Louisville, KY
August:
1-3 – US Nationals Chicago, IL
9 – Nashville, TN or Columbus, OH
23 – PTQ Indianapolis, IN
30 – PTQ Louisville, KY

Good luck on everyone’s attempt to make it to the Fatherland, and hope to see you at the events.

Concentration: Words from Coach Bobby Knight

During his recent stay at ESPN, former Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight repeatedly emphasized what he feels is perhaps the most important trait of a successful team. Talent of coarse plays a factor, as does coaching, but the primary factor he talked about for nearly the entire NCAA tournament was concentration. You can attribute many of the results during the tournament to one team just being more focused on what they had to do than their opponent; whether it was the upsets that resulted in the two 12-13 matches in the second round, Davidson’s upset of Georgetown, or even Memphis’ collapse at the end of regulation that allowed Kansas to walk away with the title. If you watched any of these games you could see the lack of concentration in the teams that lost, and while each of them were upsets when you look at the betting odds, the teams that won were certainly mentally tougher.

Now, the point of all this is not to break down college basketball games that happened nearly two months ago. What I am here to is take the theory behind Coach Knight’s “concentration” and translate it to real world applications. There are several aspects to this one topic, each beginning independent of the other but translating into a concept that interweaves each of them, including focus, sight and sound, losing, and execution.

Focus

The first concept is focus, which is what begins the process of concentration. Focus allows you to turn your attention to a singular part of a task or goal and incorporate it into your overall thought process. If proper attention is not given to the important details of what you are doing then you can find yourself in a bad situation where you have to do a lot more work than if you had given it the proper respect. When translated to the business world, focus means you are not looking ahead to the next task, no matter how trivial the current one seems. If you are trying to piece together a deal involving large sums of money, there are certain steps you have to take to get it done. Not paying the proper amount of attention to one of them, or even skipping one, can result in the loss of funds to penalties, government sanctions, or even the complete loss of the deal.

Focus can also be applied to the entire process that allows you to achieve your set goal. More than just giving each task the attention it needs, you also have be focused on the broader goal that you are working toward, and without doing this you can lose sight of what exactly you are trying to do. This aspect seems like common sense to anyone who has ever done this type of work, but you still often find those who lose focus and become sidetracked by something, whether it is money, fame, or other rewards. In my experience the primary focus killer is the ability to reach something through means that are less than conscionable, also called shortcuts. These shortcuts can be intentionally overlooking someone’s mistake (your own or other’s), not giving a task the attention and time needed to do it properly, or doing something outright illegal.

Sight and Sound

The ability to see and listen to what you and others around you are doing is imperative when applying concentration to a goal. Coach Knight talks about the difference between looking and seeing and hearing and listening, stating that anyone can look and hear anything, but those with concentration have the ability to see and listen. Seeing what is in front is very different from looking at is in front of you, the biggest difference being that you understand what you are looking at. You can look at a math problem for hours on end and see what exactly it is telling you to do, and it is through the ability to understand what you are seeing that allows a person to solve that problem. This is a very broad concept that can be applied to everything a person does, whether it is eating a sandwich or solving a complex, multivariable equation.

Very similar, hearing and listening are two very different concepts. Everyone has the ability to hear, but it is through listening that we gain the ability to understand what we are being told. It is impossible to learn anything without good listening skills, and by that I don’t just mean making sense of the sounds your ears pick up. Even when you are reading a book you are hearing what the words on the page are telling you, but it is only if you listen to those words will you understand what is being said.

While the example I used with sight is based in mathematics, everything a person does during the day is an algebraic equation, from putting on clothes to writing a paper. There are many different directions to take each of these, each with their own, independent outcomes. It is the desired outcome that tells us which direction to go and the only way to detect is by seeing the correct route and listening to what is telling us to take it. Back the math example, when you are solving an equation the elements of that equation tell you the correct way to solve it. By just looking at the problem and hearing what it is telling you there is no way to understand what is going on because you are not applying the proper focus to what is being said. However, if you see what is written and listen to what is being said then you will understand what to do.

It is through the focus that I discussed earlier that a person is able to properly understand how to carry out a task or achieve a goal, but without the proper senses it is impossible to reasonably expect to achieve what you are working toward.

Losing

There are many clichés involving the building of character through losing or not knowing how sweet victory is without having tasted defeat, but beyond those there is a true trait of concentration revealed when you fail to reach a goal. This trait involves understanding of what kept you from reaching your goal and how to keep from doing it again. This trait is the polar opposite of losing, winning. Winning is what the completion of each goal we set can be translated to, and the only way that we can insure winning is by understanding what it is that makes us lose. Coach Knight talks about everyone wanting to win, which is true, but he is also a great believer in understanding losing, “because if we know how we can lose, if we know those factors or reasons that cause us to lose, and we eliminate those things, we stand a much better chance of winning.” These words ring true to anyone who has achieved a goal they have set for themselves.

It should go without saying that in the short term it is possible to make incorrect moves and still be able to achieve a goal. Winning this way does not allow you learn anything except the wrong way to win and over the long term will cause you to lose in much greater frequency than win, or even just by doing something correctly and winning can be harmful because you generally don’t learn anything through winning. It is possible to learn while winning but you have to pay close attention to everything you do and correct your incorrect decisions while you are making others, and doing this correctly and in a way that keeps you from losing is very difficult to do. The time when you can learn the most is when you lose. I’m not saying that losing is a good thing, it never is, but learning from losses is sometimes much more important that winning. As Coach Knight stated it is through losing that we are able to understand what made us lose and by doing we can eliminate that factor from the process that allows us to achieve our goals. More over, understanding why a particular decision is wrong allows us to have a base for making similar decisions in the future, creating a shorter response time and decisions that we can be more confidant about.

Combining this with the other concepts of concentration allows us understand what our losses have to do with our wins.

Execution

Concentration is perhaps the most important aspect of a successful person, allowing them to know what it is they have to do, apply the focus and understanding needed to achieve their goals, and have the foresight to make the correct decisions that make up the process of being a winner. The hardest part of implementing true concentration understanding that it is more than focusing on what you need to do in order to achieve your goals, concentration is method of achieving a competitive advantage on your opponents. Concentration involves reacting to what they do and taking action to counter them, whether it is making a better offer on a deal than a competing firm or getting enough sleep and eating a proper breakfast before you go into your arena. Concentration is not losing sight on what actually matters in the big picture, working towards goals that stand up over the long term, understanding what is being presented to you, and how to learn from you mistakes.

In closing concentration is more or less understanding how to win and how not to lose. Having concentration is not a guarantee that you will meet your goals, but it is one of the best ways to ensure success.

Getting There: A PTQ Winning Report

So this past weekend in Nashville, TN I played in and won a Pro Tour Qualifier for PT Hollywood, which takes place May 23-25. This is the first time that I have won one of these tournaments and will be taking my game to next level for the first time since Nationals last year in Baltimore. All of the sorrow from last year of seeing two of my close friends getting to go to Japan after winning qualifiers, one of which eliminated me in the top 4 on their way to the brass ring, is now gone. One word really defines the feeling, vindication. To finally have something to show for everything I have poured into this game over the past four and a half years is just incredible.

 

The following is a report of how I “got there” playing the Blue/Green Tron deck played by Ben Lundquist at GP Vancouver and finally achieved one of my most sought after goals. First the deck:

 

Maindeck:

Artifacts
3 Chrome Mox
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Simic Signet
1 Tormod’s Crypt

Artifact Creatures
1 Platinum Angel
1 Sundering Titan
1 Triskelion

Instants
4 Condescend
4 Gifts Ungiven
3 Moment’s Peace
4 Remand
3 Repeal
4 Thirst For Knowledge

Legendary Artifacts
2 Mindslaver

Sorceries
1 Life From The Loam

Basic Lands
1 Island

Basic Snow Lands
1 Snow-covered Island

Lands
3 Breeding Pool
1 Flooded Strand
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Polluted Delta
2 Tolaria West
4 Urza’s Mine
4 Urza’s Power Plant
4 Urza’s Tower

Legendary Lands
1 Academy Ruins

Sideboard:
3 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Triskelion
2 Indrik Stomphowler
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Threads Of Disloyalty
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Ghost Quarter

 

Over 160 players made the trip to Music City, meaning there would be eight rounds of swiss followed by a cut to 8.

 

Round 1: Ryan playing Death Cloud

 

The first major action of game one happens when he resolves a quick Death Cloud for four, leaving him with a Golgari Rot Farm in play opposing my Simic Signet. He then draws and plays a Sensei’s Divining Top and a Mutavault, which attacks me down to four life. In that time I draw enough mana to cast Gifts Ungiven to complete tron while he keeps cracking fetch lands to supplement his top and resolves a Garruk Wildspeaker and makes a token. I cast Repeal on that token, coaxing him to make another, leaving Garruk with one life. I untap and play Triskelion, shoot Garruk, and pass turn. At this point we are both at four life, he untaps and spends about two minutes trying to figure out what to do, which by the way he is fiddling with his lands he just drew another Death Cloud. He ends up attacking with just the token; I block and shoot him down to two with Academy Ruins in play. He takes another minute to think things through and decides on playing the Death Cloud for enough to cause a draw.

 

At this point there is only 15 minutes left in the round, so whoever wins this game is likely to win the match. We both keep our opening seven. He opens the game by tearing my hand apart with a Thoughtseize and a Duress, allowing him to play a fourth turn Garruk. The following turn he casts Death Cloud for four and after a few swings by his beast tokens we’re onto game three.

 

I mulligan game three but I keep a very good hand that featured some counter magic and a Tarmogoyf. He gets mana screwed for a couple of turns which allows my Goyf to grow with a Thrist for Knowledge, swinging for two, then four, then six, going all the way before he can recover. There are about two minutes left in round and after an intentional mulligan on my part we were signing the match slip 1-1-2.

 

Round 2: Sol Malka playing RGb Beasts

 

For those who find this name familiar, it is because he invented the deck archetype known as “The Rock” way back when it was Phyrexian Plaguelord and Deranged Hermit. The first game is pretty uneventful for him, as I tempo him with a couple of Remands and a Condescend, allowing me to find Gifts and quickly set up Mindslaver lock.

 

The next game takes much longer as we both go back and fourth all game until I stabilize. We end up fighting wars early over a Destructive Flow (there were four in his sideboard) and Eternal Witnesses. After about twenty minutes he finally resolves a Flow, but by this time I have around nine lands in play and Life From the Loam in my hand. I finally find a Gifts to set up Mindslaver and spend the game playing his turn for three turns and dredging Life every fourth turn. This process is repeated until time runs out and I take the match 1-0.

 

Round 3: Herb playing Bubble Hulk.

 

He wins the dice roll and plays a first turn Invasion sac land, telling me he’s playing some sort of combo deck. He then follows it up with a City of Brass and a Careful Study, throwing me a curve ball for a few seconds until he discards Body Double and a land. I follow up his play with a Gifts for Tron lands since I already have Mindslaver in hand. Two turn later I play and activate the legendary artifact when he doesn’t have enough mana up to play Through the Breach, warranting a concession from him.

 

The second game takes much longer, with a turn two Mogg Fanatic taking me from 18 to 11 before I can get off a slaver. His hand that game was awful, consisting of nothing but land, a seething song, and a Reveillark I Remanded the turn before I took over his mind.

 

Round 4: Brandon playing U/G 8 Post

 

We both knew what the other was playing when we sat down for this match because we played next to each other the round before. This one doesn’t start off too well for me as I mulligan on the play (could’ve been me not shuffling enough after getting deck checked). The game goes long and he ends up resolving a Triskelion while we are playing an Academy Ruins battle with Life From the Loam. The Trike gets me to 7 before I get a Moment’s Peace to stall out the game a couple more turns. I end up resolving Gifts and due to a miscue on his part I get to stick my Ruins for a turn, long enough to get a Mindslaver on top of my deck and lock him out of the game.

 

Game two is much worse for him as he keeps a land light hand and ends up having to copy my Breeding Pool with Vesuva and using Chrome Mox as his land drops. I quickly resolve a Tarmogoyf and it goes all the way very quickly.

 

At this point, I overhear my friend Scott Schauf talking on the phone to some guys back in Kentucky who didn’t get to make the trip, saying “Neeley’s 3-0-1 and there’s just no way he is losing this PTQ.” A little far fetched, I felt, at this point, or so it seemed.

 

Round 5: James playing RGb Destructive flow.

 

We both keep our opening hands and he comes out of the gates, resolving Magus of the Moon and Garruk, while I get stuck on five mana for a while. I end up at three life before I can cast a Gifts with Platnium Angel, Chrome Mox, and Remand in hand. The only way I can survive the next turn is by getting to seven mana to play the Angel, so I get two Tron lands, Chrome Mox, and Life from the Loam. He puts the two lands into my graveyard and I draw a Thirst for Knowledge on my turn. I play both moxen, removing the two instants, and cast Platnium Angel. I ride the angel to victory, ending the game with a couple shots from Triskelion while I’m at negative life. Game two sees him mulligan to four on the play while I cast a turn 3 and 4 Tarmogoyf. Once they got to five power the next turn he concedes.

 

At this point I can feel the top 8, I just have to win two of my next three and I should be in.

 

Round 6: Joe playing Death Cloud

 

Game one he really doesn’t see much action until I resolve a mid game Gifts Ungiven for Mindslaver, Life, Tron, and Tolaria West, allowing me to set up the lock two turns later.

 

Game two he sees some action with a Thoughtseize allowing him to resolve a Tarmogoyf on turn three to which I answer with one of my own a turn later. I then cast a Gifs Ungiven to set up Mindslaver by he has Offalsnout for when I try to put it back on top. I then spend the next few turns dredging six cards a turn with Life From the Loam and Lonely Sandbar to find either another threat or Mindslaver. In the mean time he plays another Goyf and gets in a couple swings. This is all a moot point as I find the other Slaver and lock him out with 10 minutes left in the round.

 

One more and we’re in.

 

Round 7: Jon playing Affinity

 

We both keep our opening seven game one with him having a bit of a slow start of just an Arcbound Worker attacking for a couple of turns and resolving a turn 4 Myr Enforcer while I play a Condescend and Thrist for Knowledge, allowing me to complete Tron turn 5. I then cast Triskelion, trade it for his two guys after bouncing Pithing Needle with Repeal, get Academy Ruins with Tolaria West and Slaver lock him when all he has on board are a couple of Blinkmoth Nexus.

 

Game two is a different story with him having a great start featuring turn two Ravager and Frogmite followed by Myr Enforcer the next turn. I’m able to stall a couple turns at six life via Moment’s Peace until I get to seven mana to play Platnium Angel. He doesn’t have the Shrapnel Blast for my creature the next turn, allowing me to untap with 10 mana the next turn and Condescend backup. I cast Gifts on his end step and Slaver him out of the game the next turn.

 

I intentionally draw the next round and hand in my deck to the judge’s station. After the standings are made final I am the fourth seed and will be paired up against my friend Ian from here in Lexington, who ran the gammut and top 8’ed his second PTQ.

 

Top 8: Ian playing Enduring Ideal

 

Game one goes the way it should for my deck, seeing me cast a turn four Gifts to set up Slaver lock while all he does is crack a fetch land for Sacred Foundry to play top after taking a mulligan. He plays out a couple of lands and concedes with a full grip when I activate Mindslaver.

 

Game two goes completely different with him playing a Boseiju turn three opposing my fresh Tarmogoyf. I get in a couple of swings before he is able to Burning Wish for and cast Ideal over consecutive turns, ending the game a few turns later.

 

The rubber game sees him once again start with six cards, but my hand is crazy. I play Breeding Pool the first turn, play a tron piece and signet the next turn. I then complete Tron on my turn and Remand into a second Urza’s Tower so I play and activate Mindslaver the next turn. Not much can be said about that than “how lucky.”

 

Top 4: Sol Malka playing RGb Beasts

 

In the top four I once again find myself in a showdown with the creator of one of the most potent and played archetypes of all time, but this time he is on a seven match win streak after making the cut in eighth place and dispatching the first seed in the quarters.

 

The first game sees him get a good beat down draw, taking me all the way down to one before I can stabilize. I have Gifts Ungiven in my opening hand so my game plan didn’t change over the course of the game. I cast the blue instant around turn five and use Moment’s Peace to buy me enough time to set up the Mindslaver lock when I am at one life.

 

The second game goes almost exactly like our second game in round 2. He keeps a slow draw and plays a second turn Mogg Fanatic after a first turn Birds of Paradise. I finally draw a Tarmogoyf after going all the way to 12 from the goblin. He spends several turns shuffling his library with Fetchlands while setting up his draws with Sensei’s Diving Top. I finally get off a Gifts Ungiven the turn he plays a Destructive Flow, so I set up the same Slaver sequence I had in swiss, but with a threat in play this time. However, on my turn when I activate the artifact to put his brain into my service he has Putrefy for my Tarmogoyf. After about four Mindslaver cycles of controlling his turn for three turns and then dredging six cards the fourth and playing a land, I finally get a Triskelion into my graveyard and ride it to victory a few turns later.

 

Finals: Carlos playing Rb Goblins with 7 Blood Moon (4 main, 3 Magus side)

 

We sit down for the match and I try to feel out how much he wants to go, because I know that I’m going no matter what. After being a little skeptical I offer him the prize split that seems to decide so many PTQ’s these days, all the packs in the pool, the play-mats the store gave to the top 8, and even my top 8 pin. He thinks it over for a couple minutes and finally decides to take his chances.

 

He wins the dice roll, opening with Bloodstained Mire and passes turn. After taking over a minute to decide to take a mulligan, keeping a hand featuring a couple lands, a signet, Chrome Mox, and Thirst For Knowledge, I play a Breeding Pool tapped on my first turn. He then plays a Goblin Warchief off a Chrome Mox and swings to put me at 18 with me just untapping on my turn and playing a land. He turn plays a Goblin Piledriver, which resolves, and then I Condescend his Goblin Matron. His attack then puts me at 13. I on my turn I play my last land as well as a Signet. His turn sees him play another land, and cast a second Goblin Matron, fetching a Piledriver, twice due to a Remand on my part. His attack puts me at 5 life. I then untap after drawing a Moment’s Peace off the Remand, allowing me to stall two turns facing down a second and third Goblin Piledriver. Over the turns I had after drawing the Moment’s Peace I drew Gifts Ungiven, Platnium Angel, and Simic Signet.

 

At this point I am dead to rights, I have five mana in play with Gifts Ungiven, a mox, and two DI costing artifacts in my hand, no outs right? I think it over for a minute and remember how I won the first game in round 5, sure its not much of a plan at this point but it’s the only shot I have. I cast Gifts leaving Breeding Pool untapped and get Urza’s Tower, Urza’s Power Plant, Moment’s Peace, and Gifts Ungiven. There is one huge variable here, if he gives me the two lands, which will complete Tron with my two Urza’s Mines in play, then I die on his next turn. But this also gives me the land I would need to be able to play a Moment’s Peace if I already have one in hand and the following turn I have complete Tron in play and another two free turns via flashback. He also can’t give me a land and Moment’s Peace because that automatically gives me two free turns. So via this logic he gives me a land and Gifts Ungiven.

 

I play the land and the mox, remove the blue card, pass the turn, and flashback Moment’s Peace on his turn. I untap and play my one glimmering hope in the form of Platnium Angel. He is currently at 17 life, making me need him to go 6 draw steps without drawing a Gempalm Incinerator, a Goblin Matron to get it, or a Goblin Ringleader to go four cards deep looking for any of the above to ensure a game one win. He draws a card and plays a Mogg Fanatic with one card in hand with his attack putting me at -53 life. I untap, play the Signet, attack him down to 13 and pass turn. He untaps, draws a Blood Moon, plays it and attacks me to -113 life. I untap, draw and play Thrist for Knowledge drawing a Tormod’s Crypt, Chrome Mox and Mindslaver. I pitch the Mox, play the Crypt, and attack him down to 9. He untaps, draws a Goblin Sharpshooter and puts three damage on my Angel before trying to cast Patriarch’s Bidding. The judge informs him he doesn’t have any black mana due to Blood Moon, forcing him to just pass the turn. I play Mindslaver on my turn and attack him down to 5. He untaps and plays the land he draws and concedes.

 

Now that is how you sweat out a win.

 

As we are sideboarding, and after realizing how lucky I just got, I tell him “The offer still stands.” He takes a minute to think it over while milling around with his cards and finally agrees to take the 88 packs, 2 play-mats, and my top 8 pin in exchange for the win and invite. I shake his hand; jump out of my seat to high five my friends behind me. I finally got there; I finally won a PTQ and have truly justified everything I have put into this game over the past few years.

 

After getting everything settled with the organizer my finals opponent congratulates me and humbly admits that if he had won he probably wouldn’t have gone. I thank him for his honesty and promise the slot won’t go to waste.

 

By this time it was far too late for a celebratory dinner, and we had to get on the road back to Louisville and then back to Lexington. I’ll be at the PTQ this weekend in Charleston, WV to do a victory lap and have that dinner. Anyone who reads this and attends the PTQ is more than welcome to join us for some steaks and some beers.

 

Until next time,

neeley

Extended PTQ Schedule

Wow things have really been busy with school. Between doing the work and then playing here in town I’ve really neglected this page, something I really didn’t want to do. I’ve got several ideas for articles, and as the come together I’ll try to get them up asap.

For those nerds like me who are on the trail of a plane ticket to Hollywood for the PT in May, here’s the PTQ’s I plan to attend:

Jan. 26 — Louisville, KY
Feb. 09 — Columbus, OH
Feb. 16 — Indianapolis, IN
Feb. 23 — 5k Charlotte, NC
Mar. 01 — Nashville, TN
Mar. 08 — Charleston, WV
Mar. 22 — Indianapolis, IN
Mar. 29 — Columbus, OH

I wanted to attend the Grand Prix in Philly on the weekend of March 15, but that doesn’t look like it is going to happen because its 9 hours from Lexington and I have an 8 am class on Monday morning this semester. The 5k in Charlotte isn’t exactly a PTQ, but it, along with the KY Open, is the biggest non-WOTC event this year and I have secured free lodging in the area. There is a PTQ day 2 that I won’t be attending because of the same reasons as GP Philly (except its closer).

I hope to see everyone out at these events, and hopefully I’ll be able to finally put a win and get to experience what several friends have over the past couple years, or at least a few top 8’s to along with last extended season. I’ll try to get some real content up, just be patient, it should be worth the wait.

A Business That Doesn’t Want to Make Money? Pt. 2

I’ll begin with the reply I received today:

Daniel,

I’ll take care of the matter Daniel. Come in during the week sometime and I’ll get you a gift certificate or free cards. You have my sincere apologies on the matter. I feel its my fault since I didn’t schedule enough people that day. In the end Kevin was only doing as he has been told so please don’t have hard feelings toward him. Your business is certainly wanted here as it always has been.

I hope your New Year was happy (other than that).

–Nathan

This response really means a lot in my eyes as a customer. It shows the management truly cares about their long time customers, and that is where any and all attitudes are set for employees that are under top management. I wasn’t looking for compensation out of the letter I sent, but the offer by the store certainly shows me how much my business means to the store, and for that I am very appreciative.

Anyway, just wanted to post the update on this matter.

neeley

A Business That Doesn’t Want to Make Money?

I had a bad experience at a store in Pikeville, KY. Page 3’s Game Zone, a store I have been going to for over five years for video games, movies, and cards, has been in business for a very long time and I have never had a bad experience there until Sunday afternoon when I learned that apparently the store doesn’t want my money. Here is a copy of the complaint letter I sent to the store manager via their Myspace page:

Nathan,

I stopped by the store Sunday at around 1:30 pm to look for magic cards with the 100% intent of making a purchase. I walk back through the store to find the door that goes from the action figure section to the back room locked. I walk up to the front counter and ask the employee behind the counter if he could open the door, I want to look at and buy some magic cards. He the replied with the following (paraphrased), “Well, we don’t have anyone back there today to watch that part of the store so I can’t really let you back there, plus we’ve started to lock the showcases and I don’t really know where the key is.” The employee was they guy who is #2 on your myspace top friends. I asked him because I’ve dealt with him before when I’ve bought magic cards.

After he said this I explained to him that I know you all have the cards I’m wanting to buy, I know where they’d be and it would take less than five minutes for me buy them. He once again urged there was nothing he could do to help me.

I found this pretty ridiculous because I know that for the store to be open either you or Todd have open the business and that you all would know where the keys for both locks would be. Also, there were two other customers in the store and there was another employee standing right next to him, so its not like the store would be unattended if he took 5 minutes to make a guaranteed sell.

In the five years I have been coming to Page3 I have never felt mistreated or unwanted as a customer until this incident. It is the service that I have received over the years that has kept me coming back, but I have never seen an employee of any retail store be so lazy they wouldn’t even make a guaranteed sell, especially when business was as slow as it appeared on Sunday afternoon.

I wanted you to about this, and that it makes me wonder if the store even wants my business. As I have stated, I have been a customer for over five years, before I even started playing magic let alone coming to tournaments. And because of that and my past experiences at the store I expected more from an employee than “there’s nothing I can do.”

Daniel Neeley

I sent the message this afternoon and haven’t received a response yet, but as soon as I do I’ll post it here and keep everyone up to date on this matter. To me, the experience I had at the store Sunday is inexcusable and can be explained by nothing than an employee being to lazy to uphold what I feel is the most important principle of a successful business, keep your return customers happy because they provide the best kind of advertising, free word-of-mouth.

Also, I’ll try to post a new BvF related article before the weekend, as I’m moving to Lexington this weekend to begin class next week, so free time will be limited for a bit after Saturday.

neeley

Why the Mitchell Report Doesn’t Mean Dick.

So yesterday former Sen. George Mitchell released his report on a two year investigation to the “Steroids Era” of Major League Baseball, implementing over 80 current and retired baseball players in the use of performance enhancing substances. Players including Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite, Miguel Tejada, and (obviously) Barry Bonds. The real problem with this report is the former senator didn’t have the power to issue subpoenas or put the individuals he interviewed under oath, meaning their testimonies to him and his team essentially hold absolutely no water in a court of law. However, for the court of public opinion, in our times of Hollywood obsession, hearsay is often enough to convict someone for life.

The sources of his information are another flaw to the report. The person who implemented Clemens and Pettite was their former personal trainer when they both played for the Yankees during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, a person who was fired by Clemens when he left New York and who is currently on trial. By cooperating with the Mitchell Commission he would receive leniency in his sentencing. This could mean that everything he told the commission was complete slander, said in an effort to reduce his forthcoming sentence.

Of coarse I’m not completely biased when it comes to this, Roger Clemens is my favorite player of all time (and still is), but you also have to look at other facts when it comes to judging players of this era (yes even Bonds). Before MLB started testing for performance enhancing drugs and punishing positive testee’s in 2004 there was no policy against their use in the sport. By the letter of the law according to the sport those who used the drugs were not breaking a single policy, making them completely in the right to do this when the league allowed free reign concerning this subject.

To be fair, it is against the spirit of the game and fairness amonst players to use these substances, but do you really blame them? Following the player’s strike in 1994 the sport of baseball was in real trouble, the sport was showing losses across the board and fans were just not showing interest in the game. Then Mark McGwire and Sammy Sossa essentially saved the sport with their home run race in 1998, bringing out record crowds to the stadiums where they were playing with fans hoping the catch that record breaking ball. Since then, the sport has seen record growth every year, setting new records for attendance, advertising, and income. With that said one could make the argument that performance enhancing substances saved the sport of baseball from becoming just another minor league professional sport like lacrosse or women’s basketball.

Is it bad for the integrity of the game? Maybe. It certainly is today with the anti-substance policies the sport now has, but when you look back there might not be a game now without sacrificing a little to gain the ground that baseball now stands on.

I’m not saying steroids in sports is a good thing, because it isn’t. They create an uneven playing field among players and challenges the morals that are at the heart of every game. But without major stories and major players major sports become minor sports and can eventually cause the sport to fall off the map. For an example of this look at hockey and the NHL, since Wayne Gretzky retired there haven’t really been any players for the casual fan to recognize except for maybe Sidney Crosby, who is likely the last hope for the sport. The home run race of 98 was the best thing that could happen for the sport at the time. Could it have happened without steroids? Likely not at that time, but it came at just the right time and allowed the sport to get to where it is today.

The NFL faced down their steroids problem a long time ago and look at where it is today, by far the most popular sport in the country with virtually zero competition from other sports, let alone other leagues within its own sport. Baseball had to face this at some point, and it just so happens that point is now. The sport will survive and while asterisks may be necessary, the records should still stand but with the information that baseball has gone through several periods where records could be disputed; segregation of the sport comes to mind here.

Until next time,

neeley

BvF: Defined.

To begin I’ll explain just what in the hell “Bear vs. Fish” actually is. At its core BvF is a state of mind, very similar to the mentality that boxers have when going into a fight. When you are involved with any kind of competition you have to known that you are going to win when you face your opponent, otherwise you are likely not compete at your highest ability. Essentially you are the bear on the rocks and everyone across from you is the salmon swimming upstream. You are there to feed off everyone else, to snatch them out of the water as they struggle up the waterfall that is represented by your “play.”

The phrase “play” represents your evolving strategy against your opponent as their strategy develops. To truly play the role of the bear you have to evolve what you are doing in anticipation of what your opponent will do. If the fish jumps a different way then you have to adjust your plan of attack to take its path into account. It is based on this principle that I believe all success in life is based upon, the anticipation and correct reaction to what is being presented in front of you.

To know you are going to achieve victory in the task being presented, whether it is getting a base hit or getting a desired grade on an exam, you have to know that you will achieve your goal. The slightest amount of self-doubt will result in you not performing at your highest possible level, and because of this you will likely not achieve your goal. Every part of this is based on the percentage chance you complete your goal, and this is seen the most in strategic games that have some factor of chance. The primary idea is to put the percentages as much in your favor as possible. By believing in your self and competing at your highest potential you can turn a percentage that is 40/60 against you into an even or favorable percentage. By not doing this you can turn a favorable 60/40 percentage into an even or unfavorable percentage, giving your opponent more of a chance to beat when there is no excuse for them to have this.

In summation, “Bear vs. Fish” is about competing at your highest potential to give you the highest possible chance of completing your goal while giving your opponent the lowest possible chance of achieving their goal.

Until next time,

neeley