Hey everybody!

By now I’ve won GP Baltimore. I love Magic and can’t wait to be with all my Team Draft League bros at ProTour The Set After Khans. Better get testing for that formats!

By now I’ve quit Magic because Limited sucks. It’s all just random luck. It takes no skill. It’s crap and a waste of time. I’m never going to Limited GP. No way.

Christ. I haven’t actually played Magic in a couple of weeks. I don’t keep up on Standard. Team Draft League, undergoing reconstruction, is between seasons for me. I guess the finals are happening next week. Other than awarding the winners their prizes (cash and playmats) there isn’t much in it for me at this point. The season felt long and confused.

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This morning I took a bunch of photos of Magic related stuff in my room. I like photographing things in search of good subjects for drawing.  Cards and clothes rule my bedroom. And books. There are lots of books.

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Destiny has owned my evenings. Robert, Orlando, Joe, Matt (of Guido’s Pasta Party fame), Robert’s brother Matt, and Hipster Rich Stein have traveled to the Vault of Glass in search of glory with me twice now. It’s been a blast. Teamwork, brotherhood, etc. We laugh almost the entire time. Everyone works together to accomplish various tasks (usually defeating nasty boss characters). We are rewarded with gear and materials to better our gear.

At the end of the night there’re always the awkward goodbyes and PS4 logging off. No one really wants to give it up for the night. We did a great job and had so much fun. Sleep is needed. Day jobs demand our arrival in just a few hours.

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As I prepare to leave for Baltimore with Fettoblaster and potentially Zach “Drawing Live” Barash at 9am (last Friday), I’m looking for parallels between Magic and Destiny. Grand Prix’s are the main way I play competitive Magic these days. The new PPTQ format has me almost totally disinterested in grinding. It feels too much like work and no one likes work.

Grand Prixs involve us going en masse to a foreign city to dual with foreign wizards. We’ll report to each other between rounds. We’ll tell our tales of woe and triumph. Misplays, top decks, all of it. As the tournament carries on those of us who scrub out and join side events will cheer for those who are still alive to qualify for day two. We are all together in this.

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The togetherness and community of Magic keeps me interested and playing. I’ve never been part of such a diverse group of weirdos in my life. It’s awesome. We all know I’ll never actually quit Magic (though  I still don’t give a shit about Standard).

Here’s how I think I’d start the article if I wrote it directly after the GP and not the Thursday before the GP:

By now GP Baltimore is over and you all know who the winners are. Congratulations to them! I had a blast with my friends all weekend playing a game I love. Thanks to everyone for being so excellent and fun to hangout with! I can’t wait until the next Grand Prix.

Thanks for reading!

Best,
Matt

Matt Jones (born 1980, Rochester, New York) is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Matt works between a variety of inter-related genres that explore mythology, archaeology, ancient history, theoretical physics, comedy, and the paranormal—all developed and inspired by research and personal experience. Together his bodies of work form a way for Matt to evaluate, negotiate, and play with the world around him. You can check out his art at www.mattjonesrules.com. Matt’s played Magic since early 1995, took a break for a decade or so, and came back to the game the weekend after the Scars of Mirrodin release. With Hugh Kramer he formed New York’s Team Draft League and is one of the original writers for Hipsters of the Coast. Matt’s been sober for seven years.

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