This one is going to be a bit of a short one, kids, because last weekend was all about this:

IMG_3661

I got married! To my incredibly awesome now-wife Kim, who I met on an airplane about four-and-a-half years ago. That was the single best conversation I ever struck up. And we had a great time at the wedding. Thanks to all our friends and family for being there.

Suffice it to say, getting married didn’t leave much time for FNM. But I was reminded at the ceremony of how Magic has been an integral and important part of my life for the last eight years now. My old friend Carl was there, who got me back into the game by answering a Craigslist ad I posted back in like 2006; my 2HG partner Christian was there, who went with me to our first Grand Prix; and my current teammate Dave “Bones” McCoy was there, too. It was a really awesome event.

I was, however, able to squeeze in a quick team draft as part of our Team Draft League on Tuesday night, where we played Hipsters’ sponsor team, Team CastHaven, aka Rhox Paper Scissors. Team captain Jesse was kind enough to host at his and his girlfriend’s apartment on the Upper West Side. (Thanks man!) After hearing my other teammate Carrie O’Hara’s (text) voice ringing in my head that she felt that seven-drops in Journey Into Nyx were good, I first-picked Revel of the Fallen God in pack one, got a Golden Hind second-pick, and was off to the races. Here’s my deck:

RG Mosnters

Creatures (15)
Wildfire Cerberus
Sigiled Skink
Pheres-Band Tromper
Golden Hind
Nylea's Disciple
Nyxborn Wolf
Borderland Minotaur
Bladetusk Boar
Agent of Horizon
Snake of the Golden Grove
Satyr Wayfinder

Spells (8)
Portent of Betrayal
Revel of the Fallen God
Font of Fertility
Fall of the Hammer
Starfall
Consign to Dust
Lands (17)
Forest
Mountain

Seems like a decent deck, right? I would have killed for a Voyaging Satyr, but unfortunately none were to be found. Luck wasn’t on my side that night, though, as in R1 against Jesse I whiffed TWICE on Satyr Wayfinder, and in R2 versus Ross my T2 Golden Hind got killed in TWO games by Ross’s maindeck Scouring Sands. Jesse smashed me with the strive card that exiles creatures and gives you 4/4 flying sphinxes, while Ross assembled the pretty unbeatable combo of Springleaf Drum + Felhide Spirtbinder. So I was 0-2 going into R3.

Dave and Carrie managed to pick up the slack, though, winning a pair of matches apiece, and allowing me to close out the series by winning against Travis in R3, aka the only round in which I was able to cast Revel of the Fallen God—which, let me tell you, may or may not be a good card, but it’s definitely one hell of a fun card.

That’s all I’ve got! I’m packing for our honeymoon in Hawaii right now and I kind of need to get back to it. Long story short, though, I’m really enjoying Journey Into Nyx thus far. The now-first pack seems really deep and exciting, and I can’t wait to draft and sealed more of it once I get back from Hawaii. (Including GP Atlanta, which I will sort of insanely be attending the weekend following Hawaii. Hey, I gotta use those byes.)

Good luck to all my New York people competing in the PTQ this weekend … I need a teammate for Pro Tour Magic 2015 in Portland, so I hope a Twenty-Sider, Hipster, or Team Draft League-r can get there with me!

23/17 is a Hipsters of the Coast column focused on Limited play—primarily draft and sealed, but also cubing, 2HG, and anything else we can come up with. The name refers to the “Golden Ratio” of a Limited deck: 23 spells and 17 lands. Follow Hunter at @hrslaton.

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