Cameron Veigel is the best player in Queensland. Don’t even try and dispute it. I won’t spoil the article with a resume of his fine work, as he does most of that in the ramblings to follow.Â
Under duress, I have decided of my own free will to write an article for the lovable Paper-Gamer.com.
My name is Cameron Veigel, and although I started playing back in Urza’s Saga, I count my competitive magic career as starting in GP trial season for the 2004 GP in Brisbane. Winning the Rochester draft top 8 while believing myself to be an absolute nOOblet gave me the drive to improve my game, which I have done to reasonable extent, Qualifying for the 2006 World Championships through my 2nd place finish at my first Nationals. Woot.
I have been subject to countless games of testing for an under appreciated but exciting format known as block constructed, in this case, Time Spiral block. Why would I be testing such a format? Well, with the aid of 86 of my 1/1 goblin friends, I managed to win the recent qualifier for Pro Tour Yokohama. Regrettably, the format is different, and I cannot take the mighty TEPS deck to a foreign land to scrub out whilst being quietly confident. Instead, I must take to the streets in search of new tech, leveling up whenever possible to allow myself access to new areas. Either that or watch online Premier Events top 8 results.
From these events, as well as other sources, Dave Crewe and I have established a gauntlet of approximately 12-15 decent decks with which to test (though some of them are arguably irrelevant. And/or terrible). Not unusual for an Australian testing for the Pro Tour. Or is it? While my aim is not to bash Australia’s results on the professional scene (I am not Nicolas Rolf. I am, of course, far more attractive), (who isn’t? -Ed,) there seems to be a casual attitude toward testing before a major event. With my teammate Sam Atkinson, testing has become the norm for whenever a PTQ or States or anything with status greater than FNM is around the corner. And our results show that this is a useful method. We started getting a little more serious around GP Melbourne, where Sam actually top 8’d (though to be fair, this doesn’t align with my point, as he made his deck very early the morning of the tournament). From there, we tested more for PTQ Honolulu, which was obviously extended. I used a deck similar to Sam’s GP deck and ended up losing in the top 4, deciding that perhaps the rumours were true and I was better prepared with a few test games under the proverbial belt. Then came the team PTQ season, where we lost in the finals to savage double orzhov pontiff shenanigans when the teams were split 1-1. Again with testing behind us.
States was next on the calendar, and we probably tested more than was necessary for such a tournament, much to the annoyance of our female housemate, who was unable to use the kitchen table for weeks. In addition, we were so into the testing process that her attempts at conversation were mistook for thoughts about the metagame, and we responded with geek talk that would make any normal person’s head explode. Needless to say, Sam and I both top 8’d, and ended up playing in the finals. And just like Nationals, I misplayed a major decision in the flare mirror and threw the game away. Luckily Sam conceded in response to my error so that he could sell the Serra Avenger card to afford food. Disaster averted. PTQ Yokohama was next, and obviously again my point stands valid from results, as I played 1000 test games with TEPS and became extremely familiar with it, as well as goldfishing 28429364096 times by myself to learn the intricacies of a deck that just seemed perfectly suited to the Brisbane meta.
So is testing a relevant source of power for a magic player who wants to win? Well, I don’t think it is unfair for me to call myself a good player, but I am yet to top 8 a limited PTQ. Have I ever tested for the format? Not once. While I would agree that I have some inherent weaknesses in sealed deck play, I can’t really use that as an absolute excuse because such an element is bound to be improved by testing anyway. Opening bad card pools cannot be avoided, but I’m not convinced that that has ever happened either. More than likely, it is the unfamiliarity with the power level of cards in a limited field and imperfect deck building that hinders my progress. I will definitely use the testing approach leading up to the 2HG PTQ, because I truly believe that it has given me a huge edge over players in the region. Talking and playing with arguably the three other best players in Queensland has pushed us to the front of the pack, as it were.
Anyway, most people should know by now that testing is important, and that’s not everything I wanted to talk about anyway. Why has Australia fallen so often at the PT level? I can’t answer that question fairly, as I have not been present at each of these events, nor have I spoken to the people in question. However, I have a PT experience of my own that I can use as an example. Worlds was a different animal, as decks were only required for six rounds each (as opposed to 16, all things going well), and two decks needed to be brought. I didn’t like a lot of decks in the standard environment (and still don’t, to be honest) and was not as enthusiastic about testing, then ended up taking a deck that I was ‘good’ at playing but was a relatively poor choice for the metagame. Not testing the sideboard games of important matchups also cost me a couple of rounds. A crippling loss to Yasooka when I almost had literally no way to lose demonstrated once again the importance of not being lazy, and I had only myself to blame. I honestly believe that the deck I used in the extended format was still a good choice, even though it was ‘rogue’, but I basically kicked myself right in the head when I changed the deck at the last minute to help my matchup against boros. At the cost of about five other matchups. My bad. So what did I play against for the first four rounds? Judging by my results, you can assume it wasn’t boros.
I don’t think the problem is necessarily a playskill thing. I don’t feel like I was viciously outplayed at Worlds; I merely made imperfect deck choices and sideboarding decisions. I nearly broke even at my first pro tour…not a huge accomplishment by any means, but I beat players from around the world who were considered to be amongst the best in their country (and not just from the countries with 12 players total.) Am I confident this time around? I’m getting there. This time, at least, I know what I am up against in terms of players and decks, and have the advantage of testing one format exclusively, rather than three.
Time Spiral block constructed is a strange creature. Online Premier Events don’t show a hugely dominating deck; rather they show the swing from huge amounts of White Weenie to huge amounts of Black based control to huge amounts of Teferi based control on a rotating basis to beat the deck that won in the last event. There are a lot of powerful cards in this block, however, which are continually warping decks and tempting others to splash for a few copies of themselves. Cards like Damnation, Bogardan Hellkite and Spectral Force are huge, but it isn’t just the rares that are insane. A bunch of Boros’ friends are present, such as Holy Nimbus and Soltari Priest, there are many efficient burn spells, and the ridiculous Calciderm. If you asked me what the best deck in the format was, I honestly wouldn’t have a clue.
 I feel like this PT could be about taking a gamble on matchup percentages, using the deck that gives you the most landslides and hoping that you just dodge your bad matchups. I say this with zero prestige in the pro player world, and won’t be offended if everyone disagrees. I don’t even agree entirely yet, and don’t think that it will be my gameplan anyway. The deck I use will have to beat Teferi and White Weenie more than anything else, as they are basically the foundation of the metagame at present. Dave and I have tested most of the relevant matchups, and there isn’t a lot of give in the important ones. 60/40 here, 40/60 there, with the odd blowout every now and again. Because so many decks have a similar gameplan to various other decks in the format, the way you play your own creation is fairly important, and there is a huge need for every one of the cards in your sideboard to not just swing the matchups that aren’t in your favour, but also to keep your margins ahead against the decks that you beat. MBC, RB control, UB control, UR control and UBr control are all different decks, but they all dream of casting the ‘wrath’ then following up with an endgame threat.
The next step in our testing regime is to isolate the decks that I might play, work on the sideboards, and test them in the relevant matchups. (I’m sure he’s done this by the time the article goes up, the PT is next weekend. )
I have actually been impressed with the networking that has been happening through the Paper-Gamer.com PT forum and on good ol’ MSN. It is still far from optimal, and not everyone is contributing hugely, but the fact that people are actually making an effort to get into contact is something that will be good in the future for the Australian scene. And the people who have been helping me personally, Dave, Sam and George Zhou, will be somewhat responsible for my results in Yokohama if I perform well.
I’ll probably blame them for my losses though anyway.
The thing that gets to me most is the reason for Australians not networking in the past. People I ask argue that it isn’t easy for everyone to get in touch, which is ridiculous. 11 out of 10 people have MSN these days, everyone can get easy Internet access (except the Tasmanians), and MTGO, Magic Workstation and Apprentice are easy ways to test with people who it would otherwise be geographically impossible to test with. Hopefully people will see these theories, and the networking element will continue to grow for future PT showings.
Therefore, in summary:
Testing = Good
Networking = Good
Cornett with Three Boules = ****ing Amazing
TSP Block Constructed = Undecided…
Nevertheless, I am looking forward to the upcoming Pro Tour, and remaining quietly confident in my ability to not do a Nicolas Rolf. (Or a Levi Hinz :p) (Oh no he didn’t! -Ed)Â Keep testing, my brothers, and I will see you at a Pro Tour in the future. You stay classy, Australia.
Cameron Veigel
(Whose friends know he plays Magic)
Future Pro Tour Champion
This article may or may not have been written through the author’s free will.
P.S Thanks to everyone who is testing for this PT who isn’t qualified, even if it just involves you telling people your ideas. You’ve really given some insight into the format at times.Â
P.P.S For those of that don’t know, I actually lose to Kenji in the quarters in Yokohama. It is a bad matchup for me, but I have him dead on the board until he savagely topdecks in game five. Oh well. Ten grand ain’t bad from a free flight.
P.P.P.S Ask me if I care about missing pre-release weekend for a free trip to Japan.
