travel – Wheel’s Blog

Demonic Tutor

This year, Lobstercon was not only the biggest Old School tournament of all time at 320 players, but also the first time a Giant Shark has been up for grabs in the US. I have been shark hunting for a while at this point and regardless of if there’s a shark on the line or not, Lobstercon is circled on my calendar months in advance because it is the preeminent American Old School event.

On Thursday morning I set off from Phoenixville to Newark Penn Station to scoop up Paul and Svante before setting our sights on Boston. The drive went relatively smoothly and the chats were as good as anticipated. We stopped at our Airbnb to drop off bags and pick up Thomas before heading over to meet up with friends for dinner and ante.

Dinner was solid and soon thereafter we jumped into the ante action. I had never played ante before with Thomas, but his reputation precedes him as a strong player who plays fast and tight; my favorite combination in an opponent. The culminating moment of our first game was when Thomas who was at 6 life cast Demonic Tutor, Jeweled Bird, and Contracted. After he anted a second card he activated his Bird but I shattered it. Thankfully for Thomas he had drawn a second Bird which saved TWO Volcanic Islands… Thomas passed the turn and I drew a Chain to go with the Bolt I had been holding and finished him off.

Thomas and I played two more games of ante after that for significantly lower stakes than our first one. He punished my Wheel of Fortune the one game with Blood Lust + Berserk to kill me out of nowhere which was not on my bingo card for the night.

After my three game set with Thomas, we both set off to find new dance partners. I paired up with Shawn who I have had some really fun games with in the past. We first met at the Friday night meet up for Lobstercon 2019 and became fast friends. We jammed countless games of Dibatog vs Shops and I really enjoyed his company. Since then we have gotten to hang out at Chalice, Glorycon, and in Seattle for some of the events Shawn hosted.

Our first two games saw us trade Birds which is far and away the most common outcome in a game of Ante 40k. Despite just swapping Birds, our first two games were interesting. In our first game I opened with Mox Ruby, Sol Ring, Badlands, Jeweled Bird but didn’t have much follow through and eventually succumbed to Shawn’s midrange onslaught. The second game was noteworthy because Shawn Tutored for a Bird in the mid to late game because he “knew his ante card was a Badlands”. I don’t think he had seen it before it was saved, but it was in fact a Badlands and he died shortly thereafter.

Our third game was a memorable one. Shawn won the die roll and had a first turn Library which would’ve been devastating if not for my Black Vise. He was able to Shatter it before it dealt too much damage, but my deck coughed up another Vise which turned up the pressure until he Shattered it. From the early game I was holding a Wheel of Fortune which I was tempted to cast several times when I still had several cards in hand out of fear of Mind Twist, but I decided to play it slow.

After dumping enough of my hand and letting Shawn sculpt his with Library, I fired off the Wheel. I drew into another Vise and dropped it. At this point Shawn was down to 3 and could sense that he was soon to be dead. He cast and activated a Bird, but I Shattered it. In the hopes of finding another Bird he decided to cast a desperation Contract from Below. He could’ve instead cast a Wheel of his own but decided on Contract out of fear that he would draw me into the burn I needed to finish him off. The downside of Contract of course is that you have to ante an additional card. Frequently this downside is mitigated by drawing into or activating a Bird to save both cards, but I could tell from Shawn’s body language that he hadn’t found a Bird. I was holding the lethal Fireball and my heart started to race as I waited to see what two cards in Shawn’s deck would be changing ownership.

The two cards were an Unlimited Sengir Vampire and a Beta Demonic Tutor. Winning a normal Beta Tutor in Ante40k is wild, but this Beta Tutor was so much more.

This card has been on quite the journey. Michelle Maggi got it signed by Richard Garfield and altered by Douglas Shuler and then sold it to Kalle who played it until he traded it to Schwartz as part of a deal to get his 4th Alpha Underground Sea. Schwartz being an ante legend decided to play it unsleeved in ante and lost it to Shawn at Lobstercon 2023.

As I type this now it still doesn’t feel real. Over the last few years I have spent a lot of time and money hunting for Garfield signed cards and commissioning alters from artists only to win a card which is signed by Garfield and altered by the original artist in ante.

Upon winning the Demonic Tutor my appetite for ante that evening had been satiated. I figured it would be basically impossible for me to top it and with a long day of Magic ahead of me I called it quits. Thomas, Svante, Simon, and myself headed back to the airbnb, ultimately succeeding in the parking game after spending about 20 minutes deciding whether my car would fit into various street parking spots nearby.

The combo of the long drive and excitement from the evening left me with a lot of shoulder tension which delayed sleep, but before I knew it Friday morning rolled around. I skipped a formal breakfast to prioritize resting more, journaling, showering, and stretching before heading to the Dante.

For the main event I chose to play The Deq. I’ve been honing my skills and tuning my list for the better part of 3 years now and was really happy with where I landed. I knew the event would be challenging, but looked forward to the opportunity to test and learn more about myself.

During the player meeting my friend Marc came up to me and asked if I had an extra Library. I told him I had an extra in my ante deck but it wasn’t with me, though I could get it if needed. He asked me if I minded and so I jogged to my airbnb, fetched the Library for Marc and jogged back.

After my jog I had a nail biter match against White Weenie after my Game 1 Timetwister drew me into all lands and then drew a fortunately timed Mind Twist in round 2 to get me to 2-0. In the third round I faced Nick and lost a game 1 I thought I had in the bag. I had Library while he mulliganned to 5 and proceeded to open with Workshop Lotus Triskelion and following it up with a Factory and Su-Chi. Despite having a Library I didn’t have a white source and quickly died despite having Balance and Divine Offering in hand. In game 2 Nick slammed a Blood Moon and thought it would seal the game which it did. Unfortunately for him, his Moon gave me a ton of Mountains which let my Shivan Dragon breathe a lot of fire. Two turns after I cast it he was dead.

The third game of my match with Nick saw me lose to one of my favorite cards. I answered his first turn Sage of Lat-Nam, but drew rather poorly off of the Timetwister Nick cast on turn two. Live by the sword, die by the sword. I have ran away with far too many games off the back of Timetwister to be upset about that one, but was a bit salty about losing Game 1 with a Turn 1 Library vs a mulligan to 5. Thankfully I washed away the salty taste in my mouth with a Lobster roll after round 3 and got to go out for a quick walk to clear my head and help me digest.

Round 4 saw me defeat Jay on Olle’s Dibatog list from Raging Bull. In game 2 I resolved a Braingeyser for 6 with BEB on his REB which allowed me to cast Mind Twist for hand and Shivan Dragon on the following turn which sealed it. In Round 5 I faced off against Matt in a The Deck mirror except he was on UWB with Sinkholes main and Hippy out of the SB. In Game 1 I had a turn 1 Library but no countermagic to stop him when he Mind Twisted me first for 3 and later for 3 more to take us both to parity. The Braingeyser he drew two turns later broke that parity and gave him the game. I got way ahead on life in Game 2 because Matt had 3 Cities of Brass, but struggled mightily to close the game. In hindsight I was probably being overly aggressive because I was down a game which can be a death sentence with The Deq. We had about 15 minutes left for Game 3 and for whatever reason I had it in my head that I needed to win outright rather than in Orb flips. I mulliganned to a weak 6 card hand that needed mana and a very specific hand from Matt to be successful. He had Turn 1 Lotus Hippy which my hand did not line up with and I succumbed quickly. In hindsight I should’ve boarded more defensively, but had I lost the game in Orb flips I would probably be singing a different tune.

At this point with 2 losses and 4 remaining rounds I knew my chances of making Top16 were slim to none. I’ve played enough Magic to know that my tiebreakers would almost certainly not be good enough, but at the same time I came to play Magic and that I did. In Round 6 I won Game 1 despite going to 0 cards in Library. On the last turn before decking I used Recall to cast Time Walk, Regrowth it and cast it again and then Timetwistered. On my first Time Walk turn I cast Braingeyser for 7 and on my second I was more ambitious, Regrowing it and casting Geyser for 10 which drew me into Time Walk and a Mind Twist for 7 which sealed it.

Round 7 had me face off against Hans who I have now played 3 Lobstercons in a row. In game 1 I misplayed by Timetwistering instinctively because I was up on permanents instead of just Stripping his only land and burying him. As I was shuffling I realized my mistake but karma did me in. I was proud of myself for stopping the spiral and winning games 2 and 3 to salvage the match win.

Round 8 was a fun one. In game 1 I stabilized at 3 life against Will’s Lion Dib Burn deck for legitimately 15 minutes. It took all 5 counters, Mind Twist, Regrowth, both Recalls, and 3 Factories to stem the tide, but I played tight and caught some lucky breaks which enabled my last Factory to deal 4 points of damage so I could Fireball Will for 20 with 3 cards left in Library.

The last round of Swiss was a full circle moment where I faced off against Marc. Our first match was wild. I mulliganned to 5 and this was my start:

I followed up Timetwister with Emerald and Chaos Orb and was holding Mind Twist and Balance when I passed the turn feeling that I was 95+% to win the game. Marc had other plans. He fought fire with fire playing Sapphire, Ancestral, Lotus, Mox, Savannah, and Mind Twist for 4 of my 5 cards leaving me with just an Abyss in hand. Luckily Marc was on a UWG Erhnamgeddon list which was held in check by Abyss for two turns until I drew Recall to get back Balance and take us both to 0 cards. From there Marc was stuck on 3 mana with an Abyss preventing him from deploying creatures while I drew a Book into Regrowth for Mind Twist eliciting a concession.

Before and during our match I joked that I wanted my Library back and that Marc was going to beat me with my own Library which is exactly what happened in game 2. I fought like hell, but in the end the card advantage proved to be too much.

I closed out the day by raining down power on Marc in Game 3. I drew lots of extra cards with Braingeyser, cast a Timetwister which drew me into my previously destroyed Abyss and ultimately I prevailed.

After starting 3-2 I rallied back and won the last 4 rounds to finish 7-2 which was good enough for 20th place which was closer to Top16 than I would’ve expected. We left the venue, I went and picked up my wife Lucy at the train station after she had taken the Amtrak up to Boston after school that day.

On Saturday I woke up and felt compelled to read a bit of the book I had brought with me, Inner Excellence. I shared a passage which made me think of Pez Unholy who I know shares an interest in personal growth and had made Top16. My hope was that this passage might be beneficial to him as he continued on his journey for greatness.

Lucy and I went over to the venue in the hopes of finding people to eat brunch with. Mike and Eric joined us for a nice meal At Cafe Luna and then we walked back over to the Dante where I watched the rest of the Top16 because Pez was still in contention for the Shark. Throughout his run I told him to “expect nothing” which was the central theme of the passage I had shared with him.

As one needs to when one wins a giant Magic tournament, Pez ran hotter than the sun in the finals by opening up with two Black Vises on turn 1 in both of the games where he was on the play, absolutely decimating Jonas. I’m extremely happy for Pez; he and I have been friends for several years at this point and despite having a zillion Top8s and close calls, he hadn’t won a big event up to this point. He certainly picked a good spot to do so!

After congratulating Pez I went with Lucy, Mike, and Jeff over to Harvard to get a Lucy centric tour. It was highly entertaining for me to hear about various memories such as, “This is where I got mauled by a cat” or “This is where I used to sometimes get egg sandwiches from a food truck”. We walked around a bunch, got Indian food as is our custom when in Boston and then made our way back to the Dante once again. Lucy decided to call it a night while I went back out into the night to play in the Ante40k rodeo.

I jammed some games at my airbnb with Nicky and Noah because State Park was still serving dinner which meant that we couldn’t get a table to play at. By the time we returned the ante was fully underway and I ended up playing a long set with Mark who was borrowing Shawn’s deck. Mark is a tremendous player, but luck was not on his side. He kept getting me into slightly precarious situations only for me to find my way out of them and into a win. I won all 4 of the games we played but only took home Birds for my efforts. Still fun to play with a player of his caliber; it’s never been easy to make the Finals of a Pro Tour, not even in 1998.

Shortly after Mark and I finished playing State Park closed for the night which prompted the ante contingent to move onward. Unwilling to accept that the night was over, Simon and Scott played a match of sidewalk Triple A.

Following some sidewalk Magic and me making sure Shawn made it safely into his Uber home we walked back to our Airbnb. Simon, Svante, and I swapped tales of the weekend for longer than any of us had intended to because we knew that Simon would be leaving quite early to fly home. I packed up and got far too few hours of sleep before we went to a really tasty Brazilian Cafe for breakfast.

Shortly after breakfast Thomas headed to the airport while we met back up with Paul who accompanied us to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum which has become a Lobstercon tradition for Lucy and I. The Gardner has a powerful aura to it which is hard to describe. Maybe it is the way in which the collection was meticulously curated combined with the museum itself being so interesting; regardless, it is absolutely worth a visit if you haven’t been.

With our obligatory trip to the Gardner under our belts we stopped for caffeine and embarked on the journey home. Lucy drove most of the way back to Newark Penn Station because of my lack of sleep and I mostly bantered back and forth with Paul and Svante about a wide range of topics. We discussed our favorite moments from the weekend, how to tweak Paul’s deck going forward, the amount of Magic specific jargon that we regularly use among other things.

We dropped Paul and Svante off in Newark and started the final leg of our journey. Both of us were emotionally and physically drained, but we made it home safe and sound.

Looking back on the weekend, Demonic Tutor was certainly the card of the weekend for me. Not only did I win an absolutely incredible Demonic Tutor in ante on Thursday, but I also got to be Pez Unholy’s demonic tutor with the passage I sent him on Saturday.

No matter how much time and energy you put into preparation you cannot control the outcome of every game that you play; variance will rear its head from time. This weekend was a helpful reminder that even when I fall short of achieving my goals, I can always support and help my friends on their quest for eternal glory.

Scandinavian Adventures

While in Chattanooga with my in laws for Christmas my Mother in law proposed a family trip to Peru this summer to go to Machu Picchu. I was immediately captivated and excited, but as the months passed the trip got more complicated. My father in law had a hip replacement and my sister in law announced that she was pregnant which made a hiking trip in Peru seem like a very ill fated endeavor.

A pivot to instead go on a trip to Norway involving a Fjörd cruise was proposed and again I was excited. However, as time passed this trip also seemed less and less likely. My brother in law got a new job which knocked him out of the group and the travel agent my mother in law was using seemed to be stringing her along. When we were all together in Pawley’s Island at the end of June I asked about the status of the trip and nobody seemed overly optimistic it would take place.

With August quickly approaching and my PTO already booked I felt that it was time to take matters into our own hands. With the looming threat of the trip falling through we decided to preempt it by bowing out of the family plans.

By traveling to Europe as frequently as I do for Old School Magic I have developed a lot of amazing relationships in the Old School community. My friend Joakim Sørmo had hosted me in February before Arvika Festival and mentioned how it would be really cool if my wife Lucy and I could come and visit at some point when it’s not the dead of winter. With that invitation in mind we decided to book our own trip to Scandinavia.

I found us an inexpensive flight to Stockholm and then started to reach out to a few friends to see if they would be around to spend some time with us if we were in town. What ended up coming together was better than I could’ve possibly hoped.

We started out flying into Stockholm, arriving on Sunday August 3rd. From there we met up with Björn Iversen whom I had hung out with at the X Files event and played in the Summer Derby. We’d crossed paths many times before then, but not spent a ton of time together so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Björn delivered in a massive way! Lucy had compiled a list of several museums/cathedrals/parks/sights she wanted to see and Björn curated a walking tour of Stockholm for us. We had frequent stops for coffee and tea to offset the red eye flight and ended up having a blast.

On our walking tour we stopped into Skansen and soaked up the culture. The combo of a zoo and historical site was really cool. From there we popped over to the Vasa Ship Museum which was outstanding.

Somewhere in the Vasa Ship Museum Lucy and I both lost our minds a little bit due to sleep deprivation, but it was still really cool. Björn then helped us find a tasty place for dinner, wandered around town some more with us and finally we parted ways and got some much needed sleep.

On Monday morning we woke up, got breakfast, walked around Stockholm for a bit and then caught a train to Linköping where we met up with Svante Landgraf. Svante and I are old friends at this point, having a near constant conversation going for 7 years at this point about the spiky side of Old School.

Svante graciously picked us up at the train station, hosted us at his apartment, and showed us around Linköping. We got over to one of his favorite cafes for lunch and then went for a hike in the woods.

One of the things I have learned to love about Svante is how easily intellectual conversation comes to him. Whether it be the 15th SB slot in a deck, a possible sequencing error in a game, or something totally different like philosophical theory, Svante can talk about it intelligently. This attribute pairs extremely well with Lucy’s appetite for deep conversation. I really enjoyed being a fly on the wall hearing Lucy and Svante discuss philosophy. I popped in for a few wisecracks here or there, but it was nice to just soak it in as they got into the weeds of analytical and continental philosophy.

Svante showed us around Linköping and then took us to his local Indian restaurant for a tasty meal. With our bellies full we had a meandering walk back around town and then capped the night off with an in person dive into sideboarding with The Deck. The next morning we had breakfast on Svante’s balcony before he dropped us off at the bus station so we could continue our journey.

After 3.5 hours on a bus we arrived in Gothenburg. Despite making several trips to n00bcon, I generally avoid public transit while in Gothenburg and am thus a novice when it comes to using the trams. Thankfully we made it onto our tram minutes before the sky opened up and a downpour began. When we got to our Airbnb we took a nap and then made our way back out to meet up with Kalle Nord at his tattoo shop and then went for dinner.

Kalle is a legendary figure in the Old School scene; having helped to create the format with MG in 2007. Among other things, Kalle is known for his artistic abilities, insane collection, and being a fun loving and easygoing person. Over the years Kalle and I have shared a ton of laughs and deep conversations; this time in Gothenburg was no exception.

With my belly full of schnitzel courtesy of a restaurant that Lucy spotted on our walk to meet up with Kalle we started our walking tour of Gothenburg with Kalle. We enjoyed a walk back towards our airbnb and then parted ways to get some sleep.

On Wednesday we went over to Kalle’s for coffee which gave us a chance to swap Books as part of a trade we have been working on and also let me get a sneak peek into his legendary Old School collection. I could’ve spent hours poring through his cards, but instead we headed off to explore Gothenburg.

First we went to Röda Sten, then Slottsskogen, the Gothenburg Botanical Garden, and then the Gothenburg Museum of Art. All along the way Kalle shared personal anecdotes from his time living in Gothenburg which added to the experience. Following a tasty meal at the restaurant next to the museum we continued our walking tour of Gothenburg which included a stop by his art studio and eventually returning to his apartment to have tea and give me more of a chance to look through Kalle’s cards.

At the end of the day I checked my phone and we had walked 16 miles (26km). My legs were feeling a bit sore, but I was now in possession of a Book which Kalle had altered in 2016 as well as having a fuller heart as a result of the experience.

Following a good night’s sleep and a pit-stop to get coffee and pastries we took a tram into town and then boarded our bus to Oslo for the next leg of our journey. After 3.5 hours we arrived in Oslo, made it over to our Airbnb and set off to explore the city. I beelined to a ramen shop with good reviews which while tasty turned out to be a mistake. Not sure if I got food poisoning or if the meal just did not agree with my frequently temperamental stomach, but I was moments away from disaster when I made it to the restroom at the Oslo Botanical Garden. My stomach calmed down enough for us to wander around the botanical garden in peace before finding dinner for Lucy and treating myself to a delicious brown cheese waffle before calling it a night. Lucy regretted not getting one for herself and instead settling for a few bites of mine.

On Friday we got out for breakfast at a local cafe before checking out of our Airbnb and setting off for the National Museum. On our way over I was captured by a sign for the Historical Museum and on a whim we decided to check it out. The Historical Museum ended up being amazing. The combo of Norwegian artifacts like viking swords, relics, and gold jewelry is hard to beat in my opinion.

From there we grabbed a food truck lunch outside of the National Museum and then went in to see some art. This was my third visit to the National Museum so the experience was less mind boggling than it could be otherwise, but I enjoyed showing Lucy around nonetheless. Once we wrapped up in the National Museum we set out to Drammen to meet up with Joakim. The trip to Drammen was more complicated than usual due to construction, but after some delays we made it to Joakim’s place.

Joakim and I first crossed paths in Arvika Festival in 2023 when he was flabbergasted to see me play Healing Salve in my Top8 match. After that first meeting we have grown closer online and I stayed with him before and after Arvika Festival this year and also spent a bunch of time hanging out with him at n00bcon this year. He is kind, easygoing, and generally pleasant to be around which is a great combo. After getting settled at Joakim’s and enjoying a tasty salad that he made for us, we walked to see an incredibly cool 6,000-8,000 year old stone carving before heading into town to get some Indian food for dinner. Unsurprisingly, Drammen looks much different in August than February!

We enjoyed a slow Saturday morning at Joakim’s house and then set out to see the Spiralen Cafe, the venue for the Plague tournament in Drammen. By the time we arrived at the Spiralen Cafe it was unfortunately closed due to a wedding so we pivoted to going for a hike and enjoying some of the natural beauty that Norway is known for. Along the way we foraged wild blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries which were all delicious and helped fill the space I had reserved in my stomach for our stop at the cafe.

After our hike we hung out at Joakim’s house listening to music and reminiscing on old YouTube videos such as Llamas with Hats which was a fun walk down memory lane. For dinner on Saturday night Joakim graciously whipped up a delicious fish stew for us. Lucy has a restrictive diet which is difficult for most to accommodate, but not Joakim. We followed up dinner with a late night stroll around Drammen before calling it a night.

On Sunday we made our way back to Stockholm. Construction in Drammen made the trip slightly more complicated, but before we knew it we were in Oslo Lufthavn waiting for our flight. We arrived with enough time to spare that we could hunt down a brown cheese waffle for Lucy so that she could leave Norway fulfilled. We both agreed it wasn’t nearly as good as mine from Thursday night, but it was better than most airport food. After a quick flight and train ride to Stockholm we checked into our Airbnb and once again met up with Björn.

Part two of our Stockholm walking tour with Björn was even better than part one because we were not cripplingly tired. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon walking around with Björn, got to see his apartment, and then went to dinner at his favorite local restaurant. The scenery was breathtaking and the food was tasty which is always a great combination.

After dinner we parted ways and walked along the water back into town. We spent much of our hour plus walk to our Airbnb and subsequent trip home the following day marveling at how well the trip had gone. Having friends to visit and explore with changed the dynamic in a really positive way. We both enjoyed the combination of having some time to ourselves and also having time with friends who could show us around.

I am so grateful for the Old School community. I have made so many meaningful connections along the way which this trip is a real testament to. Being able to go with my wife to Scandinavia and spend time with some of the people she has heard so much about in some of the places that previously only existed in photos and stories is extremely powerful. It turns out that the old catchphrase of, “Play the game, see the world” was pretty accurate after all.