New team member? (And new view in general)

So it's very close to take off time. Tomorrow, 66% of the base team of You Don't Say are taking off for NZ, to have a lovely coupley time before Fridays grinding. I'll follow them thursday after work.

New member, you say? Well yes I did. Not really anything new or big or exciting, but rather Matt, who playtests with DJNoice and Ammonium, and whom we all tested with together for GP Melbourne earlier in the year. His brother also joined us, Scott?, and he faired worse than I did, while James and Ammy both made day 2 and nary' a touch further.

I found this out last time we were testing, and by "we" my default will usually mean "james, ammy and Fox Murdoch" or some combination there of. They told me that Matt/Scott tested with them often, and was thought of as a member, which was cool! I told them that makes five and remembered them about Rony.

Then I realised that within the larger "group of all members" we had partial members who tested amongst us but not with the whole group. So it'll be great when I organise a triple Time Spiral sealed for everyone to play, to get to know each other better etc. That's just some house keeping -- I think it's funny the way the group has grown these extra limbs without anyone's real knowledge.

No no, the more exciting thing today is the latest I have on what is THE best deck. I mean the BEST. Play this, and you wont lose!

Whatever deck you like. It doesn't matter! The true ability to just win a lot comes from looking within, what you want to do and knowing you'll have the deck that can help you do that. I don't want to sound wishywash and "heart of the cards" too much, so I'll be brief as I can. Bottom line:

"It's based much more on the skill of the players, than the deck itself."

There. That explains why Matt Anderson is always so good at things. That explains why I've previously been so "middle of the pack". That explains why those awful players at FNMs remain awful players at FNMs, despite having certainly better decks, and even better board positions than I do.

Obviously showing up with 50 Forests and a Lost in the Woods will get you killed 100% of the games 2 and 3 you play, but assuming that everyone is smart, and brings any deck that is a tier 2 competitor (and that no 'bloody obvious' tier 1 exists, and it hasn't for a good while without that ONE hiccup (Jace I'm looking at you) then it largely becomes who has the better skill, the better ability to assess the situation, to know what's going to come up and even what to do in the assumed worst scenario.

It's very odd, but I'm beginning to feel as if I really rather know how the minds over at ChannelFireball work. I love those guys, and their work, videos and written articles (and PV, please never stop writing actual articles. Video doesn't provide the mental food the brain needs). It's a lot like Poker players saying that you play the opponent, not the hand. Just knowing what can happen, and adjusting accordingly is where the game works back and forth.

For example, a 1W costing 2/2. We're playing in a format where a three drop is usually a 2/2. That guys pretty quick. We're playing in a format where eventually, turn 7 comes and everybody has their own GODZILLA. That 2/2 guys pretty small and useless. We're playing in a bloodthirst abled format and our deck is full of 3-drop Bloodthirst critters. That 2/2 is looking awesome and threatening.

Just in that paragraph we can see how completely varied the simplest of "efficient" creatures can be -- it's always format dependent, time dependent, turn, location, job dependent! If that's true, then it rather removes the power from specific cards and decks, and rather puts it into the master of the skills as applied by the pilots, and who navigates the murky seas of a game better.

So having said all that, I don't see any reason why I couldn't be THE winner of GP Auckland. And I don't see why the winning deck couldn't be Slaughter Games. I'm not saying either of those are true, but rather that I'm not cutting myself off from the chance to do/be those things.

Did I mention I'm really enjoying a year of playing Magic, instead of judging or being a "good boy" and simply working?