PPTQ event | Deck played | Final result |
The Games Pit, Wakefield | Ramunap Red | 2-3 |
Dark Matter, Durham | Temur Energy | 3-2 |
Patriot Games, Sheffield | 4c energy (Jaberwocki) | 3-3* |
Geek Retreat, Newcastle | Temur Energy | Quarter Finals |
Tabletop Tyrant, Leicester | Temur Energy | 3-3 |
Travelling Man, Leeds | Temur Energy | 2-4 |
Nerd Shak, Wigan | Temur Energy | 1-5 |
Travelling Man, York | Temur Energy | Quarter Finals |
Patriot Games, Leeds | Temur Energy | Semi Finals |
*Actually 3-2-1 but I conceded the final round despite being ahead to give my opponent a minor shot at making Top 8.
Not a particularly great season considering I did manage to get to a decent number of PPTQs. After going 1-5 at the Wigan PPTQ, I really began to question what was going wrong. The only players I could seem to beat were relatively strong players, some of whom had previously played on the Pro Tour but I couldn’t buy a win vs some of the less experienced players – was I just getting massively out-drawn or underestimating my opponents and playing poorly against them? The answer likely lies in a combination of both in some amounts but one thing was true – I have had the worst PPTQ season I’ve ever had in terms of tournament results!
Starting to play Magic Online
After the Newcastle PPTQ I started playing Magic Online. Coughed up about £150 to obtain a fairly generic Temur Energy deck and some play points to start me off and started grinding some Standard Competitive Leagues Online. My first few leagues I did quite well going 4-1 and cashed in my treasure chests for more MTGO tickets, but then things started to even out a bit with 3-2 or 2-3 being a very normal result. I will admit that I was, for the most part, playing against stronger players than in live events – some of them could have been professional players (though I didn’t recognise any from the usernames). In addition, between misclicking the wrong targets for spells; playing the wrong lands by accident; skipping my combat phase; letting my opponent’s God Pharoah’s Gift trigger resolve before Abrading it, and skipping my turn, I picked up a few more losses than I feel I should have. However, I think playing Magic Online is likely the way forward for practising both Limited and Constructed as you can simply get a ton more reps in than live testing and you can do it from home! I’m starting to wonder why I was so sceptical about it before. I still have to get used to the interface and hotkeys, but I’m sure that will come with time.