PPTQ Season review for Pro Tour Dominaria (Richmond)

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.

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