My Takeaways from DreamHack Atlanta 2022
Quick disclaimer: I originally started this article back on Thanksgiving, which was the week following the RC at DreamHack Atlanta 2022. Good intentions fell to the wayside as I settled into a busy holiday season, and a busy end-of-year season at work. The article sat in drafts since then.
With DreamHack San Diego approaching, now is a good opportunity to finally publish this article. While I didn’t qualify for this RC, I’d like to share my takeaways from Atlanta, hoping that what I learned can help competitors at San Diego.
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November 24, 2022
Last weekend I had the opportunity to play at the long-awaited Regional Championship at Dreamhack Atlanta and compete for an invite to MagicCon Pro Tour 2023. Though I didn’t come away with one of the 48 Pro Tour invites, the many experiences that went into preparing for the event and playing it revealed a ton of important takeaways that I’ll share in this post. It also helped me learn a lot about myself and why I choose to compete in Magic: the Gathering.
Dress Rehearsal at SCG Philly
After earning my invite to the RC in July, I wasn’t able to compete again in an RCQ until October. Unfortunately, nearly every weekend in October was booked for me, so I wasn’t able to play in any of the local RCQs that month to help prepare for the event.
I hadn’t played a major event spanning more than 7 or 8 rounds in a few years, and I knew that if I wanted any chance of doing well at the RC, I would need to prepare myself for the mental grind of playing 8+ rounds of Magic in a single day. Luckily, SCGCON Philly was the weekend before the RC, so I made the 9 hour drive up to my hometown that weekend and jammed the main event with a couple of my good friends up there. I also used the opportunity to see some family, which is always a plus.
I decided to lock in Rakdos Midrange for this event and for the RC, and SCG Philly would essentially be my RC dress rehearsal and help me finalize my 75. A 2-0 start against two straight Izzet Phoenix decks led me to two straight losses - one against Izzet Creativity, and the next an 0-2 loss against Mono Green Devotion. I was able to take round 5 against Mono White Humans, but lost round 6 to another Izzet Creativity deck. I played round 7 to get the reps in and defeated 5C Fires in three games.
Here’s the link to the list and tournament results: https://mtgmelee.com/Decklist/View/253822
Playing SCG Philly definitely helped me shake off the rust of in-person tournament play, which truly is so much more demanding than playing online. In addition to the obvious necessities, such as catching your triggers, efficient decision making and paying attention to any potential tells you may be giving away, simply monitoring your opponents and keeping them honest can be brutally tough. Players will get away with anything that you let them get away with - regardless of whether or not it was an honest mistake. In tournament Magic, it’s your responsibility to keep your opponents honest (something that was even more difficult to do at the RC - more on that in a bit).
Credit the Real Champ
For the big event, there was no one I wanted to join me more than my wife Rachel. Magic has definitely been a source of tension in our partnership over the years, but it has also been something that we enjoy together. Rachel has lived through all of the ups and downs of my grind in the game over the years, and she knows just how much earning a PT invite means to me.
Rachel is a true high-performing professional, and her unbelievably strong support throughout RC week was like nothing I’ve ever experienced, in so many ways. It was literally as if she were my boxing manager. Everything from filling the fridge with healthy foods, vitamin C shots and even some sweets to help de-stress, to new vitamins (Ashwagandha is the real deal, by the way), meal planning and giving me maximum leeway to jam leagues at night.
Rachel frequently asked me how else she could support me, and it wasn’t until the day before the RC when I said that the best way she could support me was by not making a big deal out of the event. I also realized that Rachel really enjoyed the preparation and that she was genuinely excited for me, so I didn’t want to squash that energy.
However, the most critical support my wife provided was her advising me to make good decisions. After Day 1 of SCG Philly, I told Rachel that I was thinking about playing the Pioneer tournament the next day, and she recommended I come home instead so that I could start this important week off feeling rested and strong, instead of being exhausted from a 9 hour overnight drive after two full days of tournament play. Yeah, I so wanted to compete again that Sunday, but she was right that what really mattered was setting myself up for a successful week of preparation for the RC.
Opportunities for Improving Preparation
Rachel and I drove from Charlotte to Atlanta that Thursday night, and I was able to take off from work Friday so that I could focus entirely on Magic that day. Rachel, being the best wife and coach ever, put us up in the top floor of a super nice luxury hotel in downtown Atlanta. I spent most of Friday there, sipping espresso in our room while jamming leagues and finalizing my list ahead of the 6:00 PM deadline for deck submission.
Couldn’t ask for a better place to do last minute leagues, but as I learned, last minute leagues aren’t a best practice.
In hindsight, it would have been better to have had the list finalized and submitted Thursday night, in favor of making Friday as stress-free as possible. One of the mistakes that led to my last-minute deck submission was waiting on Cardhoarder to have the new set in stock, instead of just buying the cards I needed to test right away earlier that week. By Friday morning, the new set still wasn’t in stock, so I ended up having to purchase tickets so that I could get copies of Misery’s Shadow and Obliterating Bolt and test them in a couple leagues.
Better late than never, but my delay resulted in me submitting a raw, undertested 75, and taxing myself mentally the day before the tournament from the stress of decision making. Friday should have been an easy day, ahead of what would be a difficult two days.
The RC List
Here is the list I submitted at 4:45 PM that Friday, 75 minutes ahead of the deadline. https://mtgmelee.com/Decklist/View/256863
My goal with this list was to hedge more towards the mirror and other matchups where graveyards matter. I played several leagues with only three Graveyard Trespasser, but I felt that this was wrong. Trespasser is a house in the mirror and obviously essential against Abzan and Phoenix. It’s also just generally difficult to deal with, so I opted for four. My biggest change was going from two copies of Sheoldred to three, and of course, weaving in some copies of Misery’s Shadow.
The sideboard was designed to provide me with as much flexibility as possible. Invoke Despair is a pet card that I always liked in the mirror and against control, but I cast it a grand total of zero times that Saturday.
After submitting the decklist, Rachel and I went over to the event space to scout it out, which is always a best practice for the day before a big tournament. We also picked up 12 packs of The Brother’s War so that we could play a bit of sealed back at the hotel.
Game Time - Day 1, Regional Championship
I fell asleep just before midnight on Friday, giving me time to get a good night’s sleep and head down to the gym at 7 am for a quick lift and a 5K on the tread. After a rushed breakfast (which Rachel ordered in), Rachel and I took an Uber over to the event.
Roughly 1,200 competitors. Needless to say, this was a BIG event.
I won’t breakdown each match - the results are below, but here’s the gist of it. I started the day 0-2 after some heavy duty mulliganing against Mono Green and the mirror. I’m no stranger to clawing back from rough starts, and actually enjoy the grind. That said, playing from behind and having to win several consecutive matches of tournament Magic isn’t ideal and is a very tough ask. However, I was able to win the next two matches, before losing round 5, winning rounds 6 and 7, and eventually losing a brutal matchup against Keruga Fires in round 8. The final loss knocked me out of Day 2 contention.
The decklist and these results can be found at https://mtgmelee.com/Decklist/View/256863
Looking back on that day, the one thing I remember the most was that I simply didn’t play very well, and was out of practice in playing paper Magic.
Playing online is so unbelievably convenient, but if you’re playing a big in-person “paper” tournament, you need to get in ample practice of actually playing paper Magic. I found myself struggling with the small things: fumbling with my tokens, keeping track of life, catching triggers. Did my opponent play a land this turn? Did I play a land this turn? Policing Izzet Phoenix opponents as they count their graveyard to cast Temporal Tresspass. All of these actions that MTGO and Arena do for you.
Simply put, it takes more than playing in one big in-person event to get that physical and mental muscle memory back and be able to play a clean paper MTG.
Unlike previous times of being brutally shattered after a poor tournament performance, I was ok with how the day went and able to relish in my gratitude for having the opportunity to play. I was proud of myself for that, because it really demonstrated how much I grew as a player.
Surprisingly, but not surprisingly, Rachel entered a box sealed event while she waited for me to play out my last few rounds. After Rachel finished her last match, we went out for an incredible dinner at Ray’s in the City - an absolute Atlanta institution that did. not. disappoint. We went back to the hotel, and I broke down my deck in preparation for playing the Sunday RCQ, which went a whole lot better for me.
Day 2: Pioneer RCQ - Sunday, November 19th, 2022
Here’s what I registered: https://mtgmelee.com/Decklist/View/257931
Here are the results: https://mtgmelee.com/Tournament/View/12670
Notable changes here were playing Reckoner Bankbuster in the main and Kroxa back to the party. To this day, Bankbuster is a maindeck staple for Rakdos variants, as it’s bad in no matchup, and not ideal in some. Kroxa provides some of that necessary long game, while being a nuisance and a must-deal-with threat to every opponent.
Key play of the day: round 4 against Enigmatic Fires. In game three we were on turn 5. I had my opponent at 1 life, but we were locked in a board stall. I had a Graveyard Trespasser, but no creatures in either graveyard to get in. However, I also had a Bloodtithe Harvester, but no blood tokens, which didn’t matter. It took me a couple minutes to figure out this line, but I sacrificed the Harvester to give one of his creatures -0/-0 until end of turn, moved to combat, swung with the Trespasser and targeted my recently dead Bloodtithe Harvester to get my opponent to zero.
Biggest mistake of the day: round 6 against Izzet Phoenix. I forgot that Crackling Drake also counts cards in exile, and ultimately lost to it. A textbook example of why it is SO IMPORTANT TO GET IN AMPLE REPS OF PAPER MAGIC in preparation for in-person paper events. And of course, to read every card, even if you think you know what it does.
I finished that day 7-2 and 19th out of 410, which was my best performance yet in a tournament of that size, and something else I could be proud of coming out of that weekend.
Obviously, my hope was to reach top 8 at the main event and earn a spot at the Pro Tour, but I came out of that weekend ok with the result. Both tournaments highlighted the fact that, eventhough I had prepared for these events the best that I could, I still wasn’t playing well enough to play on the Pro Tour.
A strong performance in the Sunday event was a great consolation, but regardless of the outcome, I’m glad that I made the choice to play that another difficult tournament with the sole intention of improving as a player.
And finally, I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to travel for Magic again, and even more so to make a weekend adventure out of it with Rachel. We love traveling together, and though this was a tournament weekend, we were able to have three really fun nights together, from the trip down to Atlanta, to cocktails in the hotel bar, playing sealed in the hotel lounge, and dinner on Saturday. Rachel was sick all day Sunday, but we were even able to make the drive home fun. We talked through what I’d do differently for the next tournament, talked life goals and jammed some Stuff You Should Know. And grabbing food at a Buffalo Wild Wings in upstate SC at 11PM on a Sunday night is about as interesting as it sounds. There’s no one I’d rather have these experiences with than Rachel.
If you’re playing at DreamHack San Diego or Dallas, here are my recommendations and a quick summary of what I’d do and what I wouldn’t do if I was playing in either event.
My Recommendations if you’re competing at DreamHack San Diego or Dallas
Do prepare for a grindfest, and don’t expect to get any easy wins. The RC on Saturday and the RCQ on Sunday were very difficult events, in so many ways. There wasn’t one match I played all weekend that was easy. Every single match was a grind, and on Saturday, every single match was against someone who won an RCQ, at a minimum. By the same token, you are too - so keep that in mind when you’re locked into a tough matchup against an advanced player.
There were also a ton of pros, MTGO grinders and big names from the SCG circuit playing in the event - all very good, if not exceptional players. There were even a handful of world champions and pro tour winners. Be prepared to play against these players, and make sure you make them nameless and faceless before you draw your first opening hand. Breathe, believe, and relish in the opportunity that you have to beat them, and at a minimum, improve in the process of trying.
Do practice playing paper Magic - a lot. I recommend getting in at least three paper Magic events in the two weeks prior to the big tournament. Get used to policing your opponent, managing your tokens, tracking life totals, catching triggers, interacting with negative/toxic opponents, and all of the other manual activities that you don’t have to do when playing online.
If you have a playtest group you can meet with in person, make time in your sessions for “tournament matches,” and have a third person judge it.
Do wake up early and do a difficult exercise before the tournament. I could dedicate an entire article on the many reasons why maintaining a solid exercise routine can actually make you a better Magic player, but for the purposes of this article, I’ll keep it short and sweet.
There’s tremendous value and massive reward in choosing to wake up and do something that’s physically and mentally difficult. I woke up early on Saturday morning and did a short lift followed by a 5k on the tread. I woke up early again on Sunday morning before the tournament and got back on the tread for a slightly longer, and more difficult HIIT and hills run.
As a result, both mornings I walked into that tournament hall knowing that no matter how my matches would play out, I had already won the day. Because I had already accomplished something difficult, I knew that I could overcome any challenge I may face that day and win any match, no matter how difficult it may be.
Personally, I enjoy running because it’s a great release that calms my mind, fires up my metabolism and builds my confidence for the day. But no matter what type of exercise you prefer - whether that’s lifting, cycling, yoga, you name it - wake up early and do a difficult exercise before you start jamming matches. This is also a good opportunity to go through lines of play in your head, reflect on your matchups and sideboard plans, reflect on your strong plays and common mistakes, and mentally set the tone and intention for the type of Magic player you will be that day.
Do lock in your decklist the day before it’s due. Had I locked in my decklist on Thursday, I simply could have spent Friday practicing with my list and spending some time doing non-Magic activities, instead of grappling with the stress of deciding what my final 75 would look like in the hours before the deck submission deadline.
Do play with the sole intention of playing your best Magic. We all know about variance and bad beats, and there is a big difference between losing because you played poorly and were underprepared, and losing even though you played well. Your most important goals in a regional championship should be to play your very best and improve as a player.
No matter what happens, you WILL come out on the other side of this tournament a better player.
Do make time for experiences outside of Magic. Unless you’re local to the host city, this is a trip that you’re traveling for. Make time to make the most of this trip. The last thing you want is to have the tournaments not go your way and then go home without having any bright spots in the trip.
Do be grateful for the opportunity and enjoy every moment. The RC system isn’t perfect, but these events provide an excellent opportunity to play difficult matches of Magic against very talented players. As mentioned before, some of those players have several signature accomplishments and strong finishes at the highest levels of play. The RC truly is a gateway to the Pro Tour, and no matter how you finish, I hope that you maintain a sense of gratitude for having the opportunity to play there.
Best of luck to everyone participating in RCs San Diego and Dallas. Please feel free to hit me up on Twitter with any questions - I’m happy to help other players along in any way that I can.
