Back in the Game: Croutonman’s Journey Back into Magic the Gathering
at Timmy Talk’s The Dark Tournament
Welcome everyone to my The Dark tournament write-up for Timmy Talks! First a little background on who I am and my story with Magic the Gathering. You may have seen me post in the YouTube comments and more than likely spamming questions in the Timmy Talks Discord, but I am Joe, a.k.a Croutonman. I started playing Magic in November 1994 in the heyday Revised and built my collection from there. However, as a poor college student and with no one to play against, I sold my cards in late 1999. As a standby, I always had one outlet for a Magic fix; the old Microprose Shandalar PC game.
Thanks to the YouTube search algorithm, I came across few different content MtG creators and was surprised to see people play the old cards. Then the YouTube search algorithm pointed me one special place: Timmy Talks. I watched the videos religiously, but it wasn’t for another year or so I became a Patron, right before the Lord of the Jank tournament. I missed out on that one, however, I did not have to wait long for my next shot.
The deck in all its glory,
Bruise Control
Preparations for The Dark Tournament
When Timmy announced the The Dark constructed tournament, I immediately started to theorycraft which cards would work well together. Decks had to consist of cards entirely from The Dark expansion except for basic lands, and without any real cards, I spent a lot of time looking at card lists. Eventually I decided black and blue would be my deck’s colors. My main line of thinking was using fliers like Bog Imps and Ghost Ships to evade blockers while using control cards like Flood, Tangle Kelp and Ashes to Ashes to deal with creature threats. Wand of Ith also intrigued me to get threats out of my opponents’ hands or deal some extra damage.
My strategy was a sound and I decided on my final deck list. As an early Christmas present to myself, I hopped on Card Market and made my first order, signed up for the tournament and within a week, I owned my first Magic cards in 20 years! With a few days to go before the start of the tournament, my deck was complete.
A deadly game of chance
The Tournament Itself
The tournament officially started on 22nd December and I was ready to play. I was the lone non-North American placed in Group 4 and quickly scheduled my first match. I was ready to play a real game of paper Magic against actual people!
Match 1 vs. Kramer (aka plaguedr88):
This match was all about the swing of variance. Game 1 started turn 1 with a Mana Clash, where I receive the brunt of the damage. Up against it at one life, I was staring down a lethal Inferno at 6 life, but with a help of an open Fountain of Youth, a Flood and some Murk Dwellers I was able to take game 1. Game 2 I wasn’t so lucky; a ramped-out Amnesia forced me to discard my entire hand and was not able to recover. Game 3 started the same way as game 1 with a big Mana Clash, this time with Kramer taking most of the damage. From there it was all about chipping him away with creatures and Floods.
A pair most deadly
Match 2 vs. Shane (aka scota):
This match wasn’t even close. Shane’s mono green deck had too many threats to deal with. His Trackers could deal with most my threats and Lurker’s semi-shroud ability meant that all I could do was chump block while being beat-up by the rest of his gang. My only hope was Ghost Ship, quick Wand of Ith or the Psychic Allergies from the sideboard, but neither were enough as I lost all 3 games.
Match 3 vs. Daniel (aka Free-Range Chicken):
Reeling from my match with Shane, it was time to bounce back against Daniel and his White/Red Banding deck. After a poor start in game 1, this was the match where my deck worked as intended with Wand of Ith, Flood and Tangle Kelps being the stars in game 2. Game 3 was more of a luck-based win as Daniel was mana screwed by only able to pull one Mountain and a hand of double red sources, taking big damage from Wand of Ith and having to discard some much needed removal spells like Inferno and Fissure.
A card you should never lose to.
Match 4 vs. Adam (aka mightyfp):
This was a lesson in how to mulligan and not to mulligan as variance was not on my side. For all three games I decided to keep opening hands with few threats and mostly answers. My all-star card Flood was basically nowhere to be found as well as my 1 and 2 drop creatures. Game 2 was most embarrassing as the final point of damage taken was from a lowly Squire. Another all-star was Diabolic Machine; being an artifact creature and evading Ashes to Ashes. Another 0-3 loss, and my chances of making the top 8 were crushed.
Match 5 vs. Ryan (aka Butcher/cornhole):
My final match was against Ryan and his Red/Green Goblins deck. Again, poor starting hands were not helpful as I did not see a single Water Wurm the entire match and the Floods never came. Game 3 however everything went right; an early Bog Imp, Flood, Wand of Ith and a Ghost Ship sealed the deal. At least I was able to win my last game of the tournament.
In Conclusion
This was an amazing way to come back to the game. Despite not finishing as well as I thought I would, this has been a positive learning experience and a good way to get the rust off from not playing for 20 years. The whole thing from researching cards, to brewing decks, buying the cards, and playing and meeting new people with similar passions was an absolute blast. The tournament has made me an addict to the game all over again and cannot wait for the next Timmy Talks tournament!