Hey ppl,
Last week was great, more than I could ever imagine.
MTG National Cup (now called Invitational), was going to be run on Saturday, the 14th.
I took a full week of vacations in order to relax, enjoy the end of summer and get some training with my team.
Full team training was much lower then I expected but still I was confident with my choices and game plans.
Being my 1st presence on a National Cup, what I would consider a good result was something inside the TOP32 and a TOP16 an extra ordinary result.
What was going to happen was not in my wildest dreams.
The first round I was paired with a team mate and lost 2vs1. A bad start, a really bad start.
As I trained myself mentally, the math for TOP8 was still open, hard, maybe even very hard but open.
To make TOP8 and go to elimination rounds I would need in the best case scenario a 6-1-1 record or even a 7-1-0 record.
Second round came up and I won, leaving me at 1-1 for lunch hour.
2-1 and 3-1 were my next results and all my team mates are out of TOP by this time with a 2-2 record or worse. The 4-1 came up and my first match-up against a pro-player came up at round 6. In my best game played ever and with some luck the 5-1 came. 6-1 was an easy match-up and I start to believe the TOP8 might be locked for me and as the standings came up a blow to the stomach, I was paired down to a player with a 5-1-1 record and was forced to play my in to the TOP 8. In a tight match I was able to come around victorious and finish the "swiss" part of the tournament in 1st place and on my way to my first TOP8 on a major tournament.
Quarter-finals went really smoothly and at this time I can't believe myself, I was on prize money places. My team mates are amassed and are almost all keeping up to late hours to support me (thank you again).
Semi-finals and another pro-player on the way. A really thought match-up that start with me losing the 1st match. The 2nd was quite easy and the third was the luck of my life.
I'm on the final matching up against a good friend, that is also a pro-player. The organization post on FB "Final: Pro-Player vs Player living a dream" and he was not far from the truth.
Mental lock down is into place and nothing can distract me at this moment. I got here, I actually played 9 finals so far in this tournament. If I ever lost a game I was out, but I wasn't. I manage to win 9 in-a-row and the match-up is not disfavored for me. In my mind the only thing going on is "I got here, if I play the best MTG I know and don't make mistakes I can make it, I can get this trophy"
The first game was hell, I mulligan to 5 cards as my opponent stays at 7 and all my friends faces are "fuck this, he can't loose like this, not after all this effort", and I didn't. With some bluffs and level up I managed to pull the 1st game to me. One more win and that trophy that stands half a meter from me was mine. I get my first hand of 7 cards and try to make a worried face to throw my opponent off to start with a mediocre hand. It may have worked, I will never know, but one thing is sure my hand was perfect. His hand and the first 3 to 4 draws had to be sublime and all my draws blanks in order for me to loose this game.
It didn't happen and the dream came true!
I'm amassed.
Thank you all that supported me and helped me get here.
Love you all!
Last week was great, more than I could ever imagine.
MTG National Cup (now called Invitational), was going to be run on Saturday, the 14th.
I took a full week of vacations in order to relax, enjoy the end of summer and get some training with my team.
Full team training was much lower then I expected but still I was confident with my choices and game plans.
Being my 1st presence on a National Cup, what I would consider a good result was something inside the TOP32 and a TOP16 an extra ordinary result.
What was going to happen was not in my wildest dreams.
The first round I was paired with a team mate and lost 2vs1. A bad start, a really bad start.
As I trained myself mentally, the math for TOP8 was still open, hard, maybe even very hard but open.
To make TOP8 and go to elimination rounds I would need in the best case scenario a 6-1-1 record or even a 7-1-0 record.
Second round came up and I won, leaving me at 1-1 for lunch hour.
2-1 and 3-1 were my next results and all my team mates are out of TOP by this time with a 2-2 record or worse. The 4-1 came up and my first match-up against a pro-player came up at round 6. In my best game played ever and with some luck the 5-1 came. 6-1 was an easy match-up and I start to believe the TOP8 might be locked for me and as the standings came up a blow to the stomach, I was paired down to a player with a 5-1-1 record and was forced to play my in to the TOP 8. In a tight match I was able to come around victorious and finish the "swiss" part of the tournament in 1st place and on my way to my first TOP8 on a major tournament.
Quarter-finals went really smoothly and at this time I can't believe myself, I was on prize money places. My team mates are amassed and are almost all keeping up to late hours to support me (thank you again).
Semi-finals and another pro-player on the way. A really thought match-up that start with me losing the 1st match. The 2nd was quite easy and the third was the luck of my life.
I'm on the final matching up against a good friend, that is also a pro-player. The organization post on FB "Final: Pro-Player vs Player living a dream" and he was not far from the truth.
Mental lock down is into place and nothing can distract me at this moment. I got here, I actually played 9 finals so far in this tournament. If I ever lost a game I was out, but I wasn't. I manage to win 9 in-a-row and the match-up is not disfavored for me. In my mind the only thing going on is "I got here, if I play the best MTG I know and don't make mistakes I can make it, I can get this trophy"
The first game was hell, I mulligan to 5 cards as my opponent stays at 7 and all my friends faces are "fuck this, he can't loose like this, not after all this effort", and I didn't. With some bluffs and level up I managed to pull the 1st game to me. One more win and that trophy that stands half a meter from me was mine. I get my first hand of 7 cards and try to make a worried face to throw my opponent off to start with a mediocre hand. It may have worked, I will never know, but one thing is sure my hand was perfect. His hand and the first 3 to 4 draws had to be sublime and all my draws blanks in order for me to loose this game.
It didn't happen and the dream came true!
I'm amassed.
Thank you all that supported me and helped me get here.
Love you all!