At the start of the 2015/2016 Magic season I set a bunch of goals for the year. I did a pretty meh job overall.
Goals for 2015/2016:
Grand Prix: attend at least 2, have positive record
August: 1 (London: 5-4-0)
May: 0 (Manchester).
Unfortunately I had to pull out of Manchester due to illness, which also impacted points and ranking etc. Being ill for 2 weeks meant I couldn’t attend the other events either. I was pretty gutted I couldn’t make it along to the second GP as it was all paid for and booked in advance.
World Magic Cup Qualifier: attend all three, positive record in all, top 8 in one
Attended all three, not positive records in all, no top 8s.
Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier: top 8 at least once per season, win once
Season 1: 2 top 4
June: 1 top 4
July: 1 top 4
August: 0
Season 2: 1 top 8
September: 1 top 8
October: 0
November: 0
Season 3 was then delayed until after Christmas as they readjust schedule.
Season 3: 1 top 4
January: 0 (only 2 events, season started final weekend)
February: 0
March: 0
April: 1 top 4.
Season 4: 0 top 8
May: 0
So over the year I top 8’d 4 times, not getting to any finals or obviously winning any. I spent at least 6 months of the year with next to zero interest in Standard so having the vast majority of events be Standard reduced my enthusiasm somewhat.
Regular constructed: win at least once per month
June: 1st in 2 Standard
July: 1st in 1 Modern
August: 1st in 3 Modern
September: 1st in 1 Draft
October: 1st in 1 Modern
November: 1st in 1 Standard
December: 2nd in legacy and 3rd in a Standard were closest I came.
January: 1st in a Sealed, 1st in a Standard
February: 3rd in 2 Modern
March: 1st in 3 Modern
April: 1st in 1 Modern
May: 0.
Only 2 months let me down. December where there were less local events because of Christmas etc and May where I was ill so had to take half the month off. Even once better I didn’t want to travel to other cities for PPTQs etc for a weekend and then missed the GP too. I think the highlight must be winning the Modern events with colourless goblins (eldrazi). To go from people pissed that I play Goblins or Lantern in modern cos they are shit to be pissed that I am playing Eldrazi cos it was OP was salt-tastic.
Yearly overall: Hit 2250 points again
187.5/Month is on track.
Month, Ranking in Scotland
June: 258 (+70.5) points = on track, yearly 4th
July: 431 (+56) points so far, yearly 5th
August: 1019 (+456.5) points so far, yearly 3rd
September: 1278 (+528) points so far, yearly 6th
October: 1558 (+620.5) points so far, yearly 5th
November: 1623 (+498) points so far, yearly 7th
December: 1653 (+340.5) points so far, yearly 6th
January: 1854 (+354) points so far, yearly 6th
February: 2003 (+315.5) points, yearly 6th
March: 2185 (+310) points, yearly 8th
April: 2403 (+340.5) points, yearly 7th
May: 2632 (+382) points, yearly 9th
So I hit it and had spent the bulk of the year on target. There was one hairy part where the PPTQs were delayed due to the season being adjusted. Finishing 9th was fine. Especially when some carpetbagger is down as Scottish to try and cheat his way to World Cup Team Captain spot.
Scotland Lifetime: Top 50
Highest reached, or standing at end of month, will drop down if other active players are attending more Grand Prixs than me etc.
June: 71
July: 70
August: 63
September: 59
October: 55
November: 54
December: 52
January: 50
February: 48
March: 44
April: 44
May: 43
Once I hit 52 I recognised all the other names around me, so they were definitely active players. The next player with a name I didn’t recognise was about 400 points ahead of me. I thought that I could probably reach 51st at best. I did then manage to get over 50, but some active players were going to Grand Prixs so I wasn’t sure I could sustain it. I did think that hitting 50 would be tight but I did manage it in the end.
Visit other Scottish games shops: Competitive Events at each store once
Venue: Earliest visit
Abbey Games, Arbroath: July
Black Lion, Edinburgh: August
Bus Stop, Largs: No
Common Ground, Stirling: June
Geek Retreat, Glasgow: June
Highlander, Dundee: June
Little Shop, Dunfermline: No
MinMax, Kirkaldy: No
Settlers, Hamilton: No
Spellbound Games, Glasgow: June
I Managed to get to most of the shops. Largs being on the other end of the country meant no on from the North East was ever travelling there. I think Dunfermline must have stopped doing events as I never saw any. A couple of other shops gained recognition to host events throughout the year and I managed to get to some. Settlers event clashed with something so I couldn’t go. Having read the mad ravings of the owner of MinMax I decided to not give that arsehole any money by going to his events.
Goals for 2016/2017
So let’s come up with a list for next year
- Grand Prix: attend at least 2, have positive record
- World Magic Cup Qualifier: attend all three, positive record in all, top 8 in one – I think top 8 is unlikely so that is definitely a stretch goal.
- Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier: top 8 at least once per season, reach two finals – reduced from last year
- Regular constructed: win at least once per month – reasonable given I attend 2.5 events per week – Legacy, Standard and Modern. Stretch would be 2 win once in each format over course of the year.
- Yearly overall: Hit 2250 points again – benchmark has been set for 2 byes.
- Scotland Lifetime: Top 30 – 2250 points would put me roughly 25 but there are at least 5 players between 44 and 25 who regularly attend events and finish in top 10 points in Scotland.
Not sure if I can commit to trying to travel so much over the next year which loses one goal from last year and probably harms chances to hit points/rank target.