Thursday, February 21, 2008
Pro Tour: Kuala Lumpur and me
I've never been embarrassed to admit that at the core, I've always been a geek. I don't play or even follow sports on TV (except 'pro' wrestling like the WWE for a while), I'm easily amused by silly references to bits of geeky trivia (especially Monty Python ones), and I squeal like a Japanese fangirl when the latest Fallout sequel was announced two years back after a six-year hiatus; congratulations! I'm a geek.
That, and the fact that I play Magic: the Gathering, the number one trading card game in the world. Nothing screams geek more than grown men playing with and paying through the nose for pieces of colourful cardboard. Except maybe grown men dressed as elves and wizards and Jedi in a gaming convention.
To tell you the truth, the only reason why I haven't done cosplay is because I'm neither that crazy about anime nor do I have the money to do so.
Back to Magic. Each year, Wizards, the company that makes Magic, organises about four large scale tournaments called the Pro Tour around the world. A bunch of friends and I, being the Magic geeks that we are, had to go when they had it in Kuala Lumpur last week; it was a once in a lifetime opportunity as the Pro Tour never occurs in the same city twice, let alone in the Southeast Asian region.
My very own planeswalker card!
And so, I joined in the many side events that were organised during the four days of the Pro Tour. That's when I found out that I was bad at being a geek just as bad as I was at being a sportsman; out of more than 15 games I played, I only won a whopping three times. What's worse than being a geek? Being bad at it.
But that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. Furthermore, playing Magic for four days made me realise one thing; no matter how much I try, I doubt I'll ever be able to quit the game for good. It's just too fun, to say the least. Maybe go on a hiatus or something, but I'll likely keep on playing even if I keep being bad at it. Plus I have friends who can help me stay on in this game, and I sorta figured out a way to keep this hobby alive without killing my wallet or my grades (too much).
Anyway, the Pro Tour is over and done with, and as usual, I took quite a number of pictures. Because people sitting around a table with their noses deep in cards don't make interesting photos, here's some of the more interesting highlights of the four days.
We spent a lot of time trading and selling cards, which allowed some of us to leave the KL Convention Centre with more money than we entered.
This here is Seishiro Ookubo, a Japanese man who makes spectacular 3-D art with trading cards.
An oversized 3-D Clone up close.
He makes abacus-like life counters too!
Pokemon! He wouldn't take it out until we begged him because Pokemon was no longer under Wizards.
The main event at the Pro Tour was, of course, the Pro Tour. To tell you how huge this event is, a total of USD230,795 forms the prize payout, with USD40,000 going to the winner of the Pro Tour. The winner of Pro Tour: Kuala Lumpur is none other than Mr. Jonny Magic himself, Jon Finkel.
That's the typical expression of a Magic Pro; head in hands, deep in concentration. In one word, that translates to "constipated".
Being the obsessive fanboys we are, Brendan and I took pictures with Jon.
And then we headed to Chili's for dinner, where we refilled our bottomless Nachos four times.
One other memorable occasion was when one of us (Sam) lost his trade binder worth anywhere between RM500 to RM1,000. To cut a very, very long story short, we found out that it had been stolen by a judge thanks to the wonders of CCTV technology. We got the binder back, and the judge got a shitload of penalties thrown his way, probably worth as much or even more than the binder itself. This shows you why you shouldn't steal, kids!
All in all, spending four days playing Magic served only to cement the geek in me. Even though I know I'll never be able to earn thousands of dollars at geekery, seeing the Magic Pros doing well at the game and earning money while they're at it gives me a small sense of pride that I'm part of this much-maligned and misunderstood community. Hey, Bill Gateswas is a geek, too. May geeks prevail!
MONEYYYY!
Pointless Fact of the Day:
The wildly popular Fallout role-playing game series started in 1997, continued in 1998 with Fallout 2 and hasn't received a proper sequel since (the spin-offs all sucked badly). It had a very cool 1950s-inspired post-apocalyptic (of the nuclear kind) future atmosphere to it; by 1950s, I mean computers with vacuum tubes and underground fallout shelters. If you like playing computer games, give the series a try. In fact, I'm currently replaying the ten year old Fallout 2 in anticipation of the upcoming Fallout 3 later this year. If you want the CD, I can lend it to you. Spread the (geeky) love!
That, and the fact that I play Magic: the Gathering, the number one trading card game in the world. Nothing screams geek more than grown men playing with and paying through the nose for pieces of colourful cardboard. Except maybe grown men dressed as elves and wizards and Jedi in a gaming convention.
To tell you the truth, the only reason why I haven't done cosplay is because I'm neither that crazy about anime nor do I have the money to do so.Back to Magic. Each year, Wizards, the company that makes Magic, organises about four large scale tournaments called the Pro Tour around the world. A bunch of friends and I, being the Magic geeks that we are, had to go when they had it in Kuala Lumpur last week; it was a once in a lifetime opportunity as the Pro Tour never occurs in the same city twice, let alone in the Southeast Asian region.
My very own planeswalker card!And so, I joined in the many side events that were organised during the four days of the Pro Tour. That's when I found out that I was bad at being a geek just as bad as I was at being a sportsman; out of more than 15 games I played, I only won a whopping three times. What's worse than being a geek? Being bad at it.
But that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. Furthermore, playing Magic for four days made me realise one thing; no matter how much I try, I doubt I'll ever be able to quit the game for good. It's just too fun, to say the least. Maybe go on a hiatus or something, but I'll likely keep on playing even if I keep being bad at it. Plus I have friends who can help me stay on in this game, and I sorta figured out a way to keep this hobby alive without killing my wallet or my grades (too much).
Anyway, the Pro Tour is over and done with, and as usual, I took quite a number of pictures. Because people sitting around a table with their noses deep in cards don't make interesting photos, here's some of the more interesting highlights of the four days.
We spent a lot of time trading and selling cards, which allowed some of us to leave the KL Convention Centre with more money than we entered.
This here is Seishiro Ookubo, a Japanese man who makes spectacular 3-D art with trading cards.
An oversized 3-D Clone up close.
He makes abacus-like life counters too!
Pokemon! He wouldn't take it out until we begged him because Pokemon was no longer under Wizards.
The main event at the Pro Tour was, of course, the Pro Tour. To tell you how huge this event is, a total of USD230,795 forms the prize payout, with USD40,000 going to the winner of the Pro Tour. The winner of Pro Tour: Kuala Lumpur is none other than Mr. Jonny Magic himself, Jon Finkel.
That's the typical expression of a Magic Pro; head in hands, deep in concentration. In one word, that translates to "constipated".
Being the obsessive fanboys we are, Brendan and I took pictures with Jon.
And then we headed to Chili's for dinner, where we refilled our bottomless Nachos four times.One other memorable occasion was when one of us (Sam) lost his trade binder worth anywhere between RM500 to RM1,000. To cut a very, very long story short, we found out that it had been stolen by a judge thanks to the wonders of CCTV technology. We got the binder back, and the judge got a shitload of penalties thrown his way, probably worth as much or even more than the binder itself. This shows you why you shouldn't steal, kids!
All in all, spending four days playing Magic served only to cement the geek in me. Even though I know I'll never be able to earn thousands of dollars at geekery, seeing the Magic Pros doing well at the game and earning money while they're at it gives me a small sense of pride that I'm part of this much-maligned and misunderstood community. Hey, Bill Gates
MONEYYYY!Pointless Fact of the Day:
The wildly popular Fallout role-playing game series started in 1997, continued in 1998 with Fallout 2 and hasn't received a proper sequel since (the spin-offs all sucked badly). It had a very cool 1950s-inspired post-apocalyptic (of the nuclear kind) future atmosphere to it; by 1950s, I mean computers with vacuum tubes and underground fallout shelters. If you like playing computer games, give the series a try. In fact, I'm currently replaying the ten year old Fallout 2 in anticipation of the upcoming Fallout 3 later this year. If you want the CD, I can lend it to you. Spread the (geeky) love!
