FNM - Oct 17, 2008

I was in Bangkok last week for a duty travel and a weekend vacation (aka shopping) with Beej. Of course, I wouldn't let the opportunity pass without playing a sanctioned game in a foreign land. By hook or by crook, I was going to play in Bangkok! :)

Before leaving last week, I did two things to try to accomplish my mission:

1. I got into contact with Kong, a Thai player that I played in the recent GP Manila. We exchanged emails a few times, but when it was time for him to tell me about the location of MTG stores in Bangkok, he didn't reply in time. In fairness to him, he DID reply eventually this week, and said that he was apparently also out of town for work.

2. I brought a list of FNM locations in Bangkok from MTG.com. I then asked the receptionist of my hotel which of those were nearest, and she pointed me to Big Magic at the Amarin Plaza. That was where my adventure began. :)

On Friday afternoon, after my meeting had concluded, I proceeded to confirm the location of Big Magic, and walked from my meeting venue (Nai Lert Park Hotel) to Amarin Plaza, which was one Skytrain station away. When I reached Amarin Plaza, I went to the 3rd floor where it was supposed to be, and walked around the floor around three times. I never found it. :( Disgusted, I went downstairs to the Information counter, to confirm what was obviously the case -- the shop has closed and is no longer there. :( Luckily though, the lady knew where Big Magic had moved! :) She gave me the new location -- Union Mall -- and directions on how to get there.

Psyched up with my new found knowledge, I went back to my hotel (Baiyoke Suite Hotel) to drop off my laptop and get my deck and binder. I walked to Rachathewi BTS station, and took the train to Mo Chit station. When I got there, I took a taxi to Union Mall, and after a few minutes of looking, voila, I was there! Big Magic indeed! :)

The shop was just small, pretty much like NG in Galleria, but they had a few more tables in place outside the stall. I was just in time for their booster draft FNM signup (360 bhat), and was 4th in the signup sheet. After looking at a couple of binders for singles, I was about to start a casual game with someone when they announced that our 8-man pod had filled up. It's time! :)

My first pick was a Thunder-Thrash Elder, but eventually ran out of red cards, but eventually proceeded to draft a Naya deck. Here's the deck that I built (note: the shop lent us card sleeves to use!):



// Lands
7 [ALA] Forest
5 [ALA] Mountain
5 [ALA] Plains

// Creatures
1 [ALA] Algae Gharial
1 [ALA] Cylian Elf
1 [ALA] Court Archers
1 [ALA] Naya Battlemage
1 [ALA] Cavern Thoctar
1 [ALA] Skullmulcher
1 [ALA] Mosstodon
1 [ALA] Woolly Thoctar
1 [ALA] Thunder-Thrash Elder
1 [ALA] Viashino Skeleton
1 [ALA] Incurable Ogre
1 [ALA] Knight of the Skyward Eye
1 [ALA] Guardians of Akrasa
1 [ALA] Sunseed Nurturer
2 [ALA] Rip-Clan Crasher

// Spells
1 [ALA] Obelisk of Naya
1 [ALA] Sigil Blessing
1 [ALA] Branching Bolt
1 [ALA] Excommunicate
1 [ALA] Magma Spray
1 [ALA] Resounding Roar
1 [ALA] Lush Growth

The first round was against a Grixis deck, where I had a lot of trouble against a couple of Tidehollow Strix and Undead Leotau's. The second round was against a Naya mirror, but he apparently had a superior deck to mine, as he had multiple Wild Nacatl's, while I had none. Unfortunately, I sucked in my very first IRL draft experience, and went 0-2 in two rounds of play (though both rounds took 3 games). Good thing though that everyone in the pod got an FNM card. :) Now I have a souvenir from Bangkok. :)



After the game, I chatted with a few of the other players, and even got to play a few casual games against two guys -- one with our draft decks; and another, playing Standard with his Jund tokens deck featuring Sprouting Thrinax and Mycoloth.

All in all, it was a truly unforgettable experience, one that I will always remember Bangkok by. :) I hope to be able to go back there later. :)