<3
I love you. But I did not always love you. I used to hate you. I remember, 22 years ago, 14 years old. Sitting at the kitchen table with my brother always practicing Standard for the FNM. Always playing my Green and Black Death Cloud deck vs his Blue and Green Crystal Shard and Eternal Witness deck. And always losing to you, Rude Awakening. You were my nemesis in that matchup. I have lost so many times to you, it frustrated the hell out of 14 year old me.
But I grew to love you. Seeing you leaving standard behind and making a splash in extended. In the hands of Paul Cheon winning Grand Prix Vancouver in 2008 with his Previous Level Blue. I grew to see you for what you are, a cheat code. Winning games people shouldn’t win. And after a couple of years, that cheat code became less a frustrating memory, and more a nostalgic memory.
When building my first Masters cube in 2013, a cube designed to copy the feel of the old Modern Masters draft experience, I knew a place had to be reserved for you. Because common cards included 3 times in that cube, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Search for Tomorrow and Ondu Giant became your new best friends. Because you are at your best in a Ramp strategy, and the Ramp strategy in that cube needed a cheat code. During my last draft with this cube, I got to use you as my cheat code. I drafted you along with the ramp spells and together we got to trophy (3-0) the draft. You single handedly won me 3 of my 6 games. And all those wins felt like winning with a cheat code.
All that is left now is to get my brother to draft this cube with me. Because now it’s my turn.
With love,
Hanjo
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