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On the 30th of October 2023 I sat down to play the finals of the Cube Invitational I organised. I was playing my dear friend Frank. Frank has played the most of the Cube Invitationals I have organised (I didn’t play all of them myself), but has never won a Cube Invitational. And that is something that we, his friends and multiple times winners Wander, Danny and myself, always tease him with. This not winning something is unusual for Frank. Frank was a Pro Tour competitor and these days is known for tearing through the Premodern and Old School scene. Winning tournament after tournament, putting up some insane runs. Earlier this year Frank won the Italian Premodern National Championships with a 11-0 run. The next day he went on a 7-0 run in the Old School tournament, finally losing in the semi-finals for a total of 18-1 that weekend. Frank is used to winning.
Prior to this tournament I listened to Lucky Paper Radio their episode with Sam Black about his ‘small game Magic’ theory. I was very interested in this theory and tore through Sam his article about this afterwards. When sitting down for the final draft I wanted to implement small game theory, and the Grixis Cube we were drafting was the perfect cube to do so with.
I got to draft most of the black discard spells and a lot of good red burn spells. Both are great in small game Magic, because they are very efficient at creating scarcity. Scarcity of cards in hand, creatures in play and life total. I splashed Blue, for you Sedraxis Specter. You were the most overperforming card of my deck. When left unchecked you killed any hope for Frank of playing big Magic. When he did deal with you, you would come back one last time to eat even more resources. Clearing any blockers wasn’t a problem with my red burn and black removal spells, so I could always get you to connect with you and rip cards from Frank’s hand. Together we crushed any dreams Frank had of winning a Cube Invitational that October evening.
I loved that I could put this theory to practice in that draft. I love that you embodied that theory and I love you for it. I will always curate this Grixis Cube in such a way that you have a place in that cube because I want to cherish this memory. The memory of crushing big magic dreams Frank had that evening. And mostly cherish the fact that I still get to tease him with the fact that he still hasn’t won a Cube Invitational after so many tries. Someone has to keep his feet on the ground.
With love,
Hanjo
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