January 2023 Arena Open

Playlist:

#1: Arena Open Day 1, January 2023
Format: Kaldheim Sealed, BO1

#2: Arena Open Day 2, January 2023
Format: Kaldheim Draft, BO3

Day 1 was a rollercoaster. It took me 6 attempts to qualify. Sure the format is very swingy, but I couldn’t get more than four wins in any of my first five attempts. Frustration was high, but three Packmates in what would have been my last try carried me along with a “Carreza de Gatos” (the Catillac).

Day 2 brought up a different set of challenges. I opened Starnheim Unleashed, one -if not THE- most powerful cards in the set, but not exactly in the archetype I like to play. White was open in pack one, nothing showed up in pack two, but pack three finished up my deck nicely.

Mono White and Boros were both options. I felt Mono White was going to be more reliable, especially with no fixers. That might have been a mistake, but it’s hard to tell.

The biggest take from this tournament is to relearn how to play live (no delay). I used to play these tournaments with delay, so I would only focus on the game and not on the discussion in the chat. While chat gives some valuable advice (which could be taken as outside assistance), it also makes you lose focus and miss some fairly obvious plays. It doesn’t matter during regular streaming, but it hurts more when you realize you made a crucial mistake just because you couldn’t count to 14 or re-read a card properly (They did have me dead anyway, so no regrets ^^).

Tough lesson!