Saturday morning, I woke up before dawn to run some errands before passing back out for an hour. I got up before my second alarm and went through the process of updating my various Commander decks. I preordered the full set of 2014 Commanders in anticipation of this trip, but a shipping error kept them out of my hands. I was getting ready to drive an hour down to Grand Prix New Jersey in order to partake in various battles. I had no desire to wade through what would be a field of over four thousand, but fighting with three friends in four-player games . . . Well that was far more manageable.

I wandered the halls with my Cube in tow. An earlier iteration of the Pauper Cube I so lovingly curate today, this version was rough. I was there with Seth Burn, and we walked the aisles, seeing old friends and familiar faces. Eventually, we found a table and started battling against each other. I don’t remember who won or what we discovered, but I do have a memory enjoying myself immensely. I recall thinking that I would like to attend more of these events, even if I was just going to bird the matches and play in side events.

All of that changed with a call to my duty phone. The Nextel chirped at me. I picked it up, speaking to a student on the other end. I work in student activities at a college, so it’s not uncommon for me to receive calls on the weekend. I had been working with this group all week, trying to make sure their event would go off without a hitch. The students wanted to cancel. Half-heartedly, I tried to talk them out of it, but the president of the organization held firm.

I informed him of how to get the word out to the students, and I hung up the phone. I didn’t think to do anything else.

That was my downfall.

I was greeted by a true sea of humanity—and a few savvy individuals with red balloons acting as lighthouses in the storm.

Almost in spite of mobile phones, I immediately ran into multiple friends. Somehow, in a clamor, the calm found me. I made my way around the massive hall, catching up with people from various playgroups, all competing in the main event. I wished them well and shared stories. I smiled and made my way over to some of the open tables. These would be in use in a few rounds once players came off their byes. In the meanwhile, they were perfect for Commander. I sat down with Leslie and Andrew, people I game with regularly, to get the first game of the day under our collective belts. We were just about to start when fellow Gathering Magic staffer Carlos found us, making our Game 1 with four combatants. Leslie was running a group hug Phelddagrif, Carlos helmed his Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, Andrew wielded his art-of-war Ruhan of the Fomori, and I piloted my Vorel of the Hull Clade deck.

Vorel of the Hull Clade ? Commander | Alex Ullman

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (42)
• 1 Bramblewood Paragon
• 1 Champion of Lambholt
• 1 Coiling Oracle
• 1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
• 1 Crowned Ceratok
• 1 Draining Whelk
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Fathom Mage
• 1 Fertilid
• 1 Forgotten Ancient
• 1 Gyre Sage
• 1 Heroes' Bane
• 1 Hooded Hydra
• 1 Horizon Chimera
• 1 Jolting Merfolk
• 1 Joraga Treespeaker
• 1 Kiora's Follower
• 1 Lorescale Coatl
• 1 Master Biomancer
• 1 Murkfiend Liege
• 1 Mycoloth
• 1 Nessian Demolok
• 1 Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1 Plaxcaster Frogling
• 1 Prophet of Kruphix
• 1 Realm Seekers
• 1 Sage of Fables
• 1 Scourge of Skola Vale
• 1 Seedborn Muse
• 1 Simic Fluxmage
• 1 Simic Manipulator
• 1 Spike Feeder
• 1 Spike Weaver
• 1 Thrummingbird
• 1 Vastwood Hydra
• 1 Viral Drake
• 1 Wickerbough Elder
• 1 Woodripper
• 1 Yavimaya Elder
• 1 Zameck Guildmage
• 1 Mindless Automaton
• 1 Workhorse

• Spells (22)
• 1 Dismiss
• 1 Exclude
• 1 Fuel for the Cause
• 1 Mystic Genesis
• 1 Plasm Capture
• 1 Spell Crumple
• 1 Desert Twister
• 1 Tezzeret's Gambit
• 1 Bred for the Hunt
• 1 Death's Presence
• 1 Doubling Season
• 1 Gutter Grime
• 1 Hardened Scales
• 1 Inexorable Tide
• 1 Krasis Incubation
• 1 Ooze Flux
• 1 Sporogenesis
• 1 Contagion Engine
• 1 Everflowing Chalice
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Powder Keg
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots

• Lands (35)
• 7 Island
• 8 Forest
• 1 Alchemist's Refuge
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Faerie Conclave
• 1 Flooded Grove
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Llanowar Reborn
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Simic Guildgate
• 1 Skyshroud Forest
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Thornwood Falls
• 1 Treetop Village

Buy This Deck

Thanks to Leslie’s boons, I was able to establish an early lead. Andrew was a frightening force with Ruhan on the table alongside an Angelic Skirmisher. I quickly cast Vorel, Hardened Scales, and a Lorescale Coatl. Leslie’s Howling Mine made it quite easy for the Coatl to grow to a preposterous size, which allowed me to one-shot Andrew out of the game. A few removal spells later, I was forced to rebuild my force on a Seedborn Muse. Alas, it was not to be, as Carlos’s tricks with Grimgrin, Nim Deathmantle, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel won him the day.

It was a great start to the day. It grew better with lunch. StarCityGames had contacted a food truck to park outside the venue. Leslie and I waited in line for quite a while, but it was all worth it—the food was excellent and gave us the energy for another epic game.

My phone rang again. It wasn’t my boss. It was my boss’s supervisor. Turns out my go-ahead to cancel the event did not take into account all the moving pieces. The person who had hired me had left the previous summer, and my new director found my skills lacking. Spoiler alert: They were.

What followed were a series of phone calls with me calling all the parties involved and checking in with my boss, suffering from the flu, regularly: Notify security, notify facilities, notify everyone.

Find a corner and get chewed out. Schedule a meeting for first thing Monday.

At some point, Seth got us to Harold’s, a monument to American excess. I’m not a big eater, and the mammoth sandwiches served at this Jersey institution would normally cover me for two and a half meals—except that when I experience stress, I don’t eat. I put the majority of my pastrami into a paper bag and slowly began the ninety-minute drive home. Seth offered to drive, but I assured him I was fine.

Game 2 began once we found a table away from the main event. By this time, almost every table was in use by something, and yet, we managed to find a corner. This time, the game consisted of Carlos on Ephara, God of the Polis control, Becca on Oloro, Ageless Ascetic and Birds, me on Lyzolda, the Blood Witch and her exploding graveyard, and Leslie running back her group-hug deck.

Lyzolda, the Blood Witch ? Commander | Alex Ullman

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (45)
• 1 Anathemancer
• 1 Apprentice Necromancer
• 1 Avalanche Riders
• 1 Avatar of Woe
• 1 Big Game Hunter
• 1 Blood Artist
• 1 Bloodghast
• 1 Bloodgift Demon
• 1 Bloodsoaked Champion
• 1 Bone Shredder
• 1 Cemetery Reaper
• 1 Coffin Queen
• 1 Conquering Manticore
• 1 Corpse Connoisseur
• 1 Crater Hellion
• 1 Deathbringer Thoctar
• 1 Deepfire Elemental
• 1 Disciple of Griselbrand
• 1 Falkenrath Noble
• 1 Flayer of the Hatebound
• 1 Golgari Thug
• 1 Grim Haruspex
• 1 Harvester of Souls
• 1 Havoc Demon
• 1 Krovikan Horror
• 1 Massacre Wurm
• 1 Mephidross Vampire
• 1 Mindclaw Shaman
• 1 Molten Primordial
• 1 Murderous Redcap
• 1 Nether Traitor
• 1 Pawn of Ulamog
• 1 Rage Thrower
• 1 Reaper from the Abyss
• 1 Reassembling Skeleton
• 1 Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1 Sepulchral Primordial
• 1 Shriekmaw
• 1 Skirsdag High Priest
• 1 Viashino Heretic
• 1 Zealous Conscripts
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Triskelion
• 1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1 Tymaret, the Murder King

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded

• Spells (16)
• 1 Cauldron Dance
• 1 Rescue from the Underworld
• 1 Black Sun's Zenith
• 1 Buried Alive
• 1 Dawn of the Dead
• 1 Grave Pact
• 1 Necromancy
• 1 Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1 Underworld Connections
• 1 Warstorm Surge
• 1 Mimic Vat
• 1 Nim Deathmantle
• 1 Rakdos Cluestone
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Talisman of Indulgence

• Lands (37)
• 5 Mountain
• 8 Swamp
• 1 Akoum Refuge
• 1 Auntie's Hovel
• 1 Barren Moor
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Bloodfell Caves
• 1 Bloodstained Mire
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Forgotten Cave
• 1 Molten Slagheap
• 1 Polluted Mire
• 1 Rakdos Carnarium
• 1 Rakdos Guildgate
• 1 Rocky Tar Pit
• 1 Smoldering Crater
• 1 Spawning Pool
• 1 Tainted Peak
• 1 Temple of Malice
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Urborg Volcano
• 1 Winding Canyons
• 1 Tresserhorn Sinks

Buy This Deck

Leslie got the party started again and helped us all along with Rites of Flourishing and Howling Mine. Carlos used this to his advantage, and through multiple methods of putting his lands into his graveyard and Second Sunrise, he was able to establish a significant mana advantage. Becca gained life and cast Akroma, Angel of Wrath while I was able to find multiple engine pieces in Bloodghast, Reassembling Skeleton, and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed.

We packed up the table and said our farewells. Leslie and I went to the car, the ride home prearranged.

I insisted to Seth that I was fine the entire trip home north on I-95. I smirked and laughed, and we talked about the Cube. I dropped him off and pulled to a spot off to the side of the road. I picked up that same duty phone and called home.

My dad picked up.

I lost it.

I told him everything: about how I had messed up at work and the phone calls, about the meeting on Monday, about the harsh words used. I drove home with red wet eyes. And home wasn’t exactly welcoming since I lived on the campus, neighbor to my boss and her boss. The phone calls continued until I was too tired to go on.

Saturday night, we hit no traffic. Leslie and I talked about college football and ways to improve her deck—I think she needs more Maro-style cards. We talked about running and how Leslie cheered on my fiancée during the New York City Marathon two weeks ago. I dropped her off and headed back home. Waiting for me was the full set of Commander (2014 Edition).

Three years ago, I went to New Jersey and had one of the worst days of my life. I felt as though my career were in jeopardy. Instead, it was an opportunity. That summer, I found a new job and moved home to Brooklyn. I started dating again. I found a wonderful community of Magic players that has become a circle of friends. Nine months after starting my new job, I met the woman I will be marrying this upcoming March.

That day at a Magic tournament might have been among the worst, but it had to happen. It led to some of the best days I’ve ever had. It changed my life. If I hadn’t gone, maybe I would have stayed home and done everything right.

I don’t want to think about that world—the one in which I messed up is so much better.