Weary. Tired. The distinct odor of smoked tobacco lingering in every pore (and every souvenir that returned). Heavy, heavy shoulders and eyelids that had to be weighted with lead.

Driving to and from St. Louis over just four days is a hell of a way to roll through a weekend featuring Magic in Toronto. Hell, there was a Magic event in St. Louis not too long ago. Why didn't I just run out when the getting for a little Magic action was good?

Because I ran with friends and we have to plan this stuff far in advance.

Missing out on the opportunity to hit up GP Toronto wasn't a feeling that lingered for long; barbeque, bourbon, and Magic were all things that awaited us on a journey into the reaches of the Midwest. And, more importantly, proliferating the idea of gaming on the go.

Road Magic

With much fanfare the buys rolled into my house a little after 7 PM on Wednesday. We were going to leave around 4 the next morning and having everyone in early and sleeping sound was the order of the day.

You can read what we did instead over at yesterday's Serious Fun. Yes, it was totally worth it.

After the last of the lads had laid down to rest, I published my blog and jumped through the shower. I was on first shift and like starting a day clean and fresh. Two-and-a-half hours later we piled into my car and took off for the great known: Frankfort, KY and the Bourbon Trail of distilleries. Like Wine Country out in California, the area was beautiful and a tourist hot spot for those interested.

Settling in for the first night, after some touring of course, was easy to do:

1. Order food
2. Set beds
3. Play Magic

A simple three-step system that promised, and delivered, awesomeness.

Something that makes Magic pretty magical is how portable it is, even in its raw components. I brought along not only quite a few packs of Scars of Mirrodin but also Darksteel and Fifth Dawn. It made for an awesome Group Game Draft. Here's a sample of decks resulting from SOM-DST-FDN-SOM:

"Brendan's SOM-DST-FDN-SOM GGD"

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• Main (40)
• 1 Ezuri's Archers
• 1 Fume Spitter
• 1 Tangle Asp
• 1 Leaden Myr
• 1 Necropede
• 1 Copper Myr
• 2 Cystbearer
• 1 Myr Galvanizer
• 1 Sylvok Replica
• 1 Myr Propagator
• 1 Palladium myr
• 1 Viridian Scout
• 1 Skinrender
• 1 Flight Spellbomb
• 1 Lose Hope
• 1 Wing Puncture
• 2 Cranial Plating
• 1 Grasp of Darkness
• 1 Tel-Jilad Justice
• 1 Echoing Courage
• 1 Vulshok Morningstar
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Beacon of Unrest
• 8 Swamp
• 7 Forest

• Sideboard (4)
• 1 Blunt the assault
• 1 Steel hellkite
• 1 True conviction
• 1 Painful Quandry

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"Steve's SOM-DST-FDN-SOM GGD"

• Main (43)
• 1 Clearwater Goblet
• 1 Golems Heart
• 1 Golem Foundry
• 1 Stand Firm
• 1 Memnite
• 1 Salvage Scout
• 1 Wurm's Tooth
• 1 Loxodon Mystic
• 1 Kraken's Eye
• 1 Pteron Ghost
• 1 Wall of Tangle Cord
• 1 Revoke Existence
• 1 Hallow
• 2 Leonin Squire
• 1 Contagion Clasp
• 1 Golden Urn
• 1 Gold Myr
• 1 Oxidda Golem
• 1 Composite Golem
• 1 Razor Hippogriff
• 1 Dispense Justice
• 1 Glint Hawk
• 1 Ferropede
• 1 Arcbound Bruiser
• 1 Loxodon Wayfinder
• 1 Sunspear Shikari
• 1 Loxodon Anchorite
• 15 Plains

• Sideboard (4)
• 1 Dispense Justice
• 1 Salvage scout
• 1 Echoing calm
• 1 Shatter

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"Adam's SOM-DST-FDN-SOM GGD"

• Main (40)
• 1 Infested Roothold
• 1 Opaline Bracers
• 1 Iron Myr
• 1 Darksteel Myr
• 1 Emissary of Despair
• 1 Slice in Twain
• 1 Skyreach Manta
• 1 Barbed Lightning
• 1 Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1 Molder Beast
• 1 Moriok Replica
• 1 Pulse of the Tangle
• 1 Tel-Jilad Outrider
• 1 Joiner Adept
• 1 Copper Myr
• 1 Dross Golem
• 1 Accorder's Shield
• 1 Skullcage
• 1 Sylvok Explorer
• 2 Bleak Coven Vampires
• 2 Blister Grub
• 2 Horizon Spellbomb
• 1 Darksteel citadel
• 1 Blackcleave cliffs
• 1 Mountain
• 5 Swamp
• 7 Forest

• Sideboard (6)
• 1 Bringer of the Red Dawn
• 1 Greater Harvester
• 1 Echoing Ruin
• 1 Unforge
• 1 Assault Strobe
• 1 Bonds of Quicksilver

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"Shawn's SOM-DST-FDN-SOM GGD"

• Main (40)
• 2 Snapsail Glider
• 2 Neurok Replica
• 2 Perilous Myr
• 1 Saberclaw Golem
• 1 Oxidda Golem
• 1 Arcbound Bruiser
• 1 Vulshok Replica
• 1 Arcbound Slith
• 1 Arcbound Hybrid
• 1 Drill-Skimmer
• 1 Embersmith
• 1 Arcbound Worker
• 1 Stoic Rebuttal
• 1 Heliophial
• 1 Condescend
• 1 Inexorable Tide
• 1 Steady Progress
• 1 Prototype Portal
• 1 Energy Chamber
• 1 Rusted Relic
• 1 Contagion Clasp
• 6 Mountain
• 10 Island

• Sideboard (5)
• 1 Feedback Bolt
• 1 Heartseeker
• 1 Scrapdiver Serpent
• 1 Vex
• 1 Revoke Existence

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An odd combination of new and old, the mix created very interesting decks and highlighted cards very differently. The following events occurred, in no particular order:

• I played back-to-back Bleak Coven Vampire to drain 8 life.
• Steve gained approximately 15 life from his Golden Urn – no one wanted to "waste" their artifact removal on it.
• I rumbled out Bringer of the Red Dawn.
• Shawn landed Inexorable Tide and incremented his Arcbound crew quite a few times.
• I got smoked by a Tel-Jilad Justice, just like recently in EDH. I'm beginning to hate (love) that card.
• There were 8 cards remaining in my library when I won. In Shawn's? About 14.

Shenanigans were at an all-time high in that game. Riding the high of awesome Magic Steve asked for more, so on to "Super" Sealed it was. Four packs of Scars of Mirrodin and two packs each of Darksteel and Fifth Dawn were passed to all. What can you do with eight packs instead of six? Awesome stuff.

Here's a representative sample:

• Steve opened Mox Opal. He asked "Is this good?" The general response was "Uh, yeah. As long as you're going for metalcraft or lots of artifacts."
• Brendan opened Koth of the Hammer. He asked "Should I run this?" The general response was "Uh, yeah. As long as you're in red, probably."
• Shawn opened Elspeth Tirel. He asked "Is this real life?" The general response was "No." (Actually, that verbal exchange is fabricated but the card cracked was not.)
• I opened KAKAW and had the privilege (evil nature) to crow "KAKAW!" as early and often as possible.

I'd complain about "bad breaks" on opening cards but consider the following:

• I was getting all the cards back – this was a no charge, no keeps event with my personal packs.
• I open Acquire which is pretty filthy ridiculous in the world of artifacts.
• Brendan also shared that he opened a Mimic Vat. I'm sure you can see where this is going.

On my fifth turn I tapped out for Brendan's Mimic Vat. He was all frowns when I took it but, hey, it's freaking Mimic Vat and I wanted to have shenanigans for myself. Which was exactly what I got when Steve played a Glimmerpoint Stag (curiously not bouncing the Vat) which later died.

Three Mana: Otherworldly Journey (without the bonus) a permanent was pretty sweet. My deck gave me a fit of being creature light but with the help of the Vat I managed to keep my damage down and rack up counters on my Arcbound Crusher.

Despite my sandbagging of Stoic Rebuttal to nail Elspeth when she appeared, and using my lonely Galvanic Blast to hold myself in the game, Shawn managed to slam me for not only a ton of damage but also gained like 20 life. True Conviction? Hardly.

Entwined Stir the Pride.

Did I mention he also had two Vulshok Sorcerers and landed both early in the game? And two Neurok Stealthsuits? And a Skullclamp? Nice pool; nice deck. Of course, also in true Shawn fashion, Brendan managed to squeak off a win via poison after stalemate shenanigans. Who said infect barely works in regular Scars of Mirrodin Sealed? It has very interesting synergy across any evasion and all pump effects.

At least that's what I witnessed that night in Frankfort.

Shawn is going to crush one of these games one of these days; we didn't know it but it would be almost exactly like what happened to his well-loved Phillies, minus Chase Utley looking over at Jonathan Sánchez and asking "What's that bull$#!&?" before the bench clearing in the third inning of Game 6 in the 2010 NLCS.

But who's counting anyway?

Not a Baseball Story

The next day brought us to another distillery and our first BBQ joint, a little place off I-64 called Ken's Tex-Mex that served up some staples and interesting options. A family platter of three pounds of ribs later and we were all stuffed to our gills with tender, juicy meat. And sides, too.

A few hours down the stretch brought us into St. Louis proper and after a brief discussion of whether or not to try and pick up Blackhawks at Blues tickets (the final consensus was "Meh. I'd rather Magic.") we dialed in for delivery from Smokey O's and I summon a Legendary Creature – Cube-Player, and St. Louis native, Usman to join in a cube draft.

In a smoking suite in a hotel downtown. Classy, right?

Both delivery and player arrived at the same time and my "This is awesome!" meter fired when the gentleman at the front deck seemed all-to-eager to "Help you guys." with the BBQ. Returning to the room was like throwing a fresh kill into a pack of starving lions: we tore that pull pork and brisket up like something else.

Also, if you ever get the change to order from Smokey O's in St. Louis we recommend the BBQ Spaghetti. Different, interesting, and above all else very tasty.

After randomization into four packs of eleven (for our five man draft) we set about doing whatever the heck we wanted: I tried to force my favored black-green pair, but ended up black-red. Usman also tried black-green but ended up black-blue (which I secretly think was his shtick all along). Shawn had a Fireball and other aggressive good stuff. Brendan went full-on Zoo. Steve jumped into blue cards but struggled to put together a solid deck.

It wasn't until later when we could explain how and why blue is the toughest color in my cube. It didn't change the fact that he was happy to draft cards he liked and that that was the correct decision for him all along.

Whether it was experience or luck I managed to win all three of my matches, dropping only one game where a Wild Mongrel with Hyena Umbra devastated my chump blockers, stranded my removal with "nonblack" clause in my hand, and my deck failed find my Ashes to Ashes.

My first opponent was, happily for me, Usman and his control build. I was able to slam through and kill him both games before he could stabilize. I was thankful to knock away a black-heavy opponent and facing him down reaffirmed that picking up the removal that doesn't have the nonblack clause on it is so important for the black vs. black matchups.

He also had less counterspells than I thought which helped signficiantly.

My second "opponent" was BYE. I snapped a shot for Twitter and enjoyed some more fine bourbon.

My real second opponent was Brendan. Previously he had drafted "a terrible pile that didn't work" and he was excited to be digging in with a solid Zoo aggro deck. Wild Mongrel was the beating on our first two games, one of which I slipped by (thanks to some help from Brendan's manascrew) the other in which I floundered and died. The third game was a completely anticlimactic manascrew for Brendan. He was raw dogging is mana and randomization had caught up to him twice against me.

However, with just a few select fixers like from Rangers or Sakura-Tribe Elder… man, that deck would have been truly terrifying. He also had Rolling Thunder. I got really lucky to get by.

I also played Shawn but he felt he had incorrectly drafted and built his deck. After a quick one-two knockout from me he was thoroughly convinced. It's times like this that I remember the "Inferno Titan Blowout Fiesta" (as I call it) he delivered to be after M11 came out. Sometimes you have the nuts, and sometimes your decks you by them.

The suite was sweet for Magic because we had all the amenities of a real bar – smoking, alcohol, vulgar language, and table space – without any of the hassles – drunks, wind, and closing time. If you're running on a trip then give a room upgrade a try: we didn't even need to "borrow" chairs from the lounge around the corner.

The End of the Highway

We checked out as early as possible the next morning (that 5 minutes before the cutoff of 11 AM) and hit up Pappy's Smokehouse, a local staple features on numerous cable shows. There was an insane line just after 11 when we got there. There was a more insane line when we left over an hour later.

Mind you the joint only opens at 11. This was the place to be.

But for brisket, pulled pork, and the hot links we ordered there was no other place I could imagine wanting to wait that long. Completely and wholly worth it, deep fried corn on the cob and all. However our journey to the city of whatever-it-is-that-St.-Louis-is-known-for we left for home.

For a brief stay overnight just outside West Virginia we used my cube as a stack and introduced Steve to the wonders of a purely random and never-repeating social way to play. The excitement we all shared, new player or not, has poured gasoline over my desire to finish building a real stack with Titans, and time spells, and mass removal.

You know, the good stuff.

Worn out, tired, and reeking of smoke. While it wasn't pleasant to my wife – I'm still trying to get the smell out of my car – we were all glad to get home and begin the process of resting up. While it certainly wasn't Toronto (and how I wish Brad could have clinched it!) I made some memories and reinforced some friendships that should last a lifetime.

It probably doesn't help that I feel like I aged a lifetime either. We'll see if that clears up.

So my challenge to you is to go: grab some cards, take a trip, and visit the places you want to see even if there isn't a major event going on. Magic is part of the world, not the whole world itself. Make the most of both.