My experience at Thrash Bash and Gnar in the Bar
To those of you who do not know me, my name is Noah Steinbaum. I might be the youngest Old School player at 28. I reside 10 minutes west of Saint Louis. I am a member of the River City Merfolk OS club. I joined in either late 2017 or early 2018, but was largely only present virtually at that time before the GenPop discord was overrun with more value seeking “takers” than a single man named Taylor with a hunting license for finance bros could manage. I also want to preemptively apologize for any names I get wrong. I met about 15 people I have “known” through online handles other than their name, and made a point of meeting every single person at the event. I shook most of your hands if I could. That said, I may get some names jumbled.
Thrash Bash was sort of my first “larger” event. Prior to this I had attended our local events, played in the Guildhouse R40 league, Quail’s “Legend of Fall”, and the largely afterthought OS event that was PSBG4. (Seattle). The first thing I have to say or give is absolute props to Dave. Sure, he hosted it, but that’s not what I mean. This event had so much fucking HYPE going into it. There was not a single person in the room not ecstatic to be there. Months before the event people were sharing pictures of the prizes they made, moderately shit talking each-other, and debating the finer points of the Dagger V Ramp Locals western conflict.
All of this activity, some intense battling in the Guildhouse tavern, and an inspiration from Shaman Ben’s packs made me want to make some sort of contribution to the prize table greater than my artistic ability would allow. Several of you followed along as I shared my progress, but I developed the Tavern Flip Battle Pack, present in many later pictures, and a big part of my weekend, especially at the Friday night bar event.
The Ebon Hand OS club hosted an AAA event with some special custom cards the night before the main event. I need to first mention that these guys and this club was an absolute blast to hang out with. No one loves male genitalia more than an Ebon Hand member. Brian argued that we should be drawing more tits, but I think it was performative. These guys have a real appreciation for penises, to the point they have their own dick alter grading system.
For those who do not know, the Ebon hand produced their very own power proxies with some really disgusting abilities. Conceptually these would be passed around as they are added to ante when you use them, causing swingy game wins and losses with deck power ups and power drops. I built my deck to take full advantage of this. I’m not sure if that’s a “Dick Move”, but it was disgusting. The way you would likely end up with multiple lotus every game dictated my choice to be a vise wheel deck, but I did not want to play Atog. Not because I was trying to hold back, but because I did not want to have to pass turn to win games after resolving my threat. This landed me on goblins. Goblin grenades are disgusting with multiple time twisters, wheels, and contracts. It turned out to be absolutely the right call.
(My Ante deck after the night was done, minus a Mountain Eric W accidently took. It came with 1 less red mox, lotus, contract, and bolt, and with another goblin artisan, 2 mountains, and chain.)
I arrived at Gnar at around 5:45. It was hosted at a little spot called CJ’s that apparently turns into a Latin dance club at around 11:00. I brought a ton of the booster packs to use as Ante. Upon arriving I met Eric Westfall, and Todd Harris. Eric and I set up for some AAA games and my night began. Eric was playing a really cool reanimator deck. We played a total of 9 games. My Goblins were arguably a bit too fast for the reanimator strategy. He did open a lotus, land, discard polar kraken + time walk, into a turn 2 reanimating it. I had a chump blocker and he got me to 1 before he had to sacrifice it, but was unable to close the game. Thankfully this was not an indicator on how the main event would go for him!
I’m not going to go over every AAA game I played because I played 38 games. My next opponent was Stoomie. He was on a really well built red green deck and absolutely could have taken a few more off of me if we played longer. In 3 games he took 1, and he earned his pack. It was my only loss for the night. I played several games against Todd, Brian, Spencer, Jason, and several other opponents. Notably Todd absolutely should have taken some off of me, but every time he hymned me to nothing, a wheel or contract was my next draw. I ended up giving the packs to my opponents once they got tired of playing me, because that was the point of them after all. We also dumped packs on every table at least twice throughout the night to go to the winner of the ongoing game. It was a blast to see all of the sweet alters opened thanks to contributions from Chris Martin, Kyle Wells, and Shaman Ben. I could not have anticipated how appreciative everyone was for the packs and how much fun we had opening them.
So it was 10:45 or so when the Lights changed and the bar prepared for its transition to a Latin night club. We wrapped up our games, and I had the most wins, making me the winner of Gnar in the Bar. The prizes I made for 2nd, 3rd, and “Best Necro Player’ were handed out. I received an invite from Eric and Brian to go to their Airbnb and continue the party, which was an adventure of its own.
Upon arriving at their Airbnb, we discovered the electric lock was broken or dead. Several games of magic on the sidewalk took place until Erik (different than Eric from before) took a wide stance and ripped the door knob along with the lockbox directly off of the door. He then smashed it on the ground, launching the key on the inside, flying into the night, only to be found later by someone else. Being old school magic players, we naturally signed the destroyed door knob for Erik as a prize for best “breaking and entering.” I got a couple games against Brian’s very cool All Hallows Eve deck and took a picture with Joe Singer, Creator of the channel “The Orb,” and cool dude I previously only knew virtually, before heading back to my hotel.
The 14th had finally come and it was a great day for thrashing. Before heading to the venue I stopped and met Slum at a breakfast bar called “PEGGS.” He was supposed to be at Gnar but got held up in O’Hare. He was another person on my “list” of folks I wanted to meet in person that I had been talking to online for a while. It was a good call too because that place had fantastic Chicken and Waffles.
The venue for Thrash was a fantastic spot called Tippecanoe Place/Studebaker Brewery. It was a restaurant and a Bar in a giant old castle-like mansion.
I arrived early and Met Dave in the parking lot. We chatted a bit about the night before and moved some tables. People started showing up and adding their prizes to the table. When I mentioned this event was really well hyped up, I was not kidding. This prize table was enormous. I had to take 3 pictures to do it justice. I added my contribution of 2 alters and the packs. Most notably, several groups and individuals had sent stuff from across the world. I saw several Merhans alters from Germany. Cam also had provided some sweet alters. The counterspell he added would have been my main target if I scrubbed out and got to pick a prize early in the lineup.
As far as the games themselves go, I am just going to highlight defining moments. I don’t remember
exactly how every game went. Just the conversations around them and the general idea.
This is what I played- photo taken after prize cards were added, sorry!
Round 1 VS Jon Revell – Aggro shops with Juggernaut
This was one of those “Of fucking course, end boss round one” type situations. If you asked me prior to pairings if I could not be paired against 1 person, round 1, I would have said Jon, only because I would have rather had our fated showdown in a later round. Jon and I had play tested online plenty, and talked about our decks and matchups extensively. I believe we could each recite each other’s 75 from memory. It was bittersweet because we had spent a ton of time preparing with each other, becoming friends through the process, but both had to try and round 1 dream-kill the other. Even so It was an absolute pleasure to get to meet him in person after spending so much time online chatting, testing, bouncing ideas, etc!
Game 1: I started ancestral, got value, threw bolts at juggernauts, psi blasted suchis, eventually took control of mana and beat in with a troll.
Before even starting game 2, we heard someone scream FIRST BLOOD. It was Eric, Breaker of doors. I swear round 1 started less than 10 minutes ago.
Game 2: Jon mulls to 5, I’m feeling “good” about my chances but bad about him potentially just getting screwed on draws. He opens mox, ancestral, workshop, mox, juggernaut. Turn 2 suchi, turn 3 trike. Guess I was worried for nothing! I had no fast mana and could not contest his board.
Game 3: It started heavily in my favor. I was able to keep him off of mana, but I’m flooding out hard myself. He eventually gets a tutor to find a workshop and starts emptying his hand. I am nearly dead to 3 trikes on board. With 2 cards in hand, I rip a sylex. (13 life) I play it and activate it, removing a workshop and 3 trikes. He shoots me to 4 life but I manage to beat him to death with a troll. Later in the day he made a small edit to my sylex to commemorate the moment. I really appreciated it because this is one of those cards I will never get rid of and will always bring back a fun memory.
Round 2 VS James “Stoomie” Owens – Mono black
This one can be or will eventually be able to be watched on Joe Singer’s channel “The Orb,” as we were the feature match. Notably Stoomie and I both had to mulligan and agreed to just each go back to 7.
Game 1: This one is a bit of a blur. I know he had 3 Juzams down at one point but it was too late to weather my serendib + burn. I had trolls down to regenerate and block and slowly kill him with his own pings. I know I had a library live for like 1 turn at some point, but he was on 4 strip 4 sinkhole, it was short lived. this might have been that game?
Game 2: My hand looks great. Sol ring, city in a bottle, 2 black sources, an order of the ebon hand, maybe a bolt, and a mox. Stoomie opens slow with a swamp and a pass. I open with a sol ring I believe. Stoomie hymns and absolutely whiffs. He gets 2 lands leaving me with a land, order, and city in a bottle. I Dump it all and after he reveals he’s stuck with a hymn to my empty hand, and 2 juzam’s in his own. In retrospect, being against mono black I likely should have just deployed the city on turn 1, as they can only remove it with chaos orb.
Round 3 VS Chad Proctor-Frazier – Disco/burn Troll
Chad was the previous year champ, and we were playing something somewhat close to a mirror match. I think I had a slight advantage after seeing his list because in bolt mirrors you don’t typically want wheels, and he had his discs main which you don’t want in a troll mirror. Game 2 could get dicey as he was much more able to play under the moon than I, and boarded some number in.
Game 1: I open the nightmare hand game 1 of land, lotus, mox, mox, mindtwist. He scoops after 3 or so turns. I felt bad but he told me he runs a twist too. Twist wins will never feel “earned” but in a field of full power shops, atog, 4 strips, and 12 bolt, I was not pulling any punches.
Game 2: Possibly one of the most fun games I played that day. It came down to card advantage, as it often does. We go back and forth with trades but a few moments felt most defining. He opened a land and ancestral recalled on my turn. Later He played 2 trolls with 1 black up, I was able to strip the mana and chain lightning both of them. (I also realized this is where I messed up as I was only supposed to have 1 chain in my deck after siding, and accidentally took out a lightning bolt.) My Braingeyser for 4 resolved and I was able to counter his with a sideboard counterspell. When you are playing a mirror, it’s really just about how the individual cards line up when no one is screwed on mana. He drops a blood moon but he’s at 4 life and I’m able to get there. Chad agreed to a photo with me representing the Daggers with absolute style.
R4 VS Spencer Luallen – Erhnam Burnem
This was cool because Spencer and I have played a lot of webcam magic and he is newer to oldschool. While the Cams and Quails and Pez’s got to be my figures at the pearly gates of 93/94, I got to be a part of his early OS experience. We had several of the same convos they had with me, and I got to hand deliver him his first Posca alter. (After one I tried to send him got lost in a damaged PWE in the mail) He was on a REALLY bad losing streak prior to this event but was having a great comeback, going into round 4 with a 3-0 record, without having a single game lost i believe.
Game 1: I have something nuts. I honestly don’t remember and my brain is shot at this point. I know I had ancestral and a mox in my opener. I believe I had a troll down on 2 or 3 and he had a fast Erhnam. It was the one I had given him at the start of the event. We fist bumped when he played it. I think I buried him in card advantage and burned him out.
Game 2: This one is is rough for him. My sideboard has a lot of really gross stuff into any type of Arabian aggro.. 2 city in a bottle, 2 terror, 2 counters, falling star, etc. I start this game more modestly, removing some of his dorks and we trade several strip mines. I draw terror for his erhnam and resolve a troll. Slow troll beatdown and some burn gets there. He reveals to me that he was stuck on 2 artifact blasts in his hand, and I just happened to draw the terrors instead of the city in a bottle this game.
Here’s the alter I mentioned.
Round 5 VS Scott Hawksworth – White weenie
Scott was an absolute pleasure to meet. He had a great demeanor throughout our game, and gave me props on a big play at the end of game 2. Rocking banding cards at a top table is an absolute power move.
Game 1: Honestly I don’t recall a ton about this one. I think I had bolts for the first 3 threats or so. I eventually demonic tutor for ancestral recall and got ahead on cards. I think a serendib gets hit with a swords to plowshares, opening the path for a troll and a factory to swing in for a few turns.
Game 2: This one he starts stronger or I start weaker. He drops 3 straight threats, and I do not answer all of them immediately this game. The defining moment was getting to play an earthquake killing a lion, javelin, and white order, then resolving my black order which he really can’t interact with. That and a factory sort of just swung in a few times for the game. Scott gave me props on the earthquake and we chatted for a bit after this one.
End of Event
Time is called and the results are in. In what is absolutely the closest finish I have ever been a part of, Eric, the other 5-0 is awarded the win on half a percent of opponent game win percentage. I don’t entirely know how all of this works, but we both only lost one game in the day, and both to Jon Revell. I think it shakes out as: one person he beat had one more win than one person I beat. Eric played excellently all day from what I saw, and absolutely deserved the win. We both still want to play a webcam game at some point here. Ryan on a red blue shops deck takes 3rd, and Stoomie gets 4th, making up the top 4, and your new daggers.
After this we do prizes. Kyle Wells wins the “dead last” award, an altered lost soul by Dave himself. I got to give a pack to every player in addition to the prizes they got off the table. It was a fantastic experience and everyone was so encouraging of the project, it absolutely made the time spent on it worthwhile.
Here are a couple of the cool pack pulls, including some of the CE duals I stamped and stuffed into them.
To put a cap on it, This was such an incredible experience. It meant so much more than just playing the games. I met at least a few people I have “known” for 5 plus years virtually, as well as several more that I have known for a few months or years. Every person I met here is someone I am looking forward to seeing again, and while it sounds weird I miss a lot of them already. If nothing else its a reason to get another event on my calendar.
Also a quick special thanks to Dave for putting this on and raising over $1,800.00 for charity.
Also to all of the people that donated things to the packs.
Chris Martin
Jason Williams
Carson Morell
Doug Greer
Ben Perry
The entire Hippies club
The entire Music city OS club
So many others!
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