SHOWDOWN

It’s high noon in the middle of September, and a tumbleweed blows across the scorching desert floor as vultures circle two figures walking toward each other. A boot plants firmly on the ground, eyes fixed on the man across from him as sweat beads above his brow. Both men’s hands hovered over their pistols, anticipating who would draw first. Before the men can grab their guns, a shot rings out over the desert, echoing throughout the valley, and both men simultaneously fall to the ground. A third figure walks into the frame, standing above the two defeated foes. A grin runs across his face as he picks a spec of paper off one of the man’s chests. He says to himself, “Chaos Confetti works every time.”

Before lockdowns, social distancing, and bartering for toilet paper were a thing, an event known as the Showdown would take place in the middle of the Arizona desert at the Palace Saloon in 2020. Unfortunately, Covid-19 would screw that up, forcing it to be delayed. Fast forward three years to 2023, and it’s SHOWDOWN TIME MOTHERFUCKERS! YEEEEEEEE HAW!

For some reason, when booking my hotel, if I stayed three days instead of two, my hotel room was cheaper. I decided to head out of town a day early for the trip and get into Arizona on Thursday. The drive was terrific for a trek through the middle of the desert in September due to a thunderstorm that happened to be present. I went the whole way with windows down and no AC, listening to Eric Martin and Ken Fritz on the podcast This Old Deck. Ken, I’ll see you at Chalice with the water bottle you left at my house. If you read my article, “Follow the Golden Bloom Road.” you’ll know my love for the desert landscape, and this drive was no different. Saguaro, prickly pear, and Ocotillo were some of the most prominent Plant life that stuck out to me during the drive there. At one point, I stopped in the middle of the desert to enjoy the view and watch the thunderstorm for a few minutes.

Checking out the view. Love my 4Runner as well.

I arrived in Mesa, Arizona, mid-afternoon and, after unpacking, decided to see if I could get a tattoo I drew up earlier in the week. Everything happens for a reason, and the artist I had been eyeballing online the week prior happened to have an opening! Once we discussed the layout and agreed on a price, it was time to go back under the needle for the first time since 2012! Abigail is a straight machine and knocked my entire tattoo out in under three hours! She was also great for conversation the whole time. If you’re in the AZ and looking to get blasted, hit her up on Instagram at Hoppertattoos. I’m already looking forward to seeing her soon for my next one.

After being bandaged with this Dermabond sheet to protect my arm for the weekend, I headed out to Damyan Brunson’s Airbnb for a night of beer, tacos, 7-Point Singleton, and my new favorite deck to break out, DanDan! Kyra Sacdalan and Justin Coffey, the weekend hosts, arrived shortly after, and we practiced different styles of Chaos Confetti throws during 7-Point games until about 1 a.m. before calling it a night and making the 30-minute drive back to my hotel because Damyan stayed out in the middle of nowhere. I dragged myself out of bed the following day.

I met with Justin, Brain Vegso, and Brain Urbano at The Crepe Café for breakfast. The Chorizo burrito Crepe was outstanding if you like Mexican food. Once I arrived, I noticed Coffey and Urbano were playing a newer game I’d heard of but have yet to see being played, Sorcery. I will only get a little into this, as this game looks dense, and I still have no idea what I was watching, but it looked interesting. From what I gathered, there were four zones, multiple battlefields, and ways to engage with permanents. I’m open to trying Sorcery if anyone has this at Chalice and wants to teach me. Adam Lipinski from Neos showed up to breakfast also. It’s always awesome to get to meet people you talk to online in person. After a few hours, Justin and I took off and snatched up Mox Emerald Scott from the Emerald City Trolls and Andy Swaffar from the Houston Falling Stars at the airport. We had time to kill after picking up the crew from the airport. We went to Justin’s place, where we all caught up over a couple of beers, before heading out to the Silver Key Lounge for the special Friday event, 7-Point Singleton, where get ready, Chaos Confetti was legal!

Never playing 7-Point before, I wanted to go with something simple so I didn’t have to think about it too much, as I planned to chill and drink with the homies. I decided on a Mono Green build just to cast big creatures and deliver even bigger beats. The 7-Point event was very relaxed. You just found an opponent, played a single game, and moved on to the next, trying to chalk up as many wins, or in my case, beers and losses as possible. I went 3-3, so it wasn’t all losses, just half the time. My favorite play of the night was letting my opponent attack me and not blocking with my only creature, Lurker, bringing me to 1 life. My opponent attempted to kill Lurker with removal, but due to me not blocking, Lurker had Hexproof. My opponent, seeing this, realized he was at two life, and his blocker was useless as I had Sword of the Ages on the battlefield. I untapped and sacrificed Lurker for the W. In my best Borat voice, I said, “Very nice, great success!” I only got to rip up three Chaos Confetti throughout the night, and if you saw Mox Emerald Scott’s video on Instagram, I threw a big chunk into my beer. But the best part of the evening was when I went out to get pizza halfway through the event and stumbled into a CAT CAFÉ! If you know me, you know I have two giant cats and would own all the cats if I hit the lottery. I hung out and played with cats for about a half hour. After the event and paying my bar tab, I called it a night and caught a ride back to the hotel with my fellow Fallen Angel club member Brian Vegso.

On the main event day (The Showdown at High Noon), my weekend roommate Andy and I caught breakfast at a local spot, Wildberries, in Mesa, AZ. After both being sold on the Biscuits and gravy, we sat and shared our love for the era of the set Apocalypse and the nostalgia that came with it. After breakfast, we had to run by the tattoo shop before heading to the main event as I forgot my ID there on Thursday night. The Main event was held at the Mammoth Steakhouse in Goldfield Ghost Town, and we were welcomed by the bartender, who, to this day, I believe was in the witness protection program, like Christopher Walken, who plays the ex-mafia boss now School Janitor “Clem” in Joe Dirt. Yeah, it was that, but it was even more comedic than the movies. Round one started very promptly. I won the dice roll, opened with Land, Mox, and Black Lotus, tapped Mox to play Black Vise, and sacrificed Black Lotus into Blood Moon GO! My opponent was on Atog, which slowed him down enough for me to get the needed wins. Round two was against Mono Black, and the massive amount of land destruction backed by Bolts, Chain Lightning, and Black Vise won me a quick 2-0. Round three, I lost my ass to Ernageddon. The GW deck runs too many mana-producing creatures, and land sources for even my Ponza build for the event. The next three rounds were a blur with the combination of the alcohol and heat from being in a poorly air-conditioned western bar (on par for the theme). Still, I know I lost two of the three, and in my last game with Joseph from the Desert Twisters, we’ll call a cooperative draw even though they don’t exist in Old School. If you want to know that story, you’ll have to ask in person.

My Ponza build for Showdown

Sheriff Justin laying down the law of the land.

Wanted posters I was commissioned to make for the event bounties

Following the last round is one of the most anticipated parts of Old School events, the charity raffle. And man, did the Desert Twisters have some good stuff! To name a few, jewelry donated by Rock Love, some of the best-altered cards I’ve seen in a charity raffle (and I’m not just saying that because I did some.), Bullet Counters from Brian Vegso that he put all of his raffle tickets in to win back haha, and a fully proxied choose you own adventure style deck designed and donated by Jaco, and won by Watte (which you purchases serialized versions of these cards to try and win the deck, oh and of course Brian Urbano got the 001 Black Lotus, the luck this dude has is unreal but we still love him).

We ended the night at a karaoke bar with a good amount of the group from the whole weekend. There were some excellent singers in the Old School lineup, and it only made for a better night, as when one of us would go up, the place would erupt in singing and cheering. I was lucky to escape my lineup as it was getting late, and I had signed up to sing “Forgot about Dre” with the New Mexico crew. I ended up with a door poster from the Karaoke bar in my Old School bag, which I vaguely remember acquiring from David Craig. We called it a night, and I hit the road early the following day. The event, on the whole, was a great time. Justin, Kyra, and the Desert Twister crew know how to welcome everyone at their events. They were the first Old School club I was introduced to almost four years ago, and I joined Old School due to their openness. I’m in this community for the long haul now; shit, I got a Chaos Orb tattoo over the weekend. It’s like they say, “Blood In, Blood Out.” (By the way, that movie came out in 1993, so it’s very fitting for Old School).