Yeticon 2023

One of the benefits of boarding a plane at 5 am is watching the sunrise at 40,000 feet, something I have become accustomed to the last few years since joining the Old School community. But the Trip to Yeticon in Denver, Colorado, offered an additional view this year: a full view of the illuminated Formula 1 racetrack in my hometown of Las Vegas for the race that would be happening that night. The flight into Colorado was surprisingly smooth, as you usually hit turbulence coming through the mountain passes.

Once Brian Vegso and I landed, we boarded a bus to the rental car company, waiting for Brian Urbano to meet us. We all decided a few days before going to the same place we ate breakfast when we landed last year for Yeticon, the“Looking Good Diner.” As the portions are enormous and the food is good. During breakfast 93/94, Magic was not the main topic for once; instead, the hot topic was “Sorcery: Contested Realms.” We discussed Avatars, the decks that complimented them, hot cards, and what we wanted to build next. Urbano also brought me a sealed box of Sorcery I purchased from Nick Aiello. I picked up a Beta Philosopher Stone from Urbano to complete my so-called “Sorcery Power.”

Urbano’s Pristine 10 Philosophers Stone!

After breakfast, we checked into our hotel, dropped our bags off, and drove to Green Mountain Brewing Co., where the 2023 Yeticon was held. Jared Miller went all out on the swag for Yeticon 2023, and for the $75 entry fee, it was one of the best event swag bags I have seen. This bag was loaded with a playmat, stickers, a Yeti pin, Old School Pogs (yes, you read that right, POGS!), cards, and a drink ticket! Brandon designed the playmats utilizing Margaret Organ-Kean’s Ivory Tower art with a random Colorado seasonal background, and you did not know what season you got until you checked in with Sara Miller, who did an outstanding job running the event! Oh, there was also a full table of snacks. I headed to the bar to order a beer for myself and Joe Nash, aka Yeti from The Beasts of the Bay, and we caught up on life before the first round of the 93/94 event started. Round one pairing went up, and my fellow clubmate Brian Vegso and I were paired against each other. It took a blazing 8 minutes for us to finish our games, as we were both on identical builds of Power Monolith. Brian had a better draw than me and got the 2-0 finish. We decided to grab another beer and go out on the patio, enjoy the beautiful Colorado weather, and play games of Sorcery until round two. In the next three rounds, I pulled a quick 2-0 finish on my opponents. We took a lunch break after round two, and just as Jared knocked the swag bags out of the park, he followed it up with an even better lunch: A full BBQ spread! The meats were delicious, but that Macaroni and cheese with the bacon on top was primo!

I ended up in a top 8 seat for the cut to the top 4. I lost 2-1 to Don Perrien; having 12 counters post-side boarding was too much to battle through to attempt my combo. Before the top 4 battled it out, Jared and I ran to the Domino’s Pizza next door and grabbed about ten pizzas for dinner. You can tell Jared has been taking notes while attending events and is perfecting being a Tournament Organizer. We closed the Brewery, and Urbano, Vegso, and I returned to our hotel. Brian and Brian stayed up playing games of Sorcery in the lobby, and I headed back to the room for an “early” night as I had been up since 0230 that day.

The following morning, Vegso woke up early and drove Urbano back to the airport, and I slept in until about 0900. I found a Dutch Bros coffee, and we went to Casa Bonita to check the legendary landmark from South Park season 7 episode 11. It was closed, but I wanted to get a few pictures anyway. I approached the front and noticed it was roped off like a nightclub. As I ducked underneath one of the ropes to get more pictures, an armed security guard busted through the front doors, yelling, “Get back behind the barrier!” I noticed two more security personnel standing inside the front doors. I de-escalated the situation, and the guard and I chatted for a few minutes about the remodel and how there is currently over a million-person waitlist to get inside, and it’s invitational only. This was different from the Casa Bonita I visited in 2012, which smelled like mold and had the dining experience of South Park Elementary Cafeteria. I wish the security guard would have yelled, “Hey, Respect my Authority!” just once. We still had time before the Sunday Premodern tournament started, so we found a local LGS and played more games of Sorcery before departing to Green Mountain Brewing again.

For the Premodern Tournament, I decided to play Reanimator. I do not play a lot of Premodern, but I love anything that brings creatures back from the graveyard. So, when I get the chance, I will play necromancer and summon up the dead. There was a $25 buy-in to the event, with the winners splitting a cash prize. My first-round opponent was on Stiflenought. I won the dice roll, and my opening hand was straight gas. Gemstone Mine, Swamp, Lotus Petal, Unmask, Dark Ritual, Reanimate, and Verdant Force. It was a no-brainer play. I played the Swamp and Lotus Petal, Pitching Dark Ritual to Unmask, targeting myself and discarding Verdant Force, then used my Swamp to cast Reanimate returning Verdant Force. The Saprolings’ every upkeep was too much for my opponent to keep up with. Game two was similar, but I had two Cabal Therapy in hand and targeted Stifle and Dreadnought out of my opponent’s hand. I won 2-0. I, unfortunately, lost the next two matches, knocking me out of contingency for winning anything, and Vegso was sitting at the same record, so we mutually decided to drop and get lunch.

After lunch, we returned to the brewery and jammed games of Sorcery until the Sunday event was over. Like two people from Las Vegas, we were the last ones at the bar until we finished our games. We headed back to the airport, where we did get out on an earlier flight to Vegas due to a plane being delayed, and did not have to wait at the airport for an additional three hours for our original flight.

Overall, Yeticon was a successful weekend, and I think the Colorado Mountain Yetis outdid themselves with this event. The Yetis truly stepped into the light as a hot contender for events, and I will say this: if you do not travel to many events in a year, “THIS IS YOUR BIGGEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK!” for the relatively low entry fee. I would like to see a venue change for the next event to see what Jared Miller can pull off with a slightly bigger tournament.

ROLL PHOTOS!!