As I watch more and more Vs. System being played, the game becomes increasingly fascinating to me. Learning the intricacies of a strong game system inspires one to learn more. As I’ve watched some of the best playing the game, my interest in joining them at the table has grown. I know I can’t compete, but with the challenge solidifying in my relatively inexperienced eyes, the need to meet it head-on is surfacing.

Here’s the rub. I just spent a week in Vegas, followed by a fifteen-hour work day yesterday. After a fine dinner with judge coordinator Ian Estrin, I got back to my room at 12:52 a.m. and set a wake up call for 7:15. That means I spent six hours and twenty-three minutes trying to figure out why I wasn’t asleep. I didn’t catch a wink.

Sleep is imperative when doing tournament coverage. You need to be able to keep up with the action and get the explanatory words onto the page. I made it through a quarterfinal round in which I was observing three of the four matches without too much trouble, and thus I felt confident about assigning myself coverage of the semifinal match between Alex Tennet, playing Brave and the Bold, and Jeff Hagen and his Evil Medical Center deck. Big mistake.

Don’t get me wrong, those are two of the best players, and two very nice guys, to boot, but I started doing the “last hour of school for the week” head-bob when I heard Head Judge David Weiss tell the players, “Gentlemen, you’ve used 32 of your 90 allotted minutes, and its only turn 5. It would be in both your best interests to play faster.” With insomnia, jet lag, and a complete lack of nourishment for the day, I lost the battle. My note taking, which up until that moment had been play-by-play, slowed to a halt.

Game 1 ended up being a true marathon, lasting better than an hour. I probably would have started snoring out a course of Beethoven’s Fifth, or something like Ramstein’s “Du Hast,” if not for Rob Leander’s company. One of the best players in the world, I’ve gotten to know Rob a lot better this weekend, and he possesses keener insights into the game than anyone I’ve yet spoken with.

Rob lost to Jason in the quarterfinals, but he learned a lot about the deck that he lost to in the process. “Jason’s been choosing odds, but he should be going evens,” said the two-time $10K champ. “He’s got Doom, and Roy Harper ◊ Speedy can kill off Alfred Pennyworth before it activates.”

With a little more than 25 minutes left to win game 2 and get to an untimed game 3, Alex’s pace quickened noticeably. Not that he was clock managing, mind you—there was never any point in game 1 where he had a clear advantage, what with Alfred doing Jason’s dirty work from the first turn of the match. Rather, he knew that at the pace he normally plays and given the matchup at hand, there was no way he’s beat the clock unless he rushed.

The ting is, when a slow player tries to play fast, the change of tempo can lead to mistakes. Alex quickly kept his opening hand, which made Rob grimace, mouthing the words, “there’s no way I would have kept that,” largely because of Alfred’s absence. Alex managed a slight early advantage, but when Doom came to town on turn 4, most of Alex’s little army was back in his hand. It was a tempo shift that couldn’t be overcome.

Leander remarked that it seemed to him that Alex was playing too defensively, as if he’d already lost, possibly as a result of investing so much in game 1. There’s a lesson to be learned from this—as important as each game is, you need to prepare yourself mentally for the future, regardless of the road that leads you there.

Jason played well, and in the end he deserved the win. After 90 minutes, however, I have to admit that I was relieved the match was over. That said, I learned a lot just from watching the match. It’s always valuable to observe the masters of their craft, even when they’re on the brink of exhaustion.