Grand Theft Etali and "Grist's Plane Ride" @ MagicCon Last Vegas 26'
MagicCon Vegas was one for the books.
Travis,
Jeff, and I landed in Vegas after a 4-hour flight and decided to grab lunch
before worrying about our luggage. We hit up Ruby’s Diner in the airport - honestly a solid start to the trip. Afterward, we grabbed our bags from Delta
baggage services and headed to the Luxor for night one before moving over to
the Westgate near the convention center.
Our rooms
weren’t ready yet, so naturally we wandered into the casino. As a graveyard
Magic player and paranormal investigator/ghost hunter, there was only one
correct choice for my first Vegas slot machine: The Mummy.
First
machine in Vegas… boom. $120 win.
Things
were looking good.
Eventually
we got our rooms, and that’s when the chaos started. I opened my suitcase to
find all of my Commander decks completely exploded throughout the bag. Somehow
none of the cards were bent, but I had to sort everything back into their
respective decks. The weird part? No TSA tag. No indication my bag had been
searched.
Then I
realized I only had 5 out of my 6 decks.
My Grist
cEDH deck ....roughly a $8000 deck ....was missing.
Internally
I was panicking, but I tried to stay calm. I immediately started calling DTW
TSA, lost and found, baggage offices… everybody. Since Vegas is 3 hours behind
Detroit, most places back home were already closing. Luckily, every deck I own
is fully cataloged and updated on Moxfield, so I uploaded the entire decklist
into the lost item report along with descriptions of the sleeves, deck box,
custom tokens, and even the Grist artwork on the front card.
That night
I coped the only logical Vegas way possible:
By
donating a few hundred dollars to the slot machines at Excalibur next door.
The next
morning I was up at 5:30 AM Vegas time .... 8:30 back in the D. I spent hours
getting bounced between TSA, Delta baggage, and lost & found offices until
finally a TSA baggage claim employee in Detroit told me:
“Call Las
Vegas baggage claim directly.”
I called.
A woman
answered and after I described the deck she immediately said:
“Yep, we
have it.”
Apparently
the deck had fallen out of my suitcase and was riding around the baggage
carousel until someone turned it in.
I immediately Ubered back to the airport with my buddy Larry ... who had arrived later the previous day with our friend Mark ... and I finally got my deck back. (Another cool part of this event: Larry and I had an awesome Uber driver at the airport. He ended up waiting for us while we ran inside, and instead of charging us the full fare while the meter kept running, he actually turned the meter off and just took us back for some cash afterward. Small gesture, but it was one of those moments that reminded us there are still genuinely good people out there)
Crisis
avoided.
Or so we
thought.....
The next day our crew went to the Westgate and stayed there, the remainder of our trip - the same place where Elvis Presly performed in the last years of his life .
Later that
night the five of us decided to check out a local game store. We browsed
through vintage Magic products, checked out the shop, and eventually sat down
for a Commander game. That’s where we met a guy I’ll call “Stanley.”
Standard
Rule 0 conversation:
Bracket 3 game.
Travis
played Kefka.
Jeff played Krenko.
Stanley played Giada Angels.
I played my copy deck.
Long game.
Stanley eventually took the win because the life gain and flying board state
got way out of control.
After the
game we headed outside to wait for our Uber. A few minutes later Stanley walked
out and casually asked if we were going to dinner.
We said
no, just heading back to the hotel.
As we got
into the vehicle, Travis suddenly realized he forgot his orange archive
box back inside the shop.
We ran
back in.
Gone.
Inside the
box:
Brago edh… and Travis’ Etali cedh deck worth just under $10,000.
Not just
any Etali deck either ...this was the same deck Travis won an SCG CON cEDH 5K
with. The deck that people all over the internet talked about after the Mana
Crypt and Jeweled Lotus bans. Honestly, I’d argue it helped put Etali back on
the map competitively after the banning.
Travis was
crushed.
We
immediately suspected Stanley.
Our Uber
driver (absolute legend by the way ) turned his meter off and helped us circle
around looking for him while Travis and Jeff stayed behind reviewing security
footage.
Sure
enough… it was him. That's what the cameras revealed.
Even
crazier? Stanley had told us earlier that there was a game store he frequented and that he played there all the time (even had a play mat).
The store
owner and Travis started contacting local Vegas game stores warning them about
the stolen deck in case cards started showing up for sale.
The next
day Travis got word Stanley was at his home shop.
Travis and
Jeff rushed over there and literally sat in the back of the store all day
waiting for police to arrive.
Eventually
they confronted Stanley and recovered almost everything except for a foil
Boseiju. Travis decided not to press charges after getting the deck back.
Come to
find out, Stanley was banned from over 40 local game
stores around Vegas going forward (They have a good tight knit community there).
The local game store gave each of us in our crew a playmat for Travis and Jeff to take to us (Ironically the same ones Stanley had).
At the end of the day - Vegas was wild.
We had dinner with the owners of popular pool brand KAMUI (https://www.kamuibrand.com/en/)at benihana's, which was my first experience of the restaurant (they sit random people down with you if your party isnt large enough to go around the entire table for the cool Japanese chef show experience... They had the The APA Poolplayer championships going on in the 2nd convention center at the hotel. They are from long beach, california where I go sometimes for work and gave me some places to try next time i am out there.
MagicCon still was fun....
I managed to collect all 7 Chaos Emeralds (I had 4 already) and got a Chains of Mephistopheles... Placed 3rd even in an event with Jeff in a 2HG draft out of 120 teams! (Packs below and standings) .
We recovered a missing cEDH deck from airport baggage claim, tracked down a stolen $10K Etali deck, survived the Luxor slots, and somehow still made it to MagicCon.
Only in
Vegas! and Whatever stays in Vegas (that mumbo jumbo quote)..... Nope we got our stuff back - that's the spirit of ATG - work together to not give up for what's ours!
About the Author:
@mtgsparks.bsky.social
@resmustang on Moxfield or Scan QR:
Veteran Commander Player | Magic Player Since 7th Edition | Creator of The Jumanji Format | #Team ATG: All That Games
(Detroit, MI - USA)
Resmustang has played Magic since 2001, specializing in Commander and community building. He's an accomplished EDH writer, podcaster, and the creator of the Jumanji Format, a chaotic twist on EDH.
Commander didn't just become his favorite format-it helped save his life during a dark time. That experience fuels his passion to create games that connect people, not just win them. For him, the best games aren't about power level-they're about the people you share them with.
Resmustang supports EDH, cEDH, budget cEDH, MTGA 100 Card Brawl and Pauper EDH, always brewing, building, and mentoring others.
His signature deck is Meren of Clan Nel Toth, played as a high-powered, non-infinite build. His favorite card: Spore Frog!
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