The following is a complete and true record of the voyages of Marc Flore’s Triskelion from November 2017 until April 2018.
As written and noted elsewhere, I traveled to Pittsburgh to participate in Eternal Central’s Old School Tournament at Eternal Weekend on October 19, 2017. My deck for the day was Icy Venom Toolbox:
I did not have (and, to this day, still do not own) a proper black-bordered Antiquities Triskelion, so I sleeved up a 4th Edition version. Before the tournament began, I was hobnobbing with Marc Flore, New England Old School’s main Maine man, clad in a totally baller black denim Nightmare jacket:
Somehow it came up that I shouldn’t be running a 4th Edition Triskelion as my only maindeck creature at an event that would go on to set a new high watermark as Old School Magic’s biggest stage in 2017. I agreed with this sentiment.
And so, I borrowed Marc Flore’s Triskelion to use in my deck, and I gave Marc one of my Antiquities Strip Mines — actually, the one with the little tower on it — as an IOU/collateral for the time being. I had assumed that “the time being” would just be that single day. And what a day it was!
But I was wrong. Marc and I didn’t meet up again after the tournament to reverse the swap. So, the next morning, I went back to Boston with this Triskelion. I didn’t think much of it. Some day soon, I would see Marc, maybe at our favorite pizza place in southern New Hampshire, and I could give him his Trike back.
But Marc didn’t come to New Hampshire a few weeks later. I had this Trike that didn’t belong to me, and it was safely encased in a toploader. It had a nice black border. It was strangely anthropomorphic, you know, for an odd bit of artifice. I guess it was kinda cute.
Anyway, the next day, this happened:
I travel a fair amount for work. It just so happened that I was about to take a trip to India in late November, by way of London and a quick visit to the Brothers of Fire and Christopher Cooper’s 93/94 Team Unified tournament. There was Old School to be played, so the Triskelion naturally wanted to be involved. Our way forward was clear.
We actually almost got to stop in Paris on the way home, too. Our original itinerary had us on about a 5 hour layover at CDG, and I had fever dreams of sprinting out of the airport, rolling into Gare du Nord on the RER B, dashing up to Sacré-Cœur, snapping a Trike-selfie, and hauling it all the way back just in time to catch my flight to Boston. Unfortunately, it wasn’t destined to be. My flight out of Delhi was cancelled, and instead of gallivanting through Paris with the Triskelion I was clearly beginning to have feelings for, we were marooned in a Hotel California-type limbo for another 24 hours in India.
Even so, it was a nice little adventure: New York, London, Bombay and Delhi. I’d give the Trike back to Marc at our next Granfanally’s meet-up, which was already set for a couple weeks later, mid-December.
But as it would happen, mid-December in New Hampshire brought a pretty good snow storm. Marc claimed that he couldn’t make it out of his driveway in southern Maine. The Trike and I were despondent. (We still made the trek up to Granfanally’s for Old School, of course.) But the next morning, I had a plane to catch, and fate would have it that a certain Triskelion was still in my possession.
Winter had come, and with it, the Winter Derby. Marc’s Triskelion obviously found its way into my deck.
It was a good run; we made Top 8. Copy Artifact is one hell of a drug.
Winter wore on. Our life together was becoming rather routine, but I still savored every moment.
February was full of brewing, iterating, and preparations for travel to Old School events in Montreal, and, of course, Gothenburg. And then, finally, the beginning of the next great adventure arrived.
My deck for the Montreal Old School crew’s Tundra Wolves Challenge continued along the Copy/Trike theme. For this trip, Marc’s Triskelion was joined by a few others, which had been loaned to me ahead of n00bcon by NEOS lynchpin Scott Bradley:
A highlight of our night was unlocking the Tundra Wolves Challenge achievement “Most Violent Kill” by doing something like 17 damage in a single turn:
And the Tundra Wolves were also kind enough to tell us about a local tradition during maple tree tapping season: the cabane à sucre, or “sugar shack.” We definitely had to check it out.
High on maple sugar and the thrill of running people over with 2-mana Triskelions, Marc Flore’s Trike and I bounded straight into the next leg of our journey.
And finally, there we were, together, at n00bcon X. Copying Triskelions like it’s going out of style was still the name of the game:
The nordic air was crisp and clear on Good Friday morning. The Trike and I ventured out into the city for our customary constitutional.
God morgon Göteborg! Play the game, see the world indeed. Today’s the day — #oldschoolmtg players from all over the world are here for #n00bconX pic.twitter.com/4K20vyUZni
— Dave Firth Bard (@dfirthbard) March 30, 2018
Not satisfied with its n00bcon appearance, Marc’s Triskelion even found its way into my deck for the day-after “Huvudturnering,” organized by the great Kalle Nord:
Our second world tour was capped by two more weeks in India:
Just one day after returning home to New England, still jet-lagged as hell, we jumped in the car with Jared and Scott for a quick road trip down to Hartford, where 30 mages conspired in the shadows of the Grand Prix being held across the street. Among them, at last, was a familiar face to this Trike of mine.
And to help me commit the voyages of this Traveling Trike to the annals of Old School Magic history, Marc was kind enough to autograph my old 4th Edition beater. I used it in my deck that same day.
Thanks for the memories, Marc Flore’s Triskelion. It was a long, strange trip that I wouldn’t trade for anything. — DFB
The Sentinel 