Montecasino (Sandton) - 2021 All You Need to Know BEFORE ...

Hello there!
I would like to know what are the options for booking movies at montecasino are? Is it online only like ster kinekor, or can I go there and book as well?

Hello There
I am from Johannesburg and I am curious as to what is what is open at Monte. Due to Covid, a lot of places got closed and as far as I know, a lot of cinemas now are reopenning... so that makes me wonder, what else will be open? Certain activites at Monte like Bowling, Laser Tag and the Arcade seem unlikely due to how chaotic things can get and how often people majority of the items there during a day (the bowling balls, the laser tag vests, the arcade machines .etc). I've only left the house once or twice just to go shopping and I haven't gone out for "fun" or expenses since lockdown started. Does anyone know what is currently open, how many people are often there and how safe it is?

Hey guys, my buddies and I were wondering whether the champions league final will be screened on the big screen infront of the Theatro on saturday.
Any way to find out?
Thanks

Preamble
I'm primarily a Modern player, and to be more specific an Affinity player. My primary interest in playing in this tournament is the Arcbound Ravager promo. I have Affinity and Hardened Scaled fully foiled, so having an extra set of Ravagers would be nice so I don't have to swap between the two decks (I know, 1% problems). However, playing in this tournament meant wandering into a format I haven't played since Khans block (pre-Origins), and picking a deck I own no cards for.
I picked up Arena after MC1. I started playing mono Blue, then transitioned to mono Red as soon as I could build it. I quickly realized that this was the deck I wanted to play. I toyed with several builds, but finally settled on the one that Martin Juza posted on CFB. I played the hell out of it, loved it, then saw Seth Manfield's build for MPL and liked it, so switched to that. I also built this version and played a bit with it. Overall, I saw no measurable difference between the builds, they all felt strong. So, the night before, I had to make a choice as to what to play. I ultimately went with @moctzal's build. I tweaked it slightly and went with a 2/2 split between Frenzy and Chandra in the main, with 1/1 split in the side. I like the interaction between the two, and I hate flipping a Frenzy when one is already on the board.
Main
4 Ghitu Lavarunner
4 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Shock
4 Viashino Pyromancer
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
4 Lighting Strike
4 Goblin Chainwhirler
4 Light Up The Stage
2 Wizard's Lighting
2 Skewer the Critics
2 Chandra, Fire Artisan
2 Experimental Frenzy
20 Mountain
Side
2 Dire Fleet Daredevil
4 Lava Coil
2 Legion Warboss
3 Tibalt
1 Chandra, Fire Artisan
1 Experimental Frenzy
1 Banefire
1 Rekindling Phoenix
​
Pre-Tournament
June is a busy time at work, so I've been running a little ragged at work. I've put about 5k km (3100 miles) on my car in about 6 weeks, mostly work, lots of late nights and weekends, so I felt like this would be a good stress reliever or break for me. But Friday was a fairly tiring day, so I wanted to get home, eat, finalize things for Saturday, then sleep.
My dog had a different idea for me.
I have a Yorkshire Terrier, and they're bred to be rodent catchers. I have a deck in my backyard and I'm positive that rats have been living under it, or in my deck box. So put two and two together, my dog likely saw/heard a rat outside and started barking and running around the kitchen like he was high on coke. At 2am. So he woke me up, I went and grabbed him and slept with him on the couch.
So not a great night's sleep. I'm not a young buck anymore (I'm 41, been playing since Revised), so I need my sleep.
Anyways, get up in the morning, coffee, shower, dress, grab the wife and get on the road.
Tournament
209 players, 9 rounds. 7-1 should make top 8
Round 1 - Table 35, Andy Robdrup, Bant Nexus
Game one saw me chip away with Lavarunners and Goblin Pirates, while Andy flooded out. He couldn't get much of anything going, so I took game 1. Game two, he got things going. Between Tolsomir and multiple Krasises, there was too much for me to deal with. Game 3, I just got going too fast and he stumbled on land drops, so I take game 3 in short order
Win 1-0 (2-1) 83rd place
Round 2 - Table 32, Donald Giancoulas, Gruul
Game 1 Donald drops a Spellbreaker followed by a Nullhide Ferrox. It's too much for my little guys to handle, and he deals with them with Shocks and Lightning Strikes. Game 2, same verse as the first, but I also keep a sketchy one lander.
Loss 1-1 (2-3) 122nd place
Round 3 - Table 41, Kristofer Fekete, BW Midrange
Game 1 he stumbles on land drops, landing only 2 Plains. I drop T1 Lavarunner, T2 two Lavarunners, T3 2 Shocks to the face, swing for 6, and he scoops quickly. I sideboard thinking Mono White, but he drops a Swamp and a Knight in game 2. It doesn't matter much as he had already mulliganed to 5 and got stuck on three lands. I hit my land drops, cast multiple spells a turn while he can only cast one a turn, and take it down
Win 2-1 (4-3) 70th place
Round 4 - Table 26, Andrew Ruschpler, Bant Nexus
Game 1 he hits land drops and plays Growth Spirals and Wilderness Reclamation, but not much else. I drop creatures and burn, we move to game 2. Game 2 went fairly similar, although I had a hand full of burn, so I went Shock, Shock, Wizard's Lighting, Lightning Strike, and top deck a Shock to win.
Win 3-1 (6-3) 50th place
Round 5 - Table 24, Deion Smith, Mono Green
Deion is from Buffalo, so he wins the prize for "Opponent who travelled the furthest". He won nothing for it, but it's a prize nonetheless. Game 1, I see Steel Leaf Champion, Nullhide Ferrox, and internally gulp. I'm managing to stave off attacks, only took 5 damage before he build up with board of Champion, Ferrox, multiple Rangers, Pelt Collector, and a Ghalta. On the table I have a bunch of lands, a Steam-Kin, and a Frenzy. I have a disgusting Frenzy turn, flipping another Steam-Kin, then chaining burn spells and creatures, ending up with 8 creatures and him at 2. On his turn, he alpha strikes. A few minutes of blocking, I let Ghalta through and block everything else. I take 12, go to three, he loses a bunch of creatures, is totally tapped out with 3 Chainwhirlers ready to swing back. He scoops.
Game 2, I had a brainfart and board as if he's playing Nexus/Tron, so I only bring in 2 Warbosses. He proceeds to drop 4+ toughness creatures, and I take it on the chin. Game 3, I fix my mistake. I kill and early Pelt Collector, Chainwhirler away a Jadelight and Elf, and ride to an easy victory
Win 4-1 (8-4) 31st place
A slight aside. Originally, I told my wife that this should be a quick day. She attends all the tournaments with me and is a great support. So she's reminding me of this "quick day", that I have work to do, and that if I hit a second loss we should go. We debate this a bit, talk about prizing, and finally decide to play to three losses. I can tell she's not thrilled, but she wants to be supportive. I promise a nice dinner out and she's sold :)
Round 6 - Table 18, Taylor Rapien, Gruul Midrange
Not the matchup I wanted, but the matchup I had. At this point, my memory is a little hazy, but I seem to remember him punting. He had lethal on board but I had a Lavarunner and Chandra at 7 on the table. He chooses to Shock Chandra (and getting a warning in the process by forgetting to pay for the Nullhide) instead of the Lavarunner. He takes 2, my Lavarunner blocks his Nullhide, and I topdeck a Shock to kill him.
Game 2 is hazy, but he gets a Cindervines that didn't do too much. He deals with my creatures, smashes me with Nullhide, and he go to game 3. Game 3 I make an error resulting in a judge call; I didn't put counters on my Steam-Kin as I cast spells, so it stayed as a 1/1 instead of a 3/3. It didn't really matter, his big creatures and 2 Cindervines take me down.
Loss 4-2 (9-6) 45th place
So now everything is a win and in for prizes as they are paying down to 32nd
Round 7 - Table 25, Kilian Johnson, Mono Red
Despite being surrounded all day, I had avoided the mirror for six rounds. Kilian, on the other hand, played it four times. That history didn't translate into success however. Game 1 I'm able to deal with this creatures faster than he could, so I had burn to point at his face as he flooded out. Game 2, he had four lands but didn't play much, while I do chunks of damage. It was my fastest round of the day
Win 5-2 (11-6) 32nd place
Round 7 ends up going to time. My wife and I watch one of the games where there is quite the crowd. There's a judge call, it seems fairly convoluted, and the player on the wrong side of the call looks fairly dejected. Like head in hands, on the verge of tears. He scoops on turn 3 of turns. I felt really bad for the guy, I've been in his shoes before, and what made it worse is that he had to turn around and play his next round almost immediately
Round 8 - Table 16, Keith Chapstick, Esper Hero
And he has to play me. He sits down across from me and he just looks totally dejected. I ask him if he wants a couple of minutes to take a breath and refocus. He thanks me, says no, then gives me a quick debrief as to what happened. Game 1 he gets Oath of Kaya and Basilica Bellhaunts going, undoing all the damage I had done to that point. I can't deal with multiple Bellhaunts and drop game 1. Game 2 I bounce back, he plays a bunch of M10 lands while I drop his life total quickly. He lands an Oath, but it's too little too late. Game 3, the wheels come off. He gets Walkers, Bellhaunts, and Heros, while I'm flailing wildly and unfocused. Not that it mattered, he had too much pressure, but I knew it was over and played as such.
Loss 5-3 (12-8) 41st place
Prologue
I'm actually happy with 41st place. I've played this deck almost exclusively on Arena, only once in paper, so I'm happy with how I did. Throw in the fact that I'm primarily a Modern player, this was a good result for me. I was in contention for top 8 until round 6, and prizes until round 8. I don't typically do this well in big tournaments, so if I last this long it's a good day for me.
In retrospect, I should have gone with Manfield's build. There were a lot of Lyras, Bellhaunts, Ferroxes, etc, so having a Fight with Fire or two in the board would have helped. I probably would have cut the Phoenix and maybe the Banefire
3 players from my LGS made top 8, including 2 that I remember from WAY back in the day. One made the finals and lost, but good day overall from my LGS.
My round 7 opponent actually plays at my LGS and offered me his Ravager promo. I had no cash or traders on me, but he'll be selling it to my LGS, who knows I'm looking for them so will set it aside for me. 2 down, 2 to go.
Props and Slops
As an older player, I used to enjoy this part of the tournament report, so I should probably include it in mine
Props
My wife - My wife comes with me to all my tournaments, be it at my LGS or a GP. She's travelled with me to Vegas and Detroit for GPs. She's my biggest supporter, my perpetual cheerleader, and the one that keeps me grounded. I know that there are probably other things she would rather do on a Saturday (with or without me), but she puts on a happy face, comes with me, and I couldn't be happier that she does
Monastery Bakery - For being open early enough for us to get food for the event.
Starbucks - For the early morning tea
FaceToFaceGames - You guys are awesome. I have yet to be to a F2F event that has not been well run. Everything ran on time, you picked a great venue, things ran smoothly, I just wish you guys ran things like GPs and such again.
Montecasino - Comfy chairs, and $2 double espressos. Need I say more
My opponents - couldn't have played against a better group of players.
Experimental Frenzy - I love you in Modern, and now my love for you is growing to unhealthy levels, considering you're just a piece of cardboard.
Slops
Honestly don't have any. Yesterday was a great day. Even if I didn't top 32, I had a great time and 41st is a great finish for me.
​
Hope you enjoyed the report

I'm looking for the ultimate "must do's" while in JHB. I'm down for work and am trying to soak up as much as possible- restaurants, malls, theatre, shows, markets, everything. Whats your must do for a visitor?
P.S. On my must do since I have been here- I watched this very random show at Montecasino the other day and it was awesome! Avenue Q. I'm not sure how long it is on for and had no clue what to expect but loved it. Its definitely not quintessentially JHB, but the talent is authentically South African, which is awesome!