Wow, I may actually be there.  Its been a while.

edit: whoa, just noticed something. 
My Report from Ray's January Tournament in 2005
My Report from Ray's January Tournament in 2006
I forget what happened in '07, but I didn't make it.
What will happen this time?

Alrighty, I think I'm going to respond to just about everything, mainly cause I've got a lot of time to kill before my laundry gets done.
Thanks, I'm glad I exist too.
Certainly an option, but by no means a fun one.  One of the options I had going into this tournament was a deck that consisted of 60 land.  Now, I'm sure it'd suck, but its no fun.  Same thing with the Dragon combo.  It is much easier to pull off than the Drake, and not all that fun.
For sure, lets see if we can get this implemented, eh?
Oath of Phage is still my dream deck, but I never seem to be able to get all the cards for it.  If you haven't noticed, I'm on a budget, and my decks total value is under $10 (Oaths, Tutors, and Lotus proxied).  Someday, it will happen. 
Illusions without the Donate doesn't really change anything in the game.  My feelings about Oath with no critters / blessing is kinda like my feelings about suicidal dragon.  Sure, it'll lose, but it won't be all that fun.
Dude, could you email this post to Dave?  I left his address at home...:-/
Exactly, in case anyone has missed the theme here, it is that the deck needs to be fun and suck. 
My bad, I corrected it.  As I said, I haven't played in a while, and they look the same to me.
See above.  It may be ridiculus, but it sure ain't fun.

At first I was a bit worried about that, but I've run it by a couple judges (both in T2 and T1) and none have had any problems with it.  But that could very well be because they were so shocked by the fact that anyone would do that on purpose...
Any judges confirm/deny this works?

Waterbury Report From Last Place

EDIT: Again, I forget to include the music you should listen to while reading this Waterbury report.  I'm thinking Crew Slut by Zappa would be appropriate since Kowal managed to get to second base with me twice before the tourney was over.

Ray's tournaments are always a bunch of fun.  And, of course, Ray actually offers prizes for those who come in last place.  Few, however, actually strive for this title.  I am now a two time Waterbury loser. (First time here) 

I should preface this report with a little backstory about my involvement in magic in the past few months.  Thankfully, its pretty easy, since it doesn't exist.  I basically stopped playing once I started college, and I'd be lucky if I could name a single card from the last four sets.  But Waterbury always manages to pull me back into the game.

Now, my previous loss at Waterbury was just over a year ago...but several tournaments have passed in the W-bury since then.  Where have I been?

Well, I plain old missed the one prior to this.  School related issues, couldn't avoid this.  The tournament before that one is a tragic tale.  It is a tale of how I lost at losing.  I set out, with lastplace.dec, which had no chance in hell of winning games.  For the first some-odd rounds, everything went according to plan.  Then I got a bye, totally killing my perfect record.  At round 8, I played against the other bottom ranked player, who had also chosen to persue last.  And I won.  His deck was just better at losing than mine.  What really gets me, is I handed it over to him.  If I had wanted to, I had the chance to Demonic Consult for a card not in my library, ending the game nice an quick.  But I don't lose that way, its boring and cheap.  By failing at failing, I maintain that I was the actual worst player in attendance. 

But thats in the past.  On to this report. 

I couldn't decide what to build until the absolute last minute.  I've wanted to play Oath of Phage for quite some time, but I've never been able to get all the cards together, so that has yet to happen.  Instead, I brought an old trick I used when it was actually type 2 legal (yes, I played a variant of this in type 2, don't ask). 
The decklist looks like this:


4 Worldly Tutor
4 Wild Growth
4 Standstill
4 AEther Burst
4 Oath of Druids
4 Grip of Amnesia (thats fucking tech)
4 Rampant Growth
4 Wall of Roots
4 Wormfang Drake
4 Krosan Reclamation
1 Black Lotus
9 Forest
9 Island
1 Mishra's Factory

Sideboard:
Who needs a sideboard?


Right, so in case you missed the idea, if I can manage to get three Wormfang Drakes on the board at the same time, with no other creatures under my control, it causes an infinite loop which automatically draws the game.  I decided to play this the night before, and built it the morning of.  It is chock full of jankalicious tech, which just makes my day.  And theres a couple bad cards here and there. 

In Round 6, one of the people playing near me (didn't get his name) recommended Mask of Mimic, which I didn't know existed.  That would have been 1,000,000x better than the set up I have here, but alas, too little too late.  If you ever get the urge to play a deck similar to this (please, please, please let me know), use Mask of Mimic.

Also, my math for games and matches may be way, way off.  I'm writing this at 5 am, so gimme a break if theres some stupid mistakes.

Round 1
Dave, Playing Gifts
Game 1
I manage to get two land on the board before my life total equals zero.  Quality.
Game 2
Game two I was able to hold out a bit longer, not anywhere near pulling off the combo, but it did take me longer to die.  But in the end, 11/11s are just better than Wall of Roots. 
0-1, 0-2

Round 2
Paul, playing Oath
Game 1
He got to grab a couple big dudes thanks to this 1/1 token I had in play (I made sure to side them out for game 2).  Just when I thought I'd be able to do something,  Time Walk and more fatty beats.  alas, I perish
Game 2
This is the game where I get closer to pulling off the Drake Draw than I had in any games yet.  At the high point in the game, I had two Drakes out.  But when I have creatures, he gets bigger ones.  Which is bad.
0-2. 0-4

Round 3
Simon, playing Ravager/Disciple deck which I should know the name of but forgot cause I'm just out of it.
Game 1
I play a forest, and pass turn.  Thanks to Ravager, Frogmites, and Disciples, I don't get another. 
Game 2
Early game, I drop a Standstill.  I don't have any critters on the board, and with a Ravager and several artifacts, he very much has board control.  So he makes Rav bigger by sacing his artifacts.  I break the Standstill an bounce his dude, so he's left with one land in play.  Opps.  He comes back in a big way (because seriously, what is my deck going to do?) and two Disciples hand me my ass.
0-3, 0-6

Round 4
The God of Spite, playing BYE.dec
I am going for last place.  Meaning I want as few wins as possible.  And I get a bye.  I think I traveled around the room twice just complaining to people.  But no matter, it just means I need to play even worse.  I'm up to the task.
1-3, 2-6

Round 5
Chris, playing Oath
Game 1
We start out this game with a solid five turns of land-go.  I tried to play something, but it just wasn't happening.  He gets a Morphling out, and starts smacking me for five.  I bounce him a couple times (or maybe just once, I don't honestly know) with AEther Burst.  Yes, I know...maybe he didn't read phling close enough?  I dunno.  Eventually I got a Wall out, and later an Oath.  He oaths on his turn, and pops out a Spirit of the Night.  This game is over.
Game 2
This game his deck behaves a lot more like a normal Oath deck, and there are several big creatures on the board who don't like me much.
1-4, 2-8

Round 6
Dave, playing Control Slaver kinda deck
I'd like to preface this by saying that Dave deserves an award.  He was by far the most fun opponent I played against all day. 
Game 1
His deck is moving slowly but surely torwards a Slaver lock.  This game, my deck just works.  I get things I need, and before he can kill me with Pentavus et al, I manage to get three Drakes in play, alone.  DRAW.  Dave doesn't really know what to think of this.  I don't blame him, I mean, really.  I'm extremely pleased, because despite all odds, logic, and common sense, the deck worked.
Game 2
In this game, Dave wasn't gonna screw around, I've got a scary combo in my deck that he didn't want to see go off again.  Quick beats with tokens and Welders end me.
Game 3
Thats right, my only game three of the day.  And its a doozy.  He is closer than ever to getting the slaver lock, and I'm just as close to my combo, but time in the round is running out.  As we enter our five turns, I have two Drakes on the board, (one removing the other) and a Wall with two counters on it.  My last two turns of the game belong to him, thanks to Slaver.  I kill my wall during his turns, and its down to the fifth turn.  He can't kill me, but he has my deck at his command.  I have the third Drake in my hand.  He casts it, causing the second Drake Draw of the night!  If he didn't cast it, we would have ended the game in a draw anyway due to time, but this was just classy.  Dave, my hat is off to you.
1-5, 2-9-2

Round 7
Jason, playing Straight Burn
This deck consists of about 10 land, and 50 burn spells.  All of which are aimed at you.  Jason hasn't won a match yet today, but he wasn't aiming at last place.  Just a bad day.  Major props for sticking it out.
Game 1
I hit him a couple times with Factory, just because I can.  But my life total keeps decreasing due to various burns.  Life total goes: 20 > 17 > 14 > 4 > 1 > -1
Game 2
Second game is very similar to the first, except I see a lot more power this time around.  I guess there was a splash of blue in there for Ancestral, Walk, etc...
1-6, 2-11-2

Round 8
Robert Hannett, playing I-dont-feel-like-showing-up.dec
Thats right, my last game of the day, and my opponent is a no show.  Five minutes go by.  I now have an automatic game win.  I'm getting worried.  If he doesn't show then I get the match win.  Ten minutes go by, and I go up to Ray.  I let him know I can't accept these wins, and thankfully, he's cool with it.  Robert Hannett, if you had caused me to win by not showing up, you would have had hell to pay.  You're on notice, Robert Hannett[/i]. 
1-7, 2-13-2


I grabbed a couple slices of pizza during my bye, which I gotta say, were pretty sub-par this time.  Eh, nothing Fritos and Grape soda can't solve.

Last place prize?  18 SCG Tokens, which I gotta say are pretty sweet.



Alright, so, more or less, that was my Jan 28th, 2006 Waterbury tournament.  But, I'd like to recommend something for future events. 

A Bottom Eight. 
Think of it like the top eight, only in reverse.  After the normal rounds are over, the eight players with the lowest scores will move on to the bottom eight.
The losers advance to the next round, and eventually, one will prevail as last place. 
I would love to see this at some future tournaments, and any feedback on this idea would be great as well.

Props: Ray, my round 6 opponent Dave, Wormfang Drake
Slops: Robert Hannett, pizza place

Whoa, I should totally check this thing more often.
This thing got moved to the real repot forum, so I guess that means something - cool
Anyway, thanks for all the props, but one thing still remains, where to go from here?

Granted, I can come consistantly in last place (I don't think that would be a problem) but I would like to have some competition (see Round 7).  The only problem would be someone who decided to do something stupid like Final Fortune.dec
Also, if other tournament organizers could follow Ray's lead with the last place prizes, that would be sweet.

Ideas?

Hells yes.

Right, glad you caught on.

Also, I realized the other day I forgot a fairly important minigame that happened between rounds 4 and 5.
The name of the game is Cans.  Two people play at a time.  You play at a table, sitting across from each other.  Each player starts with a full, unopened can of beverage (your choice).  
The game starts with each player chugging their can, as fast a humanly possible.  The person who downs their drink first starts with their can closer to the opponent (just past halfway, not too far).
Then, each player locks cans, and tries to force the opponents can back over their side.  You must continue, even if your can is destroyed in the process.  If you cannot continue, or your can is pushed past your edge of the table, you lose.

The games we played in the break between 4 and 5 were still in the beta stages of the game, with slightly different rules.  We had a small audience, and needless to say, I won.

EDIT: Thanks for all the props, too.  Hope you enjoyed the report

Waterbury Last Place Report

EDIT:  I just remembered.  My theme song for this Waterbury would be Montana by Frank Zappa.  If you can listen to it while reading this report, I highly recommend it.

I've been coming to Ray's tourneys since they were type 2 events, and they are amazing.  Great people, good times, and so much fun to be had.
And hey, he even offers last place prizes!  How can you go wrong?

I decided to run a w/u fishy thing.  I had played something simillar to it before, and did horrible.  I don't know why I played it again.  I guess I'm just lazy.
Heres the list so you can know what not to play.

4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
3 Daze
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Meddling Mage
3 Rootwater Theif
4 Curiosity
2 Faerie Conclave
4 Standstill
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
2 Exalted Angel
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 AEther Vial
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island

There was a random sideboard, but I doubt I'll bother list it.

Round 1
Justin, Playing TPS
Game 1
I start with a hand I shouldn't keep, with a mox sapphire as my only mana source.  He starts, opening with a duress, hitting the mox.  Damn.  Needless to say, I'm severely mana screwed, and don't do much of anything for the rest of the game.  He starts trading life for cards and it goes downhill from there.
Game 2
While I don't remember all that much about this game, I remember it was only a few turns long.  Despite random hate I sided in, he goes off fast, I die.  I only saw one counter in these games: a Daze, which I was holding when he was floating buttloads of mana.
0-1, 0-2

Thanks to the later start, the pizza shows up now.  I down half a pizza, and move on.  (Note: the pizza was awesome this time.  <3)

Round 2
Zherbus, playing that Meandeck deck
Game 1
Goes off second turn.  I recall being one turn away from playing something that may have helped me, but in retrospect, it was probably crap.
Game 2
I keep another one mana hand, and open up with a AEther Vial.  Next turn I get no more mana, so I stick a counter on my vial and wait for next turn.  I'm holding a Meddling Mage, which is nice against Tendrils, but he never sees play.  I pass turn, and die.  
0-2. 0-4

Round 3
Max (I think) , playing Sui
Game 1
This game was the longest I played all day.  He gets out two early hippies, and I respond with two swords.  A shade and negator come out, making my manland and Meddling Mage look sad.  These hurt - a lot.  I dealt with his critters for a while thanks to Crucible, each turn bringing back a manland to chump block a shade.  I removed a lot of random cards from his deck with Rootwater, but I end up losing.  He kegs my Crucible, and swings repeatedly.
Game 2
I didn't have a chance to do much this game, because hymn and hippies took out my hand.  I managed to STP something, but it didn't really matter.
0-3, 0-6

This is the point where I set my sites on last.  Both my counters and my land are hiding from me, so I decide it shouldn't be too hard to accomplish.

Round 4
?, playing Answer.dec
I don't remember all that much about this round, but I remember his deck had answers for everything, and eventually took infinite turns with Crystal Shard, Time Walk, and Eternal Witness.
0-4, 0-8

Round 5
?, playing Dragon
I must have been really out of it, sorry opponent, I didn't get your name either.
Game 1
He animates the Dragon
Game 2
He animates the Dragon
We get up and hand in our match result slip five minutes into round 5.  
0-5, 0-10

Round 6
Matt, playing Ravager-like-thing
Game 1
He drops a lot of junk on the table, and a couple cranial platings to make one of his dudes huge.  Thankfully, its toughness is only two, and I chump.  something else becomes big, and I die.
Game 2
Basically the same as game 1, just faster.  My notes tell me at one point I took 12 to the face.
0-6, 0-12

Round 7
Mark, playing a stormy thing, Brainfreeze for the kill
Game 1
We're both going after the same last place prize, so this game was going to be interesting.
I keep a hand with three fetch lands - score.  I start manaburning myself early, while mark sets himself up for a suicidal brainfreeze.  I drop a Meddling Mage on Brainfreeze, postponing his death.  I keep hitting myself with manaburn, and he goes and drops a Workshop.    It gets to hit him twice before I waste it.  He taps everything and goes down to 1.  I'm at 6, I rip a Time Walk off the top, play it, burn, and burn for the loss next turn.
Draw
Mark is a cool guy, and he's also 0-6.  I had talked to him in a few rounds before, since we were all around the lower tables.  We're the only players left without any points, so we decide to draw.  (for the record, I do think I could have lost this round if we played game two, but there was no reason)
0-6-1, 0-12

Round 8
Matt, playing Tendrils, but not quite TPS
Game 1
This game had me nervous.  He tried to scoop after he grabbed the wrong land out of his library.  Seeing my perfect record on the verge of being shattered, I stopped him, and let him go for the right land.  He ended up Tendrilsing for 112.
Game 2
It took him a while to get the combo off the ground this game, but eventually he did.
0-7-1, 0-14


I snagged some rice from some friends who got a chance to order some chinese.  Two pens I had served as chopsticks, and that was my dinner.  
Awesome.

Later, after the top 16 were announced, I got my 3 foreign boosters for coming in at 100th place.

Take the packs, play suicide with some friends.  
Nemisis
An early spinal thug keeps me in the game, and it is sealed when I rip a Lin Sivvi off the top.  It really wouldn't have helped me too much, but it intimidated my opponent into concession.
Planeshift
An unblockable Magnoth Treefolk gave me advantage early game, and an FTK sealed the game for me.
Torment
Barbarian Outcast and Mystic Familliar couldn't hold their weight against some craziness on the other side of the board.  I ended up scooping to Mutilate.

I sorta wandered around for the rest of the night, eventually passing out in a chair outside.  I ended up leaving at about 3am, and the finals hadn't even started yet.

Props: Ray, my opponents, Lin Sivvi, friends who actually did good
Slops: My land, counterspells, and deck in general

TMD Open III is comming up, I'm going to try to get a side tourney going with this.
Bring your decks!

Awesome.
Weber.dec lives.
I would like to see a semi organized tourney somewhere in the future though.
Maybe a side event at the next TMD Open?

So proxies are legal?  If so, how many?

Sidenote: Will this format see play in any of the tournies comming up?

Weber.dec is quite fun,

//NAME: Weber.dec
      22 Island
      4 Mystic Compass
      4 Seasinger
      4 Time Elemental
      3 Drafna's Restoration
      4 Copy Artifact
      2 Time Bomb
      1 Time Walk
      4 Icy Manipulator
      4 High Tide
      4 Ankh of Mishra
      4 Copper Tablet

Now, if we can get our crap together at the next TMD open, we may actually have the artist tourney.