Yes, I think it was him.  Actually I didn't get that impression at all, seemed like a nice enough guy.  Maybe it was because it was me making all the dumb mistakes?

Sorry, that wasn't clearly worded.  She won game 1, I won game 2.  There wasn't time for game 3.

Tournament Report, Untouchables Lotus Tournament Saturday, May 26th 2007

Pictures of the event can be found here: http://mtgontario.com/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5769&start=90

Apparently being a member of mtgontario is like a super secret society, and they don't let just anyone in, so I won't be posting this there.  Oh well.

For some reason lately I've been interested in playing Magic.  A little back story about me first.  I started playing Magic in about '94 with Revised and Fallen Empires.  The peak of my Magic playing days were probably between '95 and '99-'00 or so.

Since then, I've played in tournaments sporadically at best, the last constructed tournament being 401 Legacy tournament in March '06.  I've tried to keep up with developments in the Vintage and Legacy metagames, via sites like mtgontario and themanadrain, so I wasn't completely in the dark going into this tournament.

My favourite deck for Vintage is typically multi-colour Oath, but looking at the rule change of Flash and the rise of Ichorid I decided that it might not be the best deck choice.  I'm fairly restricted in the decks I can put together with 5 proxies, so I decide to go with a U/w/b fish deck with some card help from Steve Wolfman.  Steve only has 1 Cutpurse, so I run Ninja instead.  Here's the decklist:

4 Meddling Mage
3 Jotun Grunt
3 Icatian Javelineers
4 Dark Confidant
2 Ninja of the Deep Hours
1 Dimir Cutpurse
3 Null Rod
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Duress
3 Stifle
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
2 Echoing Truth
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
1 Scrubland
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

3 Yixlid Jailer
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Echoing Truth
2 Seal of Removal
1 Rebuild

Now, let me say right away, this deck is terrible.  Really, don't play this deck.  Just because I somehow managed to make top 8 at a 57 person tournament and someone else at the same tournament playing a very similar deck also T8ed doesn't mean that this deck is a good choice at all.  Seriously, don't play it, just trust me.  I had so many bad draws with this deck that it felt like I Parised at least once a game.

Anyway the first obvious question is, "Why aren't you playing Brainstorm?".  Honestly?  I'm not a good enough player to play Brainstorm is the answer.  It takes me forever to decide what cards to shuffle away, and I always end up drawing matches because I take forever to make play decisions.  I'm not stalling, I'm just not that smart.  I believe that when you construct a deck, it's important to take into consideration your own liabilities as a player.

And if I wanted to actually defend myself without the self-depreciation, I'd probably say this: When you play Brainstorm, the optimal play is to drop a land turn 1, play a fetch land turn 2, then Brainstorm EOT, leave the worst 2 cards you have on top of your library, and reshuffle with fetch.  That is a great play if you're playing combo, or control, but it's too slow if you're playing in an environment where decks can win turn 1 or 2, and it slows my deck down.  In addition, if I had Brainstorm in my deck, I'd be tempted to keep 1 land draws and hope to Brainstorm into land.  That can be a good thing if you do manage to get land, but if you don't it's pretty much game over.

Onto what little I can remember of the matches:

Round 1: Flash without Hulk (Shawn?  That is the name I have written down.  Might be Sean.)
Game 1 he Tinkers for Sundering Titan turn 1.  I decide to concede and go to game 2.  I don't know why I do this, since I do have 2 Echoing Truth in my deck, and it would help to get more information about his deck before sideboarding.  I guess it's my own pessimistic nature getting the better of me here, maybe I really don't expect myself to win at all?  I sideboard in Seals, Truths and Rebuild, as I have some idea he's playing Stax.
Game 2 I think I had a very good draw this game, but I don't really remember.  I win, and more importantly I realize he's not playing Stax.  I board out Rebuild for something I took out.
Game 3 is the good game.  He plays Gorilla Shaman, I play Javelineers.  I Duress him, and use the information with Mage to lock out flash, get Ninja in play, but he gets Symbiotic Wurm into the graveyard via Thirst or Bazaar (?) and topdecks Animate Dead.  I play Confidant, and I'm drawing 3 a turn trying to find an answer to the Wurm before I die.  Fortunately for me, the Wurm doesn't have trample, and I can just chump block with guys I draw until I eventually get Echoing Truth.  Confidant gets me low on life, but I pull it out.
1-0

Round 2: Ichorid (Simon)
Game 1 I'm basically going to lose first game.  He gets Bazaar and I Wasteland it on my turn, but of course that's all he needs.  The judge has to be called when I try to Stifle his Dredge to buy time.  I tried this because in the FAQ for Ravnica is says this:

"Dredge

Dredge is a <B>static ability</B> that lets you return cards from your graveyard to your hand. Only cards from the Golgari guild (black, green, or black-green) have dredge."

Of course I'm wrong about Dredge being an ability that can be countered with Sifle, but as I said, I'm not that smart.  Anyway, to further illustrate how not smart I am, I attempt to block his Dread Returned Street Wraith (swampwalk when I have a swamp in play) and his Narcomoeba (flying) with a creature that doesn't have flying.  As humiliating a defeat as I could imagine, really.
Game 2: I board in the Jailers, Leylines and Truths.  I Paris to 5 and start with 2 Leyline in play, but I only have 1 land.  He gets Bazaar in play and uses it aggressively to find an answer to Leyline.  I eventually get a Javelineer in play which gets Contagined (he has Dryad Arbor in play) but I get another Wasteland and take out his Arbor.  He concedes.
Game 3: I go to 6 cards but I don't have Leyline.  He Serum Powders and ? mulls to 6 (I think).  He starts Bazaar and uses it.  I don't have Leyline, but I do have a sweet draw of Wasteland Pearl, Sapphire, Meddling Mage naming Contagion.  He Dredges turn 2, but I have turn 2 Jailer, and that's pretty much a lock against his deck.
2-0

Round 3: Gifts (Alana)
Game 1 I lose the die roll for the third time in three rounds and she starts Ancestral on my upkeep.  I have absolutely no idea what she's playing and I have mad Meddling Mages.  My first Mage is for Brainstorm (another advantage of not running the spell myself is that it's usually a good blind bet against other blue decks).  I play around Mana Drain by dropping a Ninja, but everything I see points to Flash Hulk (Lotus Petal, Merchant Scroll x2, duress my Echoing Truth) so I say Flash when the Mage comes back down.  Her body language says she approves of this, meaning she isn't playing Flash Hulk.  I get a small army of guys in play, but she Tinkers for Platinum Angel.  I get her to 0, but I lose to the Angel without seeing a single Daze, Duress or Force of Will.
Game 2: I'm figuring control slaver at this point, so I bring in 1 Seal, 2 Truth.  I get a better Disruption draw this game, but she has turn 1 Ancestrall again.  Of course, I didn't have turn 1 Duress, Force of Will or Daze in my hand so this goes through.  I get a Mage down for Mana Drain I draw and cast Duress, and then the Mages just keep coming.  One gets REBed, but I get 3 in play after she Gifts and manage to keep Platinum Angel from coming into play.  This game almost times out, so it ends in a draw.
2-0-1

Round 4: U/w/b Fish (Owen)
Game 1 he mulls to, I think, 5 and doesn't really have a chance.  All I see of his deck is Ruby, 2x Force + Stifle when I duress him, Wasteland and some duals so I don't really know what he's playing.  I think this is the game I had Wasteland, Pearl, Lotus, Ninja which is Forced after I Duressed stifle.  Something like that.  I have a bunch of creatures and he doesn't do much after that exchange.  I think long and hard about what to sideboard, but in the end I just brought in 1 Truth.  I don't take out the Null Rods because Ruby says he is playing more than 4 artifact mana (turns out he has Lotus, Sapphire, Pearl, Jet, Ruby and Lotus Petal).
Game 2 I think he mulls to 6 and plays Yixlid Jailer turn 1, again with Ruby.  He then plays a proxied Jitte and attacks with Jailer.  I have Null Rod, and waste his only land and it looks really, really good for me because all he has is a Jailer and useless artifacts with no other land... until he wastes my only colour mana.  We both go landless for about 5-6 turns, and in the end the Jailer goes all the way.  I think I took 19 points from a turn 1 Jailer this game.
Game 3 I mulligan to 4 because I never find a draw with more than 1 land in it and that's it.  I have enough to stifle his opening wasteland, and force his first play, but the card disadvantage is too much to overcome.
2-1-1

Round 5: Flash Hulk (Steve)
Game 1 He has a solid opening draw and goes off turn 3 with protection.  He says he misplayed it, but it doesn't matter.  I think I had Force, but it still didn't matter.  I bring in the Chalices, Leylines and Truths
Game 2 I Paris to 5 I think.  I get opening Leylines and Chalice for 0.  The game ends up going on forever, as he tries to find a way out and I try to find something to win with.  I foolishly didn't board out by Grunts, and I have, yes, 1, 2, 3 of them in my hand in short order.  I did say I'm not very smart.  He starts building up land, and I figure he's going for hard cast Hulk, so I waste and strip him back to 3 land, and he concedes, visibly frustrated.  I swap my Grunts for different creatures.
Game 3 Is all the fun and pulse-pounding excitement you can expect from a Flash Hulk/Fish matchup.  He tries to Flash Hulk turn 1, I have Force, and get Chalice for 0 again.  He tries to go off a turn or 2 later, but I have Stifle.  He has Mana Crypt in play and he rolls my die that has not won me a die roll yet today (that's 5 losses in a row).  He misses the first crypt damage, but from then on he gets hit for 3 every single turn.  I have absolutely no pressure at all, just disruption and permission.  He gets down to 4 from Crypt and then concedes to me, visibly angry that he keeps rolling odd on the die again and again.  He marks drop on the sheet and leaves.  I mentally thank myself for not giving up faith in my die because it may well have just won me that game.
3-1-1

Round 6: Counter 'Goyf (Lam)
Game 1 I finally win a die roll!  Of course I end up mulliganing to a terrible draw.  He gets an early Tarmogoyf and it's up to 3/4 with what we have in the graveyard.  I can't really do anything about it and Duress just makes it worse (4/5).  He has a bunch of permission (Spell Snares, Force) and it's enough to keep me from doing anything substantial.  I board in the Truths and a Jailer for the Rods.  I think about Leylines, but decide against it because it won't help unless I open it, and I don't know what else is in his deck.
Game 2 Ends up being tight.  I get 2x Javelineer and I have 2x Grunt to do damage early and make his 'Goyf smaller.  He gets down to 5 and I all out attack with Grunt and Javelineers, expecting him to block the Grunt and go to 4, but he blocks one of the Javelineers and goes to 1.  He has Rushing River on his turn, but I Force it and he concedes.
Game 3 he mulls to 6 and keeps a 1 Wasteland draw.  He doesn't see more land quickly, and it's not difficult to win.
4-1-1

I make it in as 6th seed.  I drew with Alana who is in T8, and lost to Ownen, who is also in T8, so I guess my tiebreakers weren't as bad as I thought.  7/8 of us decide to split the prize so each person gets $160 or so, but Owen wants to play.  I understand that desire, but I'm matched up against Ryan Trepanier, and I may not be smart, but I'm also not stupid.  We play for fun anyway.

Finals Round 1: Hulk Flash, (Ryan)
Game 1 I know what he's playing, because he tells me (because I told him what I was playing) but I pretend I don't, as I don't Paris my hand (I have land and creatures) and honestly I'm just tired of mulling every single time.  I lose the die roll (of course) and he mulls to 5, then goes off turn 1.  Game.  Over.
Game 2 I get a draw with Chalice, Leylines, 2x Force of will, but no mana.  I keep it anyway.  I start Leylines and Chalice for 0 and pass.  It completely cripples his draw.  The Forces mean he can't do anything bad to me and I draw into land and Meddling Mage.  I use my 4th Force to get Mage for Flash in play and he concedes.
Game 3 I have a fairly weak draw of turn 1 Chalice, turn 2 Mage, but as I said, I'm tired of Paris and we're playing for fun so I just keep it.  He has all the tools he needs to bounce Mage and go off protected, so he wins on turn 3 I think.

Owen loses to Mike and we split.  I spend my prize money on Dual lands and we go for dinner.  A great time is had by all.  A drunken Ryan Trepanier asks me in a semi serious way if it was fun.  And yes.  Yes it was fun.  It's been a long time since I was T8 at a tournament, and this definitely brings back memories of the days with the Milton crew, trying to qualify for the Pro Tour (and sometimes succeeding).  Those were great times, and this tournament felt a lot like that.