I understand your concern and it is an important matter so thanks for bringing it up.  However, I did the math myself and even if I had won our match (damn right I would have ) I wouldn't make it in prize.  Therefore I decided to scoop to a friend/teammate which would guarantee him a 1st place finish.  He decided to feed me on his own accord after the fact.  I know it's semantics but it wasn't "Scoop to me.  I'll buy you lunch."

Like you said, there are no replacements for REBs/Pyroblasts which are nuts in the Drain mirror.  That is imo, the biggest reason for going into Red.  Everything else is just a nice bonus (Pyroclasm, EtW).  I wouldn't run Chewey alongside Bobs and FoWs.  The deck has enough bounce for lock pieces. 

However, I do want actual artifact kill against enemy vault-key because they can assemble it pretty easily before you go off and if you bounce their board they can likely replay it that same turn.  Sorcery speed chewer doesn't cut it there.  Rack and Ruin and Ancient Grudge are better options. 

My dealings with him in the past have been in person and transactions have gone smoothly.  But based on the discussion here, I won't be dealing with him anymore.  I have seen him at both GP Chicago and Gencon this year so it appears he continues to do business at high profile events in the midwest should you want to confront him.   

The internet crime complaint center is a good place to start as well and I would recommend filing a report with them (www.ic3.gov).  Good luck. 

@ Donovan
I'm not looking for an apology but I'm glad that you at least admit you overreacted in an inappropriate way.  Everyone has an off day here and there so I'll look forward to our next encounter.

@ Gamegeek2
Thanks for the interest.  Here's what I'm currently testing/playing.  Keep me posted on your results!


(Restricted) 14
Recall
Walk
DT
MT
VT
Seal
FoF
Gifts
Ponder
Brainstorm
M. scroll
Will
Desire
Frantic Search

(Protection) 8
4 FoW
4 Drain

(Bounce) 6
Rebuild
2 Hurkyls
1 CoV
1 Darkblast
1 Repeal

(Getcha) 6
4 Bob
1 Tendrils
1 EtW

(Utility)
2 Top

(Mana Sources) 24
10 Artifact Accel
4 Delta
3 Sea
2 Volc
1 Swamp
1 Snow Island
2 Island
1 Academy
SB (15)
4 Leyline
2 Crypt
2 Extirpate
2 Pyroclasm
2 Pyroblast
1 Tinker
1 Helm
1 Inky

Thanks Brian! My matches with you and Owen definitely kept me on edge. They were great games and things really could have gone either way. Too bad I couldn't pull through the finals for you, especially since SCV should have a strong game against the more traditional vault-mirror. Gotta tip my hat off to Itou though, he took down some great players and had a fantastic day.

I do want Imperial Seal in here; I just don't own one atm.  Without Tinker/Robot, Mind's Desire can fit into the deck along with Imperial Seal.  The high cc, lifeloss cards, and top deck tutors, warrants Top #2.  Cutting Intuition. 

Whatever dude.  A judge said something to you after your little tantrum, to which you responded “I may need to cool off a bit first,” and then you guys left.  If all he wanted was to give you your prize, then I am wrong in assuming he lectured you.      

Am I the only one thinking your behavior was inappropriate?  I sure as hell hope not.  Two other judges and spectators made their share of comments after you had left.  I’m not asking for your apology.  I don’t give a crap at this point.  I dropped a game to you because of an obvious mistake.  You chose to continue belittling me; good for you.  I took a sip of Gatorade and tried to focus on the rest of the match.  Gratz to your top 8 as well.  Let's move on.

Point taken. I ordered my foil Japanese one today. If I continue to play this archetype I'm going to suck it up and relegate Tinker->Robot SB for something more broken MD (ie: Desire + Top #2 or I. Seal).

Great job again on the coverage, and thanks for the tokens.  I look forward to viewing future events you guys cover.

Certainly, I wished I had an Inkwell on the board the whole day.  I boarded Angel out most of the time but she was summoned onto the battlefield in a few G1s.  I didn't want to lose to budget zoo or RG decks because Bob just gets there for them at times.  I also wanted an out to ickies G1 although it's still a longshot. 

Well done, and thanks for avenging me Vroman!  I actually thought about giving you my dtutor (that got counter rapped for Itou) to sign but I wasn't sure whether he'd be there for the mox tourney.  Small fking world .  Grats man.   

Hey, this is Colin. I had a great time playing in this event and I'm sure I'll post a mini report sometime next week.  That finals match was a blast although I got blown out  .  You guys probably saw, I scrolled for recall game 1 with force backup and he had ancestral in hand with misdirection and force back up. fml.  game 2 we both had slow hands and my little green men got there.  Game 3 I kept a suspect opening hand but it had lands, drain, walk, and someway to deal with bob.  I figured as long as I win the bob battle I would be safe but he led with t1 library and just vastly outdrew me.  That last play was brutal, he pretty said "f you dtuor, i'm taking home this painting!"  Thanks again and it was a pleasure meeting everyone.

I'm going to visit family in the bay area from the 20th to 30th of August.  Looks like I'll miss the Lotus tourney with the date pushed back 

I actually don’t mind playing against Ichorid.  If every tournament I play in is swamped (get it) with Ichorid, I would either 1) not play DT or 2) tweak my SB strategy.  With DT, I know when I choose to play the deck that I would likely scoop G1 on turn 3 vs Ichorid.  The SB cards usually do the trick G2 since I’m on the play.  It’s not autowin, and sometimes it’s a crapshoot, but I’m confident about G2.  G3 is the nail biter.  I actually had a good hand G3 in the last round (fetch, mox, mox, force, drain, mystical, extirpate) but he had a better opening…sadly because of Street Wraith.

The prize support isn't stellar but it's not terrible.  Everyone got a playmat, which you can pawn off to the dealers for $10 day 1, $8 when we got ours, or $5 at the end of the day.  So you're really paying $10-15 for a mox, not bad.  Not having a cut to top 4 is bad.  I've never played in a swiss + 1 event before, but now I know not to in the future.

Most of our group played 4xExtirpate SB.  The other Ichorid decks, with more conventional/optimized builds were hated out.  Somehow the one with Street Wraith, no Powder, 5 Swamps, and no SB got there. 

I was playing Drain Tendrils and went 5-1 (losing to Kurt, the Ichorid player who ended up winning the event).  Jacob (polynomial p) was also 5-1 with Slaver but beat Kurt.  The three of us were within 1 percentage point on tie breakers.  Swiss + 1 blows. 

Congrats to Kurt, but I am still in shock and beating  myself on the head, as he had NO SIDEBOARD (wtf) but just “got there” with insane G3 openings against people.