An Untimely Night

Greetings all,

My standings for this week came out, well, err .. quite different this time.
March 31st is as follows:

Evidently I didn't have a car, so I could not get there at 7 p.m. Luckily my roommate was on his way home, so I decided to call up the moderator and ask him if it were possible for us to enter the tourney late, he said it was fine but we had to play each other keeping in mind that the round would very soon be over. Wonderful.

Round 1 - James - Landstill 1-1-1

Game 1: Not only was I hosed; I was absolutely showered!! I had to mull down to 4, and that didn't help at all. He came across with manlands and a Rainbow Efreet. Game over.

Game 2: In my opening hand, I got a bazaar. I Duress my opponent twice in the first 2 turns, knocking out a Counterspell and an Impulse. Turn 4, I put an Ashen Ghoul into play. At this point, I am drawing multiples of recurring creatures. I Duress my opponent for the third time, knocking out a Capsize and to find out he had 4 islands in his hand.
That was relieving. I continue my attack with Nether Shadows and Ashen Ghouls. He cannot deal with the aggro. Game over.

Game 3: As soon as we draw our opening hands, they announce the 5 minute warning. The next few turns, I am drawing non-creature spells; I begin to think about the outcome of the game at this point. Darn, I am not getting anything! On top of that, my opponent blocks my Ashen Ghoul with a Mishra's Factory. So far my opponent has 2 Faerie conclaves in play, so I cast a Krovikan Horror. At this point they call time in the round; the countdown for 5 turns begin. Over the next 5 turns, nothing happens exciting. I make a dumb mistake by casting a Recurring Nightmare, unknown why I did that. I should have left the mana open to use for the Horror. Just as my opponent attacks with 2 Conclaves, they call time. This game ends up in a tie.

Round 2 - Bryan - B/G Recursion 1-0

Game 1: I win the dice roll, and play first. I drop a Bazaar of Baghdad and use it. End turn. My opponent drops a Wasteland on me. Instant Tiny Tim. I now have unplayable cards in my hand. The next turn I top-deck a Demonic Tutor and get my favorite non-basic land. The next turn he responds by giving me the Wasteland treatment again. Over the next few turns, he drops 2 Wall of Roots and a Masticore. I am now in big trouble. He attacks with the Masticore twice. Not only does he have a monster on the board, but I have absolutely nothing to vouch for me. I think this might be the end. The next turn, I top-deck a Yawgmoth's Will, what luck! I cast a Dark Ritual, play the Will, play a Demonic Tutor. I search for the only card that will save me at this point, everyones favorite card, Living Death! I then cast 2 Rituals from my graveyard and play the Living Death. It seems like this is the turning point in the game. I attack with everything I got next turn. I look at his life total: 3. I then sac 3 creatures to the Horror and win. Game over.

Game 2: You guys are gonna love this one for multiple reasons, I guarantee it.
I mull down to 5, knowing that if I go any lower, I would be swimming in liquid poop even faster. He plays first and drops a Birds of Paradise. I play a Cabal Therapy, naming Recurring Nightmare. I see his hand, revealing 2 Wall of Roots, 2 forests and a Crater Hellion. This is going to be fun. As the game goes on, things get even worse; he drops a Survival of the Fittest and begins to filter out his deck and fill his graveyard with nasty stuff. During my turn, I Animate Dead his Masticore, maybe it will buy me some time. During my upkeep, I totally forget to pay the Masticore's upkeep and draw a card for the turn. I love this next part. My opponent hastily grabs the Masticore with great ferocity and throws it in his graveyard, as if he is implying something. I frown at myself, but I'm not too upset because I never play with Masticores, and the only one I own is in California. Not much to do this turn, so I end it. during his turn, he plays a Recurring Nightmare, sacs a Squee, and puts an Avatar of Woe into play. End turn. During my upkeep, I put a Nether Shadow into play. I draw another Animate Dead, yee ha. This is where I make a very good play, so listen up. For being a mediocre player, I'm surprised I was able to pull it off.
Ok, this is the situation:
He has an Avatar in play, a Birds of Paradise, and 2 Wall of Roots, 1 with p/t 0/3 and one with p/t 0/2. Casting Animate Dead on his Crater Hellion would do no good, since it only deals 4 damage to everything and the Avatar has a toughness of 5. I think about this one for a bit. I have a Cabal Therapy in my graveyard, and I could sac the shadow to flash it back and knock the Recurring Nightmare out of his hand OR I can attack with my Nether Shadow, but would he block with one of his walls or his Avatar? If he blocks with his Avatar, it would reduce its toughness to 4, allowing it to be killed by the Hellion. I think about this for about 2 minutes total, but seems like it is forever. If he blocks with his wall, nothing will happen but during his turn I will take 6 from the Avatar. Oh, what the hell, I'll do it. I declare my attack with the Nether Shadow. He blocks with his Avatar!! He looks at me funny, like I really am Tiny Tim. I then cast Animate Dead on the Crater Hellion, dealing 4 damage to his Avatar, Birds, and 2 walls. He takes his creatures and throws them into his graveyard, as if he is pitching a baseball. Since the Hellion's Echo cannot be paid during my next upkeep, I flashback Cabal Therapy, naming Recurring Nightmare, his face is on fire, and he slams the Recurrring Nightmare into his graveyard, making a loud snapping noise. It was very amusing. They call time in the round, 5 turns left.
Lets go into dialogue mode:
Him: (very pissed off facial expressions and tone) : "You're purposely stalling, damnit. Thanks alot"
Me: "It's true, that play did take some time, but it wasn't to stall on purpose. I just had to think of the best possible play"
Him: "WHATEVER"
During the rest of the game, every card he puts into play he abruptly slams onto the table, making very loud snapping sounds, I loved it. It was very un-sportsman like conduct and very childish. He Survivals for a Phantom Nishoba and a Symbiotic Wurm. He ended up top-decking another Recurring Nightmare, putting both the Wurm and the Nishoba into play. The next turn, I draw a Strip Mine. I examine my hand, determine there is nothing to do, and play the Strip Mine. End Turn.
More dialogue:
Him: (in a violent voice) "OH SURE, JUST WHAT I THOUGHT, MORE STALLING"
Me: "Not really"
He declares his attack and hits me for 14 with the Nishoba and the Wurm.
It wasn't enough to kill me. He then scoops up his cards in a berzerking fashion and storms off outside. Very awesome opponent.

Round 3: Shawn - T1/T2 Goblin aggro/food chain 1-2

Game 1: He begins to drop Goblin Piledrivers, Warchiefs and the likes. I start Bazaaring away, dumping really big creatures into my graveyard, including a Worldgorger Dragon (big mistake). The next turn, he attacks for alot, putting me at 1 life. I happen to top-deck a Living Death, and I have 2 Dark Rituals in my hand. I play the Living Death, putting beasts into play but then the Worldgorger makes them go away. He drops 2 goblins. During my next turn, I still only have one blocker available, the Worldgorger. Game over.

Game 2: I top-deck a Bazaar, an Entomb and an Animate Dead. By turn 3, he already has 3 goblins in play. I draw a swamp, play it, and cast Animate Dead targetting the Dragon. I mention that I have a Sliver Queen (somewhere) in my deck. Dialogue mode again:
Him: "I want to see you do this, prove to me that you correctly know how this combo works, we have lots of time before the round is over. I just want to make sure that the Queen isn't the last card in your library"
Me: "Ok, we can do that"
After doing the combo the slow way (step by step) after drawing 10 cards or so, I finally get a Sliver Queen. Game over.

Game 3: I am overwhelmed by goblins, I am struck down almost immediately. No contest here! Game over.

Fourth and final round

Round 4: Ryan - G/R Zoo 2-1

Game 1: He plays a forest and an Orcish Lumberjack. I have not seen this ridiculous card for quite some time. I draw a Bazaar, but it does me no good, no creatures are coming up. In the next few turns, he plays a Call of the Herd, and a Wild Mongrel. He ditches a Roar of the Wurm to the Mongrel. Oh boy. The next turn he flashes back his Roar. I manage to hard cast a Krovikan Horror, and a Nether Shadow, but my defense is quickly reduced. Nothing came up the rest of the game. Game over.

Game 2: I thought, I need to get home and get some rest for work tommorrow, I'll just keep my opening hand regardless. Apparently, my opponent kept a crummy hand, because all he was dropping was basic lands. I had enough lands to hard cast my Ashen Ghouls and Horrors, which led the way to victory. Other than not having a Bazaar in play, I actually did quite well; I had 3 Ghouls in play and 2 Horrors. I beat him down quickly after that. Game over.

Game 3: Hmm, I thought. Maybe I will win this round after all.
He starts off by playing a forest. End turn. I begin to dump large creatures in my graveyard (Spirit of the Night, Verdant Force, Symbiotic Wurm). During his turn, he plays an Orcish Lumberjack. I put an Ashen Ghoul into play. I top-deck a Living Death but I don't have the mana to use it yet. I attack with the Ghoul and he takes it. During his turn, he plays a mountain, and casts a Kird Ape. Next turn, I ditch 2 Ghouls and a Horror. I play Dark Ritual, tap 2 swamps, play a Living Death. During his turn he plays a forest. Poor guy is getting really bad draws. End turn. During my next next, I attack without mercy. This put him at 1 life. I sac a creature to a Horror. Game Over.

Overall, a very unique night to say the least. I think I'll play a different deck next week. Take care C&J guys.