I missed the weekly tourney in Durham yesterday, but one of the regulars there (and a reader here, Brandon Long), mentioned a regular Sunday T1 in High Point, NC.
Event Info:
Weekly T1 - Sundays @ 2:00p
$3 entry, 3 proxies allowed
DJ's Cards & Stuff
High Point, NC
336-883-9900
djscards@aol.comwww.djscards.comThere were about 15 people (didn't count) at the tourney, although half of them were imported for this tourney from the Sports Cards Unlimited meta. Still, it was a nice group, and we had a good day.
I played 4C Keeper, pre-boarded for aggro, which works exceptionally well in this area (MD: Moat, 3x Swords, Fire/Ice, Fireball).
The tourney was 4 rounds of Swiss, then cut to top 4.
Round 1: Lee Smith - Squirrel Opposition
Game 1:
I had no clue what this guy was playing, but I wasn't too worried, since he dropped a Basking Rootwalla on his turn. I got a god hand with Mox, Lotus, Land, Twist. This would have been nice, except that left him with a Call of the Heard and Roar of the Wurm in the graveyard. His early pressure has me sweating, and a Squirrel Nest hits play, but I topdeck Abyss and things settle down. Morphling arrives in good time and cleans up.
Game 2:
This game was draw-go from the outset. He stalls at 1 land and 1 Bird. I help him along with a Strip Mine. Abyss secures my victory and then it's just digging for Morphling for the win.
Matches: 1-0
Games: 2-0
Round 2: Jason Butler - Strange Rogue Deck
Jason works at Sports Cards Unlimited in Durham, but never gets to play the tourney there (he works Sat), so he joined us for the Sunday tourney. His deck was built around lots of fast mana + Academy, with Undermine backup in order to get out Phyrexian Tyranny.... and the win condition: Wheel and Deal! Wow.. now that's strange.
Game 1:
I know he's playing something control-ish, and I have to take a mulligan down to 6. I get Library and decide to take a risk.. 2nd turn I skip my land drop to activate the Library. Then I make up for it with a mox on turn 3. We square off playing land-go for awhile and my active library.
Finally I need to start a counter war, since I'm assuming he has a full hand of counters (a miscalculation on my part). I Fact or Fiction at his end step, he lets it resolve and gives a 4/1 split with all the good cards. I'm like "huh?", but take the pile. Then he plays Wheel and Deal! Holy shit, where did that come from?? We trade a few counters, and the Wheel goes off. Ok.. so that was unexpected. My hand hits the grave, and I pull a new hand.
We start hitting a stride, me playing stuff, him throwing Wheel after Wheel.. all 4! 2 more get through, leaving me with VERY little in the way of a deck. I'm sweating that he's got a Stroke awaiting me (he's got like 20 mana at this point). Then I draw Yawgmoth's Will... ahhh nothing like a bit of broken-ness to pull you out of a tight situation. Walk-Will-Walk-Morphling-Swing started the clock. He drew nothing before the buzzer sounded.
Game 2:
Still not knowing what his deck is, I side in typical control hate, and hope for the best.
My 1st turn Library is answered with a Stip, followed by a long series of draw-go. I drain into a Fact and a Morphling, while my topdecked counters keep his threats at bay. Turns out his kill card was Phyrexian Tyranny. Morphling goes the distance.
Matches: 2-0
Games: 4-0
Round 3: Kyle Shonyo - unknown
Wow.. my brain is completely blank on this match. I'm really tired and forgot to take notes on this one. Sorry!
Matches: 3-0
Games: 6-0
Round 4: Phillip Gillis - Fully Powered TnT
Phillip borrowed my Unpowered TnT for the tourney and added his power to it. He had never played the deck before, so I gave him the 5-minute guide and spelled out a few of the tricks. He had thus-far played undefeated, coming up against me for this round. I know this is usually a 50-50 game, so I was expecting my first loss here.
Game 1:
I keep a strong hand, he plays first, but I counter the brokenness. My playtesting pays off, and I keep survival off the board until I've got some setup done. Cunning Wish->Ebony Charm comes in at the right time to take away his steam. A long, but careful set of plays keeps me in control, but Morphling is hiding! I dig and dig, our game going pretty long now.. turns out I forgot I had pitched one of the Morphs to Force on the first turn! The other one comes out with just enough cards in my library for the win.
Game 2:
I side in all my TnT hate, and grin, knowing that if he doesn't get a sick draw, I'll probably survive.
He gets a sick draw.
Lotus, Mox, Land, Memory Jar; sac, Mox, Mox, Sol Ring... ugh.
He stalls out just long enough for me to catch my breath, and take control. Emerald charm eats Squee and Memory Jar, and later Tormod's catches Genesis and Wonder. It's all over from there with Moat on the table. Again, Morphling is hiding and I'm getting thin on deck... until I realize he took one of the Morphlings with the Memory Jar first turn.. sheesh. We get the five-minute call and start speed-playing, he won't scoop until he sees morphling. At 11 cards in my library, Morpling shows up and that's game.
Matches: 4-0
Games: 8-0
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Semi-Finals: Chris Souther - Parfait
I've never played against Parfait, so this match was a little worrysome, and he clearly knew what he was doing.
Game 1:
He's mana screwed, and I keep him there. 12 cards into the deck (rack, etc..) he still hadn't found a solution. Morphling was unmerciful.
Game 2:
In goes enchantment hate. I keep a dull hand, but it felt workable. My memory gets blurry here, as this game was very long. His deck does it's thing, while mine pukes out interesting but utterly useless cards. He resolves several Jester's Caps on me which suck out my win conditions, but I know I have time on my side. Time is called and we go to 5-turn clock with "sudden death" next game if we tie. He doesn't succeed, and it's on to game 3. The judge then looks up the rules and finds that we actually have another 30 minutes, so "sudden death" is cancelled and we play normally.
Game 3:
I put on early pressure destroying his land and enchantments. Finally Shattering Pulse shows up and I keep Rack off the board for good. With his draw engine out of the picture, I just had to figgure out how to get some damage through.. He had Humility to my Morphling. I whittled away 1 per turn until he was at 12. Then it was Fire + Fire on his eot, followed by Fireball for 8.
Matches: 5-0
Games: 10-0-1
Finals: Brandon Long - B/g MaskNought
Brandon and I play regularly at Sports Cards Unlimited in Durham, and he mentioned winning the tourney in High Point last week. Since I'm interested in finding all the T1 centers in our area, it seemed like a good road trip.
So, it was a little dissapointing to find myself facing him down for the finals. *sigh* And Mask is NOT a good matchup for me, even with my anti-aggro pre-boarding.
The games were mercifully short, and rather anti-climatic. He got strong hands, I got crap. 0-2 in short order.
We both took home a foily Skirk Marauder (not particularly impressive for a 15 person tourney, but it was a lot of fun.
Matches: 5-1
Games: 10-2-1
--Bryan
