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Whatever Works
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« on: September 04, 2005, 02:06:05 pm » |
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Intro:Â Â Gencon I must first start by saying was amazing in every aspect, and every magic player should have the chance to experience it at least one time. The experience, fun, and community make it THE event to be attend, and is worth every single cent spent. My gencon experience started with me picking up Scott Mirtsopolous, and then Ray Robiliard, and then we were on are way to the airport. We stopped at the greatest spot to get food ever, TACO BELL (odv.), and we told several horribly offensive dead baby jokes while only 2 tables away from a mother and 3 rather young kids. We talked about getting ready for college/teaching, and heard the story about gay Mike, and "not being able to respect himself in the morning." This to me was one of the highlights of my trip, because the plane flights were horribly boring, and the waitresses were completly incompetant and/or deaf. Ray made a phone call to his mom collect which left his mom with the following: Would you like to accept charges to talk to "The coolest mother fucker in the world."
We arrived at the hotel to here a phone call saying that some people were trying to get into are hotel. I gave the names of every1 I expected, and 2 minutes later Andy Probasco, and "star wars kid" showed up, and I just assumed that they were the people who the hotel employee was reffering to. However, by odd circumstances it was actually the colorado crew (Limogue, Lou Christopher, and Bob Yu), but for some reason (I have no idea why as of yet) they were not given my room # by the person downstairs though they were on my guest list. However, they found rooms elsewhere but they were going to help pay for the hotel which was an expensive mistake by the counter people. The rest of the night Ray/me had a bet on what would happen first... Star Wars Kid saying 10 stupid things relating to type 1, or Scott M. making 10 extremely gay comments.. I bet on star wars kid, and lost a close competition that lasted 20 minutes.
Me and Ray end up going on about a mile long walk in search of food ending up at a gas station where we bye several pizza's, and other junkfood to last us a couple days or until the food spoiled in the fridge (which it did), on are way back ray convinces me that we will come up with a story to explain why it took us so long to just run out and get food.... We end up creating this long story, about how a woman runs off the road and crashes hitting her head, and how we get her out of the car, and call the police for help... With intricite details explaining how there was no blood on us, and other fine details... We go home, and I find that Ray is a master story teller, and I just hide my face behind the fridge which I am filling with the food trying not to laugh... We had them believing (i think --- nobody said that we were lieing at any point), and later on ray said, oh btw... that whole story was just a joke...
Day 1: Legacy World Championships
Woke up early and through together UR Landstill similar to rays build. I told him that Fire/Ice was amazing, and was able to convinse him to add them to his build before we left for gencon in the morning. My board ran more Reb/Burnout cards to rays more standard cards, but besides that both builds were very close.
Legacy is boring ( I mean really boring ) so I will keep it very short for the sake of those who like true magic.
Round 1-2: I go 2-0 vs. random legacy decks (beats/angel stompy)
Round 3: I lose in 3 games to some weird elf deck that I should of beaten 2-0... Both games ended with some crazy win out of knowhere when he suddenly does some cycle trick making his 3 harmless elfs swing for 15...
Round 4: I beat andy probasco playing Vial Goblins... It really sucks that we had to play against each other but I guess it happens (alot)... The feature of the match was the only words andy said the whole match was "walrus" which I guess he used to confuse opponents at worlds by taking them off there game... However, it doesnt work on me, because I had to put up with him saying "california" in arnold swartzenagers voice the day before (and rest of trip).
Round 5: I beat Landstill mirror (guy quit game I was winning out of sheer boardem no joke)
Round 6: I draw with ATS... I won game 1... was going to win game 2 (or so I thought... long game ends when he realizes that he had genesis in graveyard)... Which if he was any good he would of realized, and won... in which case I would of destroyed him game 3 because its good matchup, and I mean very very good).
Round 7: Beat some U/W fish deck... How it got so far I have no idea...
Round 8: If I win Im In... Get paired up against UW landstill (1 of my best matchups) I lose game 1 because he topdecks back to back crucibles, and has opening hand with Waste + 2x factory/standstill (on the play)... I lose game 2 because I never draw 3rd land until turn 15 (my 2nd land got stripped)
5-2-1 finish =/
Day 2: Vintage qualify tourney
I play Ray Robilliards "Inevitability deck"... and go a dissapointing 2-3... (which was very upsetting), because I lost more to lack of play experience, and his deck was alot better then how it performed.
Day 3: Vintage Championships (aka the real event)
I play Meandeck gifts with maindeck Lim Dul's Vault. I am very confident in my ability to pilot the deck at the highest level, and feel that I have the ability to beat stax with ease. My only concerns are losing to random bad decks, and perhaps maybe perfectly played Control Slaver.
// Lands
  2 Flooded Strand
  4 Island
  3 Polluted Delta
  1 Snow-Covered Island
  1 Tolarian Academy
  2 Underground Sea
  2 Volcanic Island
// Creatures
  1 Darksteel Colossus
// Spells
  1 Ancestral Recall
  1 Black Lotus
  4 Brainstorm
  1 Burning Wish
  1 Demonic Tutor
  1 Echoing Truth
  1 Fact or Fiction
  4 Force of Will
  4 Gifts Ungiven
  1 Lim-Dul's Vault
  1 Lotus Petal
  1 Mana Crypt
  4 Mana Drain
  1 Mana Vault
  3 Merchant Scroll
  2 Misdirection
  1 Mox Emerald
  1 Mox Jet
  1 Mox Pearl
  1 Mox Ruby
  1 Mox Sapphire
  1 Mystical Tutor
  1 Rebuild
  1 Recoup
  1 Sol Ring
  1 Time Walk
  1 Tinker
  1 Vampiric Tutor
  1 Yawgmoth's Will
// Sideboard
SB: 2 Back to Basics
SB: 2 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 1 Lava Dart
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Pyroblast
SB: 3 Rack and Ruin
SB: 3 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 1 Tendrils of Agony
Round 1 Vs Burn (with 8 blast plan...)
Game 1: I turn 2 tinker and win quick...
Game 2: He REB's my Ancestral (and my FoW), and then my gifts ungiven (and I lose to a slith firewalker aka insult to injury)
Between games 2 and 3 I am forced to change my sleeves because I guess some of my black sleeves showed slightly more wear then other sleeves which I though then (and now) was completly redicules, because the sleeves were brand new, and I geuss if any looked different it was purely from glare of the gencon lights. I get a warning so my opponent was happy.
Game 3: I tinker turn 2 collosus and time walk
1-0 (2-1)
Round 2: Vs. Control Slaver (Brian Dumars)
Game 1: He plays ruby and island... ancestrals... I FoW... He FoW... I FoW... He then lays welder with 1 card in hand (found out later to be drain)... he topdecks another welder... while I am still recovering from 2x FoW (My initial thought was that if i could destroys both of are hands I would be the better topdecker based on threat #'s in the deck, and the fact is graveyard had nothing relevant at the time)... He draws amazing I dont... He wins a close long game...
Sideboard:
-1 Gifts
-1 FoF
-1 Mystical
-1 Vamp
-1 Lim Duls Vault
-1 merchant Scroll
-2 Forgot atm
+3 REB
+1 Pyroblast
+2 Lava dart
+2 Pithing Needle
Game 2: I keep an agressive hand that basically says... If you have a turn 1 FoW... and a 2nd Counter for turn 2 you will win... I kept and unfortunetly he had a FoW for my turn 1 ancestral... and a REB for my turn 2 gifts... and then got out a shaman turn before I would cast yawgs will.
1-1 (2-3)
Round 3 Vs. Kobald Clamp (used smennen notebook paper)
Game 1: I tinker early, and win extremely fast. I saw a gemstone mine, and thats about it... I have no clue what he is playing, but brought in B2B, and 2x rack and ruin guessing he was playing either stax or oath...
Game 2: He wins turn 2... I made mistake of countering the wrong card (aka any card that isnt skullclamp)
Game 3: I learn from my mistake and win by basically playing as agressively as possible... Turn 1 merchant scroll for mystical... Turn 2 Mystical for tinker (brinstorm into tinker put collosus back... cast tinker) ---> Win... Holding FoW entire time... and casting pithing needle in the process...
Opponent complained at end saying he had lost all faith in type 1 which when I told smennen prompted a laugh
2-1 (4-4)
Round 4 Vs. Defending Champion Mark Biller playing 3cc Varient
Game 1: He casts Scrying 2 seperate times for more then 4... wastes 1 of my crucial lands (I fetched to early thinking CS)... He casts will, and does alot of stuff but no threat on the board. I tinker collosus on my turn... and FoW a STP... He reveals a hand of about 6 lands and laughs it off.
Sideboard: Blasts +needles (primarily for shamans which I think he ran up to 3... and wasteland as second option)
Game 2: I win game 2 with more ease as he gets very clearly mana screwed... I felt bad winning how I did, but not as bad as I felt when I learned that Rays cards were stolen about 20 minutes later...
3-1 (6-4)
Round 5 Vs. Oath
Game 1: This game was extremely long... and fairly interesting... I had no clue what he was playing... and the game just turned into several counter wars. He ran no basic lands at all, and I soon had a feeling he was playing oath. I finally am able to break through with tinker collosus, and then with echoing truth in hand, and an open FoW... I let him resolve Oath. I swing, and bounce oath at EoT, and counter his counter, and the game ends the next turn.
Boarding: I wasnt sure on the board... I had very very little preperation for oath, and wasnt happy to see the matchup...
I brought in REB, Pyroblast, Back to basics, and take out lotus petal, mana vault, and other randoms...
Game 2: I establish fairly decent control of the early game by draining a oath into a gifts ungiven on my 1st main phase... I am in good position to win, and then he casts timetwister!!! WTF??? I end up getting a hand that was extremely bazaar... Black Lotus, Mox Jet, Mox Sapphire, Rebuild, Yawg's Will, Mana Crypt, echoing truth... I am stunned, and without a graveyard, and try to show my hand to brassman who sat to my right, but he was busy in a large counterwar so I just starred at my hand befuddled... However, it appeared that he didnt get the greatest hand either (though he did manage to find orchard). We both do very little for the next few turns though he does cast a phyrexian furnace...(I play a mox or 2 to prevent myself from having to discard, because if i did draw tendrils which I did board in I could easily win on the spot... I counter 2 oaths in a row... burning on both... while he continues to do some cute tricks with gaea's blessing... I resolve back to basics... and the game continues to stall... and so does the time left in the round... He wins the counter war over merchant scroll, and topdecks yawgs will... go to game 3 with about 10 minutes left.
Game 3: I establish control early... He has oath in play but no orchard, and I try desperatly to set up a very large yawg will... I have reb'ed multiple intuions, and played needle on furnace and tormod's crypt (just in case) to make sure my yawg's will resolves... Time is called... and his play speed to make sure time was called dropped to almost a standstill... I called a judge, and the judge said he was playing a fair pace, and kind of mockingly he called a judge on me though I have a clear strangle hold on the game after misdirecting a mind twist for 3 with 2 minutes left in the round... A bunch of complicated events, and him top decking time walk after i mystical for yawgs will on turn 3 (and him REB'ing my brainstorm), and time walking to take away my turn 5.
3-1-1 (7-5)
Round 6 Vs. 5c Stax
Game 1: We had to wait for what appeared to be forever for this to start because of a deck check... and we finally get under way... He wins the diceroll, and I am dismayed at my chances of winning. My hand is strong with a hand that included... Island, Mox Sapphire, Lim Duls Vault, ancestral, tinker, FoW, Fetch... He is on the play and goes first turn sphere (which looking back I probably should of FoW but I didnt)... On my turn I drop island and tap it for sapphire, and pass the turn... He strips my island and trys to cast seal of cleansing... I need my sapphire to have a chance in game and FoW... On my turn I ancestral into another mox which I fetch to play... He resolves crucible on his turn, and I am at no land again... The game stalls the next couple of turns, and I am able to resolve a crypt, and then collosus... he mysticals at my EoT for STP, but I have the FoW.
Out lots:
In: B2B, pithing needle, rack and ruin, hurkyl's, lava dart, etc.
Game 2: he has a strong turn 1 dropping waste and trinisphere. I am not happy on the state of the game at all even with several basics... I reach the 3 land mark, and rack and ruin the 3 sphere, and his just cast smokestack... The next turn I pass with drain mana on the board, and counter his crop rotation, and drop pithing needle on shaman (I didnt name waste, because I had a large # of basics, and strip mine was more scary anyway)... I vamp academy to destroys his academy)... and the game continues at a crawl... I eventually set up gifts, and he gave me the pile with the black lotus, mana crypt. This dumped will, and recoup into the graveyard... He feels remotly safe behind a chalice for 0 and 2 at this point (2 counters recoup/echoing truth/hurkyl's/merchant scroll/mana drain/etc.), but I am able to cast my own vamp for rebuild, and proceed to end the game shortly after.
4-1-1 (9-5)
Round 7 Vs. UBW Fish Varient
Game 1: I heard he was playing fish, but I didnt know it was UB fish. So when he duressed my ancestral that I merchant scrolled away I was indeed suprised, and rather ennoyed...wow fish is gay... I cast lim duls vault on his EoT step turn 2 losing about 10 life to get a pile that stacked like this: (Tinker, FoW, Gifts Ungiven, Black Lotus, FoF) I had enough mana remaining to brainstorm into the tinker/FoW/Gifts at eot as well which was great... I left lotus out of range so I could use it with FoF, etc. if somehow the fish player had 2x FoW... He didnt so the game ended (primarily after I FoW the STP)
I talked to smennen the day before about sideboarding and basically told him this: Against Fish you should ALWAYS board out your FoW, because there is no card in there whole deck that is worth a 2 for 1 trade... and destroying your decks tempo/consistency by taking out other cards is redicules when fishes goal is to do that to you anyway... I convinced him for probably the first (and only time ever), and it appears that my strategy is catching on... though a little more then i wanted... find your own sideboarding tech secrets!!!
Game 2: He is on the play and resolves Vial... I quickly stop it with pithing needle on his vial. He also gets a standstill out at some point which I quickly break making him discard 2 cards from his hand. He resolves rootwater thief that did make me jump a little bit, because that can be a real nuisance to the deck. However, before he is able to do to much with it I am able to gifts ungiven (getting Yawg's will, tinker, burning wish, recoup)... he doesnt get why I got tinker, but gives it to my hand, and proceeds to remove collossus from the game... he trys to resolve a mesmeric fiend to try and take control of the game, I drain, he FoW, I REB... (also note that I was able to pyroblast the thief about 2 turns later)...I finish the game a few turns later by tinkering lotus, and then being able to win through yawg's will... though I had a mini scare when he tried to cast orims chant in responce to yawg's will... I love misdirection!
5-1-1 (11-5)
My tiebreakers were around 57.6%... I needed them to be about 60.9% to make it but I wasnt to upset, because my friend andy made top 8! I also had any negativity about tiebreakers (and the fact that the event should of been 8 rounds) forgiven by the joy of finding rays missing cards, and getting a foil gemstone mine for the effort.
Day 4:
This day was decent... Was so exhausted that I played poorly in the last type 1 event ( I mean really really poorly for example I lost game 1 to worshop slaver.. and look over to my right to see nick voss playing CS... without thinking I board as if i am playing against control slaver... OOPS!)
I am able to find mark tedin right before he was about to leave, and had all of my favorite cards signed... then realized I forgot to have my Juzam djinn's, and some rather unplayables signed, but thats ok... I got a play mat altered by the extremely cool mark pool, and had a chance to talk to roland chang who really is a great guy though his quite reserved play style can sometimes get misenterpreted for being anti-social.
The final night has the colorado crew staying at my hotel, and they are a wild group of guys... They talk about how they all were going too pee in Serra's (right person?) but... however, they didnt because she was to ennoying. We ended up doing a big draft with the winner getting a personally self altered card from all the other players. The cards were all chosen based on what that person played at gencon. Almost all the cards were altered to become as perverted, or sex related as possible which I guess fits the mood. Ray won the draft, and took home the treasure.
We basically stayed up the entire night, and at around 3:00 in the morning we heard a nock on are door... the initial thought was oh shit...we must of been to loud, but when I opened the door 3 hot girls stood in front of us (well 2 were hot, and 1 was fat, but apparently bob yu loves the fat chicks!), and they said they were looking for there brother, and we were the only room with the lights still on. 1 of the girls walked across the room over the cards, and past the TV that was playing a porno (seriously it was in the middle of a sex scene), and when the girl walked back she kindof bumped into Bob Yu who said with the most serious voice ever, "Hey Baby, whats up? want to chill with us for a while... have a good time"... I cant even describe the weird puzzled look of this girls face... The whole time Lou was going wild in the background saying they should stay to "fucking party", and "get it on"... If you saw him on the street you would seriously believe that he was drunk... If you havent met bob yu before then think of him as Harold from "Harold and Kumars go to white castle." He looks just like harold, and acts/talks exactly like him... The tenessee girls leave and the first thing Bob says is I will take the fat 1, I will "bone it out for you guys"... and I am pretty sure the girls were able to still hear every word he was saying... The girls ended up coming back 3 more times to use the phone, and lou made hillarious remarks like oh man there into us, they are back for 2nds... It was all in fun of course, but it still was incredibly funny that girls came to are hotel to watch a bunch of magic geeks playing cards, and watching porn at 3:00...
The day we left we got are plane flights wrong and almost missed are flight... Lou got interviewed by the local news about an airline strike which was ironic, but I am sure would have been great TV either way.
Props:
Everyone who stayed in my hotel (Ray, Andy, Scott, etc.)
Colorado Crew (You guys were awsome and really represented)
Smennen (You were cooler then I remember you being, and your help in looking/asking everyone you saw about rays missing cards was class act... Lending me your lucky notepad was also a key to my success)
Roland Chang (Your a cool guy and it was nice to meet you)
Mark Poole/Tedin (Spending the time to sign my cards before you left was generous)
Nick Voss (nice guy whos pimpness made me dizzy, and probably cost me a match or 2 in side events)
Akuma (good player, and was very nice to talk too in are match)
Zvi (Found my deckbox which i guess I left on table and turned it to the front desk...very happy it happened even if only legacy deck)
Smennen's lucky notepad... went 5-0 games when using it... and brassman won both of his matches in top 8... and lost only in the finals after he gave it back to steve... Only if andy recognized its power sooner...
Slops:
Airline waitresses for being 100% unhelpful
Star Wars Kid for making a mess of the bathroom
WoTC prize structure... It was very clear that my legends boosters were searched...
Zvi's laughing... nice guy but his laugh gave me a headache...
Food prices... $3 for a bottled water is a ripoff...
350 pound goth girl wearing practically nothing for giving me nightmares...
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