Gen-Con Tournament Report

I haven't read if anyone has posted a Tournament Report from the Big Type 1 Tournament at Gen-Con. Pat Chapin (is that how you spell it?) was the "official winner" but he and I split the Finals because it was 5:00 in the morning (we started at 8:00pm), and because he was shaking in his boots. Well, ok maybe not. We had played a match in a previous tournament that day and he'd taken it 2-1. So I was happy to give him the win and split the winnings down the middle. Didn't effect our ratings anyhow so WTF.

Here's what I played.

BSB

3 Morphling
1 Masticore
4 Ophidian

4 Mana Drain
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
3 Misdirection

1 Fact or Fiction
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll
4 Powder Keg
2 Back to Basics

1 Mox Sapphire*
1 Mox Ruby*
1 Sol Ring
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
20 Island

* I didn't have any Moxen upon arriving at Gen-Con. I was able to scrape together these 2 before the big tourny...and thanks to my winnings here and some shrewd trading I walked away with all 5! What a weekend!!

(Sideboard is now Top Secret tech so I won't be posting that, some usual stuff, some not)

Round 1 -- Burn (Scrub)

He showed up late so gave me an automatic first game win. Turns out he was only playing because his friend (more skilled) made him enter.

2-0 / 1-0

Round 2 -- Dragon's World

OMG! I never thought I'd see this in Type 1. And to my amazement he CRUSHED me game 1. He went first. I dropped an Island on my turn and said go. Didn't have Force or Mis-D and he went off turn 2. His build was interesting. He Buried Alived a Worldgorger and an Aerial Caravan. He was then able to stop the "infinite" Animate Dead combo by changing to the Caravan once he had a million mana of every color.
Game 2 I went first, Island - Mox Sapphire...game. Game 3 was more tricky. Had to Force a Defense Grid. But still pulled it out with the extra Ophidian cards.

2-1 / 2-0

Round 3 -- Sligh

Very bad build. BSB owns Sligh. And Sligh built with Firebolts and Hammers of Bogardan, and without Pups doesn't exactly put up a good fight.

2-0 / 3-0

Round 4 -- 5-color Zoo

I was very lucky this Match!! First of all, this guy went undefeated for like 6 straight matches to take 1st place in a previous tournament. And he quickly stomped me down Game 1. Game 2 is were Lady Luck was kissing my a$$! I mean she was all over it. My opponent dropped a second turn City of Solitude. And I just blankly nodded my head with NOTHING in hand. I dropped a Masticore a turn or two later...which won me the game. But the funny thing was...he had 2 bolts in hand the whole time. Because it was so late (maybe 1 or 2 am by this time) he didn't realize I couldn't regenerate the Masticore on his turn. He should have won. But instead I took that game, and dropped B2B game 3 (finally) which won me the game.

2-1 / 4-0

Round 5 -- Red/Green Sligh

I might have had a chance to win this. He won game 1 very quickly. Game 2 I made the stupidest mistake of the tournament. I had just dropped Morphling the turn before and had attacked that turn. He was at 15. I was at 13. He only had Blurred Mongoose out and Cursed Scroll and 1 card in hand (Lightning Bolt). I had only 2 Islands untapped. He attacked. I could have taken the 2 and lived to win the game... But no, instead I untapped Morphling and declared a block. He had the 4 or more land in play so SuperMan was killed by the Red/Green Krypto-Bolt.

0-2 / 4-1 ...Glad to get that one out of the way.

Round 6 -- Zombie/Krovikan Recurssion.

Game 1 he Mulliganed down to 5 and kept a hand with no land. I dropped a quick 'Phid and he conceded before ever playing a single card. I had no idea what he was playing! I couldn't sideboard against him. I joked with him that this was his strategy. He took it well. Game 2 he ritualed out a Duress and Zombie infestation. My intuition told me that he was very mana light and I was holding Strip and Wasteland and 2 Islands in hand. I went for the LD. I was right. I Stripped the Swamp. Wasted his Bazaar next turn. He never played a single land. But suddenly was dumping everything in his hand for Zombie Tokens. Luckily I was only beat down to 2 before I had 2 'phids and 2 Morphlings on the table. I beat him down quickly after that.

2-0 / 5-1

Quarter Finals -- Red/Green Sligh

A different opponent than previously, but nearly identical deck. I did much better this time around. Can't remember details right now. It was like 4 in the morning for God's Sake!

2-0 / 6-1

Semi Finals -- Sligh

He doesn't have a chance sorry. I love seeing Sligh on the other end of the table.

2-0 / 7-1

Pat and I split after a little bit of haggling. The prize went down the middle so I was happy.

Conclusion...

My friend Craig said it right. I was on fire. It wasn't that I was pulling awesome draws or making superior plays (although I did make quite a few good calls). My matchups were the dream!! 6 opponents that were pure aggro. I play against aggo very well. Except Stompy. Stompy can give me fits sometimes. But I never saw it. I was the luckiest scrub of the day. Didn't even have to face Pat's Super-Grow deck.

Oh...and Rakso...his deck REALLY IS good! It's fast. I can't out-counter it consistently. And he plays it very well. Sideboard tech against it is in progress...(hmmmm....War Tax?...)