I wrote this report and sent it out; I guess I might as well post it here.
Anyway, I had expected to play GroTog and try to defend my title from last time, but it turned out that I had guests coming over at 5 so I would have to leave the tournament early. I had Carl Devos' Vengeur Masque built and figured even though it totally pooped on me Thursday that I could essentially playtest it for 3-4 rounds and then drop. But when signups are done only 11 people have registered, so I get to play the "whole day". OK then.
Match 1: ?, w/Infinite Kobolds
100% powered. The deck goes infinite off Recycle and wins with Coat of Arms. I've seen one of the C&Js players play it so I know how to play it (sorta). It generally dies to Counterspells.
Game 1). He wins the roll and plays Land-Mox-Kobold-Kobold-Lotus-TimeTwister. Nice. I look at the FoW in my hand but have no U card to pitch. He draws his new 7 and settles into a long think. I draw pretty much the same hand I had before. He lays a Lotus and says, "So it would cost 5 mana to Regrow and cast TimeTwister". Uh oh. He plays some more permenants but fortunately has to DT for Regrow for Twister and uses up his mana for the turn. He Twisters again and drops some 0CCs like Urzas Bauble and Kobolds. My new hand has the FOW, which I use on his Recycle next turn. I start laying out my stuff and he struggles to get going on an exhausted hand. Maybe 2 turns later I am swinging with Dreadnaughts and win.
Game 2) He doesnt get such a nutty start and I walk over him. Funny moment - he plays Coat of Arms early and has two 1/2 Kobolds out when I win with two 13/13 Dreadnaughts. Christiaan, who often plays Bu Mask says, "Hmm, I've attacked for 24, but I've never attacked for 26 before."
Game Fun) We play a couple of fun games and he wins the one where I don't have the counter for the Recycle.
Match 2: Christiaan (Zhalfirin) w/URPhid
He's brought something new today. I've playtested against this once; I had TnT and Saucemaster had URPhid. It was at the end of a long day of playtesting and we both were making tons of mistakes, but at least I have some idea of what makes it tick.
1) He plays Land-Mox-Lotus-Phid. He Strips one of my land, he Time Walks before I can cast Wall of Roots to block. He's drawn about a zillion extra cards by the time I can even cast anything. I get ready to concede because I have 2 threats left in hand and he has 7 cards with LoA. I play threat #1, which is Survival. It is Mana Drained. I pass the turn. He is a bit land shy, he greedily takes the mana to main phase FoF. The FoF is Ancestral/Fire&Ice vs. Island/Keg/X. He takes the Ancestral pile but is near tapped out. I try to play Mask and prepare to scoop. He Ancestrals in response, he FoWs. I FoW back. Mask resolves! Lol. I play 2 Dreads under the Mask and he calls me a lucky bastard. Hehe. I tell him I don't want to hear from "Mr. 1st Turn Ophidian + Ancestral + Time Walk". Lol. He Impulses like crazy, but there is nothing in his deck which fixes his problem. I win I game I expected to lose.
2) I have 2 Masks, 2 Naughts and a Shifter to start. Very nice. I play the Mask, I drop the 'Naughts under it. He does not concede which means he probably has the Hurkyl's Recall in hand. I play out BoP and 'Shifter under the Mask so they cannot be countered. I think about swinging with only one Dread, but decide that even if he has the Recall I can force one of the 2 Masks out. He has the Recall and he has 2 counters when my Masks try to come back down. He also has a Fire&Ice for my BoP/Shifter. Sad face. I draw Genesis and think I must just win. He Treacherys Genesis and beats me to death with it. Super sad face! I lose a game I expect to win.
3) He counters my early stuff and we're running low on time. I have an agonizing decision where he showed weakness by playing LoA second instead of another Island. Hmmm. He fetches Ancestral with Merchant Scroll. So, to hammer him or play safe? I figure he has a decent chance to draw an Island since he is the control deck so I Strip the LoA. He gets a Masticore as time runs out, but it only gets me to 8 in the 5 rounds.
Match 3: Robin w/Void
As I sit down I mention that the mighty Carl Devos thinks this is a good matchup for me.
Continuing our record of bizarre procedural errors, Robin tells me he lost a game last round because he drew a card from his opponents deck! Lol. "The decks were kinda next to each other and I was looking at my hand when I drew..."
1) I have BoP-Brainstorm-MisD-FoW-3 Land going second. I put the BoP down, which leaves me Brainstorm-less for the turn, but he cannot capitalize. He Sinkholes my land, but I dont care as I have 4 in hand after my draw step. I topdeck a Mask and then Mis-D his Hymn to empty his hand. He Edicts in response to kill my BoP. Sad face. But I have the best Brainstorm ever where I trade my last two land for Dreadnaught-FoW-MisD. Happy face. Win in 2 turns.
2) This time I am very fast; Land-Mox-Mask and quickly drop about 100 creatures under the Mask.
Game Fun) We play several fun games, I win them all. He sides out his Voids because he feels a resolved Mask makes them useless. He doesnt have Contagions, but some combo of Edicts and Spinning Darkness. In one of the games I get into a standoff with his Royal Assassin + Maze of Ith, but win with untargetable Gigapede. Lol.
I get 5 packs of Legions for my mighty performance; Christiaan has also gone 2-0-1 and we can't play each other again, so we split the prize pool. I can have any pack in the store - but they are out of Onslaught since Regionals was yesterday. There is a box of plastic WHFB Sauruses next to the Legions packs; I pick one up and ask if I can take my prize in Sauruses instead of Legions, but the kid behind the counter says "No". Sad face again.
Note for the future though: perhaps we can get the prizes in Store Credit rather than just Legions packs. When I got home I let my friends (who havent played MtG in like 3 years) open the Legions packs even they seemed disappointed by them. "Why does this 1/1 Elf have Trample?" "This Dermoplasm reminds me of Timmy Power Gamer. But whats a Morph?" Damn, thats my 3rd Dermoplasm. I really am starting to hate that card.
