Well Thanksgiving weekend wouldn't have been as much fun this year if it weren't for the nice trip to Chicago a few friends and I had taken to the Crazy Con tournaments. We left Friday from South Bend, Indiana around 130 and arrived at the school gym around 300. We were looking for cards to finish my friend chris's deck (Spoils Mask player) and found them about 20 minutes after getting there. I on the other hand didn't get the cards I wanted to borrow until about 10 mnutes before the teams even had started as some friends from Michigan who were coming lost the directins to get here and had the use the directions to get back home to get to the gym. So after frantically searching through my cards to get the rest of my deck together my team BuFu and I were ready to go. I don't want to bore you with details of the team event , but I will tell you that we finished 2-2 playing the bothof the teams that eventually split the first place prize. Later that night we went out looking for a place to crash, my team and the guys from Michigan, and found this shabby motel down the road about a mile called the Challet?, and got a room w/ 4 beds for $75 which was a good eal to me so we crashe d there and did some testing for the big tournament we were hoping to be involved in the next day.
THE BIG DAY
This was the day I would hope to prove to my friends and some people at home that I'm not full of it when it comes to playing Type 1 by making the top 4 and bringing home some cash for the holidays. Alas it didn't happen, but I will give you a brief tournament report explaining why my plans were ruined.
Animate Dragon
3 Animate Dead
2 Dance of the Dead
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Duress
3 Necromancy
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Ambassador Laquatus
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Compulsion
4 Force of Will
3 Intuition
1 Time Walk
4 Sqee, Goblin Nabob
4 Worldgorger Dragon
1 Lim-Dul's Vault
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Bayou
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground River
4 Underground Sea
Sideboard
3 Coffin Purge
2 Reanimate
3 Stifle
3 Xantid Swarm
2 Verdant Force
2 Pernicious Deed
Round 1 (U/B Tog)
I really can't say much for this match-up except that I saw no Squees or Dragons to go with Bazaars and he OWNED me both games. Not exactly the way I wanted to start off the tournament, but I've overcome worse before.
0-1
Round 2 (Madness)
This isn't a match-up I thought I would see and feared it becuase I didn't know the decklist off the top of my head and couldn't remember if the deck ran Force of Will or not. But my opening draw consisted of Lotus, Bazaar, Dragon, Animate, Force, Island, Squee so I went for it and got game one without seeing his deck and didn't really know what to sideboard, but I stuck in two Stifle and a Coffin Purge just on case...
And in game 2 I find out that he's playing madness by the first turn LED, Foothills, but he didn't do anything with it and passed the turn. I played Delta and passed thr turn. He sacked fetch eot and I do the same in response fearing Stifle. Both of the effects resolve and on his turn he draws into nothing , but sacks the Led to play an Arrogant Wurm, but I Stifle madness and he's left w/ a Roar in the 'yard. My turn I Purge the Roar and say go. He draws a land and passes the turn. I draw Bazzar, drop it use it get Dragon AND Animate, and go off.
1-1
Round 3 (Joe playing Welder Mud)
Joe is a friend from Michigan and the player who loaned me almost all the cards to play the deck. He wins the die roll and goes first turn Sphere w/ Worksho and mana Vault. I get Delta, Mox Sapphire, Compulsion and say go. His turn he lays Tangle Wire, Mountain, Welder and says go. I draw dead and say go, he drops Smoketack and I scoop.
Game two I side in 3 Stifle and a Coffin Purge. I keep an opening hand of Lotus, Mox Jet, Bazaar, Animate, Vampiric Tutor, Stifle, Swamp, and go offfirst turn by drawing into a Dragon w/ Bazaar and animating it.
Game 3 I have to mull down to 5 and he gets an opening hand of Ruby, Welder, Workshop, Sphere, Tanlge Wire, Chalice, and Skullcap and just obliterates me ans his card advantage is too much for me to handle and I scoop on turn 4 when I don't draw a land to win the game.
1-2
Round 4
I seem to have misplaced my notes on this matchup, but I do know that it was a Sligh player and that I won in two games...
2-2
Round 5 (Worldgorger, Dante)
I'll just use a quote from this Dante's post as he sums up the games, not much really happened aside from a few Duress's.
Quote Round 5 – Michael Tabler
Game 1 - He’s playing dragon. He knows that I’m playing dragon, but I don’t know what he’s playing. As usual, I mulligan. My 6-card hand I remember being slow-ish, but nothing bad enough to go to 5. He’s just one step ahead of me. We both get bazaars, but he gets 2 early squees, I only get 1, slightly later and he combos me first.
Game 2 – My opening 7 has one-mox (sound familiar). My 6 card hand is something like Ruby, Swamp, compulsion, squee, squee, dragon. Poo on that. My 5-card hand is passable, but I just can’t keep up starting 5 to his 8.
I felt bad as he didn't really get any good draws. I hadn't tested the mirror, but had some assumptions that I wanted test out finally in that match-up, but they never became an issue.
3-2
Round 6 (Goblin Sligh)
This is one ofthe players from southern Indiana that I have palaed twice before and both times he's played Goblin Sligh, so I have a pretty good idea as to what he may be palying. Game one I win the roll and open up with Bazaar, Animate, Jet, Sapphire, Swamp, Squee, Island. I drop Bazaar draw two and what do ya know, I see a Dragon, discard it and the two land and Animate it for the win.
I side in Verdant Force and 2 Stifle as I have a hunch he's playing Goblin Sligh and is using Crypts as an answer to my Dragon. He drops turn 1 Lackey and says go. I drop turn 1 Compulsion and pass the turn. He drops a land, Crypt swings and drops a Fanatic from the the Lackey. My turn I drop a Mana Crypt Island and say go. He swings again and drops another land and says go. I Intuition at the end of his turn for 2 Dragon and Verdant Force. He does nothing at his end step and I proceed to take my turn. I draw into Stifle and have Force back up in my hand for the Animate spell. I cast Animate he pops Cryptin response, I Stifle and win.
4-2
After the match I go to see how my firend Dan is doing at 3-2. He's playing Landstill against 'Tog. All I see is he loses game 1, wins game 2 and there is about 5 minutes left when game 3 starts. Dan gets the early lead as the 'Tog player gets his first two lands get Wasted and Stripped. Then the 'Tog player drops a fetch, Lotus, Sapphire and passes the turn. Dan drops a Mishra's Factory and Standstill. The 'Tog player responds by sacking the fetch land and Dan responds by playing Stifle. The 'Tog player literally takes 3 minutes to decide whether or not to Force of Will the Stifle and finally does after Dan asks him 3 times what he plans to do. After that time is called and the additional 5 turns start and the game ends up being a draw, BUT Dan calls the judge over for to see if he can get extra time from a previous ruling in the match,and is denied. The 'Tog player somewhat distraught, I guess, asks to see Dans hand, full of counters and another Factory, he gives Dan the match putting him into the top 8 and knocking me out of the spot that I would have gotten. A bit tee'd off, I wish Dan good luck as he he is good friend and go make fun of Steve, one of my teammates, who traded off his Ruby to get some foil type 2 cards and some cash. it wasn't a terrible weekend, but making top 8 and just having the chance to win some cash would have made it that much sweeter, but hey, it happens. Hopefully next time I'll come with a deck that I'm more familiar with and rock the house, 3rd times a charm right???
