[Results] Team GWS owns Chicago again (6-13-04)

[Lost In Admiration]

Chicago had a somewhat small turnout today for one reason or another.  There were about twenty people with a metagame breakdown like this:
3 Gay/r or variant
3 Keeper or 4C Angel
2 3C Tog
2 Landstill variants
1 2 Land Belcher
1 Dragon
1 Gro a Tog
1 7/10 Spilt (my teammate Brian)
1 7/10 – Mindslaver Hybrid
4-5 other decks

I chose to play Keeper with 2 Angel and 2 Decree (If anyone wants a full list send me a pm. There’s no reason to spam this with a common list).  After seeing the field I was somewhat worried.

Round 1 Manuel with Tog 0-2
Game 1: I Mulligan down to six on a “five mana, decree, other cardâ€? draw.  He puts out first turn Tog off a Lotus.  I send the dude farming.  The rest of the game involves me drawing little to no land and him drawing cards.  I lose to said cards.
Game 2: I resolve an early Scrying for three.  I cycle out a Decree for three.  At some point he plays a Tog and it does its “get hugeâ€? thing.  I get owned.

Round 2: Bye 2-0
I am that good.  No really, I am.

Round 3: Zach with Gay/r ID
This is the random kid that rode with.  We decide to ID.

At this point it occurs to me that I’ve only played once, and I lost.  I need to win out to have a shot at Top 8.

Round 4: Lloyd with Keeper 2-1
Game 1: Early on he resolves a Scry for two.  Neither of us have absurd Wasteland draw.  He manages to double Force a Mind Twist through.  It takes Yawg Will.  It all goes down hill from there as he Scrys again and ownz me with Decree guys.
Game 2: We trade off Scryings and do some dancing around.  I get a slight advantage and shoot Mind Twist for three, his whole hand.  He responds with Brainstorm, which I REB.  He hard casts Force on the Twist (not the REB), leaving one card in his hand.  I look at him for a while.  I decide he isn’t bluffing and pitch counter with Force.  He discards City of Brass.  Despite this ownage, I still manage to press the advantage with Angels to the victory.
Game 3: My notes suck on this game but if I recall correctly I kept him mana stalled for a long time.  At some point I used Plagiarize to steal two of his Scry cards (so much ownage).  Just as time is called I get ready to win.  Two Angels and a cycled Decree own him down.
Lloyd is always a fun opponent.  It seems like him and I hit the mirror match WAY too frequently.

Round 5: Matt with Dragon 2-0-1
Game 1: He has to mulligan down to five cards and play first.  I drop turn three Future Sight (omfg you play bad cardz).  I proceed to go off.  I kill his hand and give him one turn to topdeck a reanimate spell for the draw.  He draws and reanimate spell.  I suck at magic and life.
Game 2: He hand is subpar and mine has counters and removal.  Slowly but surely the Angels take him down.
Game 3: This is game two again with more of him drawing horribly and more of me owning him.

I barely feel that I earned the Top 8.  I’m in fourth seed after the swiss.

Top 8:  Bob with Slaver-7/10 Hybrid
Game 1: He plays out the first turn Welder.  I Plow it down. On turn three he drops down the Tinker on his Mox.  I have to let it go.  Out come the formidable Darksteel Colossus for some poundage.  I proceed to use some Drain mana (from a FoW?) to Mind Twist and Yawg Will.  The Will does nothing except kill his Darksteel.  That is enough for me to stall him out and win.
Game 2: He drops another turn one Welder.  Within a few turns he brings out Pentavus.  A seriously huge amount of tokens own me before I can do anything useful.
Game 3: Early he tries a Blood Moon.  I’m caught off guard but have a Force.  The very next turn he drops another Blood Moon.  I get down Damping Matrix.  We both proceed to sit there for a really long time.  I get three Moxen that carry my mana base all the way.  His Titan comes down to kill off his basic island.  I Plow it and he finds his only two islands gone.  A Balance and Rack and/or Ruin take out his next two threats.  Two Angels come down unmorphed style for the ill beats.  I slowly win this long, drawn out boxing match.

Top 4: Manuel with Tog again
Game 1: He misses two land drops in the first five turns.  This plus my two Wastelands should all but seal the game right?  I double Scry for a total of seven cards and play a Mox Monkey to kill his two Moxen.  This should beat him right?  Somehow he manages to draw an absurd amount of good stuff that owns the hell out of me.  I really have no idea what happened other than him drawing purely broken stuff.  Yawg Will resolves on his side and I get owned.
Game 2: Despite Mox Monkey and some Damping Matrix action I get owned.  There’s no good explanation to this game other than it is the same Tog-beats-Keeper game everyone has seen before.  He outdraws and outpowers me.  I try to hold off for the Togs.  I can’t win.

This puts me down as third place.  I get a foil Vampiric Tutor for my efforts.  My friend Brian tends to represent a little more forcefully with 7-10 Spilt.  He spilts (omfgrofl the irony) for first place.  That means just what you all were thinking: Team GWS has taken the first prize of each of four tournaments it has been to within a month. Quite frankly we own this region.  No, seriously, we do.

Top 4:
1st – Brian with 7/10
2nd – Manuel with Tog
3rd – Mat with Keeper
4th – Matt with Keeper

Props:
The quality of players and decks at this tournament for being surprisingly high.  I was impressed.
The chick I saw at the Oasis on the ride home for being really hot. No, she was, seriously. Well maybe she was more cute than hot, but…
The pizza place not far from the place for being extremely satisfying when you’re are extremely hungry.
My Robert Smith bobble head doll for being cooler than all the other stupid stuff people use as good luck charms.
Zach Fonteyne for coming along for one reason or another and top 8ing in true GWS style.

Slops:
Zach Fonteyne for talking in general.
Zach Fonteyne for winning poker the night before.
Zach Fonteyne for acting like he’s a true GWSer.
Zach Fonteyne for asking to be in the report.
Zach Fonteyne.

PS: Expect Brian to post some sort of report soonish (when he gets off work).
PPS: I have a ton of pictures from the event I could put up if someone has a host.

[TheAdvantage]

Nice little report; I was going to attend this, but its a 6 hour drive from southern illinois.  How often do you guys plan on running these(re: as often as you have been??)?

A buddy of mine claims to have a friend with shelter up there so if we know far enough ahead of time, then we'll probably be down for road trippin it up there.

I'd appreciate it if someone could PM me whenever the next announcement goes up so we can make some plans to pwn GWS and Chi-town!    I'd be all about playing some poker also; I can bring KEM's if you guys still use the $1.99 decks.

lol...why'd you ID in round 3 against some random kid??  Other than that, congrats on the shiny Vamp!

[Ginai Doma]

Congrats on the Vamp.  Oh so Shiny.  South Ill had planned on going up, but the 6 hour drive is kinda rough, and the cash thing also put a damper on the idea.  Keep me informed on up coming events.  Perhaps Layertes (sic), The Advantage and I will make the trip.  We ended up playing at a low level T1 locally on saturday, and got pissed at random things.

[rant]
1) Who plays oath?  Or better yet, who forgets to mutate a plat angel?
2) When did Collector's Edition become legal at sanctioned events?
[/rant]

Anyways, congrats on the vamp.   Be glad that me and my madness did not make the trip.

[Lost In Admiration]

@ TheAdvantage
The ID was against Zach, the kid I rode with.  I didn't really feel like beating the kid that decided he wanted to play for the first time in months, effectively knocking him out of the tournament.  Also, he was playing fish.

Where are you guys at?  It's a little over a two hour drive for Brian and myself.  Maybe we could meet up or whatnot.  If you needed a place to stay we could help.

They talked about the weekend after Milwaukee (the 27th) as the date.  Brian and I are set to go with the full team (one extra guy ) to Milwaukee.  If you guys were up for it, we could give you a place to stay/ride from our area.

[TheAdvantage]

We're effectively from St. Louis, Mo in Belleville, Il about 15 minutes from downtown St. Louis.  Are you guys south of Chicago??  I'll spread the word around to my local guys and see if there's a serious interest....there's no real(re: power tourney) T1 in St.L on a regular basis and it's quite annoying.  I'll PM you in a few days after I spread the word.

Thanks for the info and have a good one!!
-Nick

[ump]

I'm happy to see that the tournaments in Chicago are starting to be regular again even if it is now proxy instead of sanctioned.  Knowing that there will be enough participants each time, it might be easier for me to squeeze time to actually attend again.

[Lost In Admiration]

@ TheAdvantage
Yeah we're right on the Iowa boarder about 2 and a half hours drive from downtown Chicago.

@ Everyone in the area
Come on out for the next tournament.  This metagame is starting to look promising.

[MrZeroPing]

I'm down in the StL region as well and I was thinking about coming up to the area tourneys. However the past 2 prizes have been workshops correct? Workshop is good but its no Mox if you know what I mean. When is the next event going down? Also... anyone going to Origins in Columbus?

[Into The Silence]

Mat, Zach, and I drove down to Chicago for some type 1 action.  Along the way Zach just keeps on talking... and talking.... and talking.... I mean seriously how someone talk so much.

So after being annoyed for 2 hours we arrive at the Gaming Depot.

I am playing the same exact 7/10 list as I did last tournament with a minor sideboard change that had no affect on the tournament.

On to the excitement!

Round 1:  Bye... I mean White Wheenie
Game 1: He opens with Fetch for Plains... I win shortly thereafter
Game 2: He sideboards three cards... none of which are Serenity

Round 2: Fish (Zach who rode down w/us & is freaking annoying)
Game 1: He opens with Conclave, I get a Chalice for 2 out pretty early followed up by a Titan.
Game 2: He gets a Vandal out but is neutralized by the tag team of Memnarch and Titan... he didn't even have the red mana to use Vandal's ability.

Round 3: Dragon
Game 1: He opens with Swarm and then wins on turn 2.  Ouch
Game 2: I play turn 1 Welder, he Forces.  Next turn I play Chalice for 2, then Chalice for 3 as well as a Tormod’s Crypt.  I just wait to draw into a threat and win.
Game 3: He mulls to six.  He plays a Sea and passes turn.  I open with a Brainstorm.  He does nothing again, I play Chalice for 2 which gets Forced.  He finds Bazaar, uses it and Animates up a Dragon… I’ve got the Blue Blast.  Time gets called and I have enough damage to kill him on the 5th turn… on his 4th he rips a Mox to play another Animate… I have another Blue Blast.  Whew.

Round 4: Tog
ID

Round 5: Keeper
ID

Top 8: Tog w/maindeck Berserk and Gush
Game 1: We play land go for a few turns and I drop a Memory Jar w/Force backup.  He has Mana Drain and Force.  He then Intiutions and all that mana and does his Tog thing.
Game 2: I play turn 1 Memnarch, he resolves.  He beats a few turns and then gets Naturalized.  I drop down a Titan to seal the game.
Game 3: He mulls to 6 and opens with Crypt, Mox, Land, Deep Anal.  I drop a Crypt and activate it.  A few turns later I get a Chalice for 2 down.  He Fofs into pretty much nothing, 2 Mana Drains and 3 Tropical Islands.  My Triskelion goes in for the beats and he is forced to block with Mr. Teeth, I make him pump Tog.  The game ends with my sweet topdeck of a Titan.  I know that somewhere in there he could have won… all he had to do was attack with Tog but somehow overlooked it.  Luck of the Irish eh?
Disclaimer: I’m pretty sure I got games 2-3 mixed up a bit.

Top 4: Keeper
Game 1: My hand is Force, Ancestral, Thirst, Mox, 3 Welder… Mul to 6 and end up with Force, Ancestral, Thirst, Thirst, something else…. And yes I did shuffle my deck.  I decide to go ballsy and keep.  Two turns go by before I get land to play my Ancestral, I Force it through and then proceed to lose to 5 strip hand.
Game 2: My opening Welder goes Farming.  I force his Angel and a Titan comes in to party shortly thereafter.
Game 3: Wow this game was absolutely insane.  He plays Volcanic and is done.  I play Sapphire, Ancestral, He Rebs I Force.  I then play an Emerald, Sol ring, Crypt, and Acedemy to drop a turn 1 Titan… wow.  Next turn I topdeck Force but he can’t find an answer.

So Manuel (Hspecter) and I end up figuring out a split.  My winning was extra sweet because that put my friend Mat in 3rd place so he could get the Foil Vamp.

So GWS goes home with a Workshop and Foil Vamp.

One last note… I’ve played this deck and in this month I have won Three Mishra’s Workshops.

I don’t know if Shortbus is just not posting results or even playing the deck but it seems like I’m the only person that is having success with 7/10?

Props:

My Chevy Lumina for being the best ever.
My sickening luck.
Mat for being my direction man.
7/10 for rocking the house.

Slops:

Zach for existing.
Round 1 opponent who defiled the tournament with White Wheenie.

[BreathWeapon]

LOL! Jeff, were you playing at Dizzie Dug Out? Don't worry man, Oath happens

If it helps any, I'll have my apartment at U of I at the end of August for Chicago road trips as a way station.

Oh yeah, this is Drew, the guy who plays FCG with MD Rods instead of acceleation (Or the Irish guy with the shag that was with Laertese at Stake and Shake)

[dogleg969]

With this event being my first T1 event since like '95 when I was playing badmoon.dec (yikes!) I'd say I showed up quite well...

So I am playing Dragon for some silly reason... I should be playing Hulk but I hate the mirror

Round 1 - GAT
Game 1 gets a turn 1 Ophid and Dryad, draws a ton of cards, beats me down in a hurry.  Play of the game:  Holding FoW and one other random non blue card he casts Berserk for the win, I activate Bazaar thinking, "I'll find a blue card to pitch and buy myself a turn"  Oops.... It's going to be a long day.  Game 2  I Necromancy (one of my 10 proxies, I know, HOT) EOT, he has a counter but doesn't know how the deck works.  Game 3 he has double Dryad 9/9 and 3/3, after like 20 opts/brainstorms/ancestralls, etc.  He's got me at 6 life, passes turn I rip Dance of the Dead like a savage cheater, play it with no backup out of desperation and he has no counter.  Savage.

Round 2 - UR Fish
This sucked because it was my buddy that I rode up with.  In retrospect we should have ID'ed, I dunno, they were close ones, but I took it to him 2-1

Round 3 - 7/10 Split
Knowing this was the deck to beat I figured I had my work cut out for me.  Game one was nuts, Xantid Swarm is a house, I go off turn 2.  Game 2 he has me locked down with double Chalice and Crypt and Plats, I Intuition to see if I have some random answer and I don't, maybe I should have played it out instead of scooping then, but I don't want to be a toolbox and win/draw due to time.  Game 3 he has savage Beb rips and stops me from comboing out 2x.  You're a lucksack Brian  

Round 4 - Keeper
I mulligan to 6 game one, Mind Twist owns me
I mulligan to 5 game two, Mind Twist OWNS me, plus he has Aura Fracture SB tech.  yup

Round 5 - Keeper
Game One, I'm sure you read his post above, maybe that will convince you to take Future Sight out of your deck Matt.   No really, I am a big time sack when I pull a card like that.  After that games 2 and 3 were putrid opening hands and trip to the snack machine.

Overall an enjoyable experience.  Maybe I will slog my way up to Milwaukee and give you guys some ownage.  Someone has to dethrone you Morrison punks  

[dogleg969]

With this event being my first T1 event since like '95 when I was playing badmoon.dec (yikes!) I'd say I showed up quite well...

So I am playing Dragon for some silly reason... I should be playing Hulk but I hate the mirror

Round 1 - GAT
Game 1 gets a turn 1 Ophid and Dryad, draws a ton of cards, beats me down in a hurry.  Play of the game:  Holding FoW and one other random non blue card he casts Berserk for the win, I activate Bazaar thinking, "I'll find a blue card to pitch and buy myself a turn"  Oops.... It's going to be a long day.  Game 2  I Necromancy (one of my 10 proxies, I know, HOT) EOT, he has a counter but doesn't know how the deck works.  Game 3 he has double Dryad 9/9 and 3/3, after like 20 opts/brainstorms/ancestralls, etc.  He's got me at 6 life, passes turn I rip Dance of the Dead like a savage cheater, play it with no backup out of desperation and he has no counter.  Savage.

Round 2 - UR Fish
This sucked because it was my buddy that I rode up with.  In retrospect we should have ID'ed, I dunno, they were close ones, but I took it to him 2-1

Round 3 - 7/10 Split
Knowing this was the deck to beat I figured I had my work cut out for me.  Game one was nuts, Xantid Swarm is a house, I go off turn 2.  Game 2 he has me locked down with double Chalice and Crypt and Plats, I Intuition to see if I have some random answer and I don't, maybe I should have played it out instead of scooping then, but I don't want to be a toolbox and win/draw due to time.  Game 3 he has savage Beb rips and stops me from comboing out 2x.  You're a lucksack Brian  

Round 4 - Keeper
I mulligan to 6 game one, Mind Twist owns me
I mulligan to 5 game two, Mind Twist OWNS me, plus he has Aura Fracture SB tech.  yup

Round 5 - Keeper
Game One, I'm sure you read his post above, maybe that will convince you to take Future Sight out of your deck Matt.   No really, I am a big time sack when I pull a card like that.  After that games 2 and 3 were putrid opening hands and trip to the snack machine.

Overall an enjoyable experience.  Maybe I will slog my way up to Milwaukee and give you guys some ownage.  Someone has to dethrone you Morrison punks  

[Lost In Admiration]

PUNKS?!?!/!one!slash?  We just got a status upgrade!

@ Future Sight
It rocked hard right there.  The only reason the game was a draw was because I'm dumb as hell and didn't tutor for Yawg Will at the right time.  In short Future Sight rocks, I don't.

No really, you guys rocked.  I hope to see you at Milwaukee!

[Moxlotus]

Slops-you 2 for skipping my poker night.  

Anyways, the full GWS team will be at Milwaulkie.  It's nice to see that my deck(played by zach) did decently, especially since it was ZACH playing it which automatically sucked it down a few notches.  :lol:

[Lost In Admiration]

Phil! You play magic?