first off the tournament was run great again by jason thanks.
heres a few things of note:
1) the misspelling is a compultion
2)the bloodstained mires are delta's
3)the dark rit sould be a mox pearl
4)lastly the sideboard was put together fast. 6-7 of the cards could be switched(but thats dragons board anyway)
here's how the whole week started. on tuesday i went up to travis suers' house in brainard and saw a movie then played some poker(lost a few dolars), and then play tested for a few hours.
i had dragon with me, and felt comfortable playing it. as i had played it in the last power tournament i played in. it was for a lotus, 52 people and i made top 8 after four rounds going 4-0 and drawing in. minnesota has a weird metagame always favoring control or something that hates the top deck instead of playing the best deck in the field. so this means vary little combo in this area.
sometime during the drive back to st. cloud i was really thinking about swithing to GAT to play for the weekend. this is where being lazy and not wanting to goto a friend and barrow the power so i could build GAT. if i did that i could proxie the drains(there the only things i don't have access to,yes i own a store and can't get all the cards.
).
so after pondering and testing awhile on friday night after the draft i decied to play dragon again(also again being to lazy to drive 3 blocks to get the power). because the field here is normally 10% 4cc and high counts FOW and STP i switched to xantid swarms over durress. that was an easy choice. then fitting in the stiffles was a bit harder.
it's now sunday and i meet the three other people i'm going with in clearwater(just south of st. cloud).
luke ojala
brad ojala
justin meyer
all of them have won a peice of power this summer so far and they are all under 18. makes me wonder what the older players are doing when jss's are comming in and grabing the mox's and such. we meet at 11am mainly so the ojala's could get there deck's put together in time. for the tourament at 1pm. they always come to mine late and with incomplete decks so i have to wait to start. i didn't think jason wanted to wait much. even with the extra time the decks entered the card the same as they entered the store, mostly not made. but at least we ate a wendy's befor hand(and i'm NOT their unoffical spokesman).
at this point i could have grab a peice of power from three or so people, but i let them keep it so they had a good chance at getting the no proxie highest place with no payout prize. so thats how i had a dark rit over a pearl.
there were also four other people we met up with at dreamers:
travis suer
tony (tiny) blue
eric d
garret
so heres how the tournament went:
RD 1 luke ojala, drain slaver
hey great i get paired with a teammate, meh
game 1
we both keep subpar hands. mine was 4 lands, swarm,dragon, intuition not that great, but has must force swarm first turn(he also hinted his had was'nt that hot. so with any luck i have a ture 3 or 4 kill. he has the force for the swarm and peels the duress on turn 2 for the intuition.we sit there for 5 or 6 turns and he gets some card draw and slaver lock me in 1 turn.
game 2
out -3 stiffles(he has no strip effects) - ambassader L -2dragons - dark rit, in +stripmine +2 7/10 +3 duress +deed
i cost to go 2nd and drop xantid swarms turn 1 then turn 2 deed with turn 4 7/10 with deed blowing for 1 clearing the board.
game 3
turn 3 after the 3rd animate of the turn hits and the 7/10 comes into play he's left with a saphire and a card in hand. he recalls into a land a mana. then next ture peels the mana crypt to drop the platnuim for the win. i had deed on the board, but could not get enought mana to pop it for 7.
0-1 1-2
RD 2 nick ? r/u lackey sligh
game 1
he drops a lackey i drop fetch and mox. he attacks and drops a siege-gang and i combo.
game 2
- 3 xantid swarms + 3 deeds
he goes lackey followed with siege-gang and fanatic. this time the rit hurts, i have to us it to tudor for a deed and burn. i drop it next turn then deed for 1 next turn at low life i animate a few of his things to stay alive, but get bolted out in the end.
game 3(the turning point)
i have a turn 3 kill set , but he drops 2 crypts. i work around it but a milled away my hand to get land to deed again. he saw first turn lackey all three games. when he pop the crypt to the deed he got my laquatas and i recovered at 3 and comboed, but was only able to make tokens if he let me go though with it. he scooped and had me dead next turn with a boblin gernade. meh
1-1 3-3
RD 3 nick ? draw 7
game 1
i keep a sub hand, but i have 2 stiffles for him. so i happy. he's about to go off with jar and 3 B in pool, 6 spells and i stiffle the jar. turn 5 he franic searches and lays a chrome mox then want's to untap the land, i say no i kill him that turn.
game 2
-rit -3 swarms +strip +3duress
he mulls to 5 me to 6
i have a stiffle and the strip and win easy
2-1 5-3
RD 4 ? drain slaver
game 1
don't remember to much, but i wi on turn 2 or 3
game 2
-rit - 3 dragon -1 stiffle -2 swarm +2 7/10 +2 duress +strip +2 deed
we both get land srewed along with him fow compution he gets me slaver locked.
game 3
same thing as befor, but i'm just looking for a intuition or bazaar. i have to settle for draw when he drops lotus and will's.
game 4
turn 3 7/10 win game easy.
3-1 7-4-1
RD 5 ? goblin food chain
game 1
i have to lay bazaar to get a dragon for a solid hand. he wastes it and kills me turn 4.
game 2
-3 swarms +3 deeds
kill him turn 2
game 3
kill turn 2
4-1 9-5-1
RD 6 justin meyer mono blue(gen con)
yeah a teammate and i get to play in for 1 spot.
game 1
he drops mox land. he has the counter for everything and phid beats ride him to victory.
game 2
- 3 stiffles -rit +strip 3 duress
he keeps a 1 land lotus and i strip his land and win turn 3
game 3
swarm hits and win turn 3
5-1 11-5-1
TOP 8 tony blue oshawa green
yeah teammate again!
game 1
he muls to 6 and has some strip affect for me, but can't hit me for much and it win.
game 2
- 3 swarms + 3 deeds
kill him turn 3.
semi Alan Koxlien salvagers
game 1
swarms get fow and i kill him turn 3 with fow backup
game 2
-3 stiffles - dragon + 2 7/10 +2 duress
this is my first mistake of the turnament. on turn 3 i cast animate on he fow it he still has a lotus open and i still had a necmancy in had for nect turn. i decide to fow and as soon as i cast if feel like and idiot. he has the stp and i have to start over next turn with the bazaar in had and squee in yard. i still come back to win with an intuition 2 turns later for some squees and such.
finials vs Darek Flaten ravager
this is the one time the rit was going to win me the game and i blew my load. i go second and bazaar first turn to see if i could winn first turn. in stead of throghing the dragon in the trash i hang on to it thinking he might play different blanking out on the strip. i had the land rit for necomancy(laquatas was in the yard too).
game 2
-3 swarms -3 stiffles +3 deeds +3 duress
i win turn 2
-3 duress + 3 stiffles
i win turn 2 again. i saw him only side in 2 cards and i knew they were deed. so there was'nt to much to worry about. the funny pary abou the finals was these by far my best hand of the day. the rest of the day i could'nt draw a bazaar if my life depended on it.
thanks for hosting the tourney jason and i hope to see everyone at utopia on the 3rd of october for the bazaar. i changed the date to work with monster den and iowa.
