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LouGodKingofDustBunnys
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« on: September 16, 2005, 03:29:22 am » |
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Manchester Double Midnight Tourney 9/11
I’m baaaccccckkk with another freaking tourney report for all my adoring fans (aka my kids). If you have no clue who the hell I am, no worries…sometimes I wonder who I am myself (my therapist keeps trying to tell me I’m me, but I’m to busy trying to get her to have phone sex with me to listen to her).
The prologue (that being the stuff that happens before stuff really happens)
8:30 am Sunday the 11th
I’m lying in bed asleep I think, dreaming of my favorite possible way to wake up, when I hear a sultry female voice saying various naughty things to me. Cracking an eyelid I glance down in the general direction of my feet, and low and behold, there is a head strategically placed half way down my almost motionless form, and said head is very much in motion… sometimes… waking up is in fact a Very Good Thing.
About a half hour later I finally get out of bed grinning my foolish head off and hop in the shower, getting all nice and clean, hop out and wander into the bedroom, careful to avoid stepping on any or all of my kids. My oldest is repeating over and over again about the fact that today is the day he gets to join the cub scouts ( I wanted to be there for him, but the wifey told me that I needed to get my ass up to the tourney like I promised Brett, and I’m not going to argue with her…she’d kick my ass). I get dressed, throwing on my Myriad Games T-Shirt that I had been saving just for today, spray myself down with cologne (still Tech!), grab my shit and head for the door, giving every member of my brood a smooch, including one for my wifey.
9:30am
I arrive at Mac’s house, toss him in the car, and peel out heading for Manchester. Along the way we talk about the meta, our sideboards and various other sundry topics, and decide to stop at double D’s for some breakfast. We spend most of the ride trying to figure out which of the two decks I brought with me that I was going to play … Control Slaver or 5cDragon. After spending over half the ride talking it over, I mostly make my decision… I’m going to play Slaver. My reason’s for that 1) I have way more practice with it 2) it’s the audible deck, and I’m big on second guessing myself. I figure the only way I’ll end up playing Dragon is if we get to Double Midnight and see an ass ton of Slaver and/or Stax. I don’t like playing toss-up matchups, and the Slaver mirror is, in the end, mostly luck and tech, and whilst my luck seems pretty good, I’m sorely lacking in the Slaver tech department. Stax, on the other hand, I hate playing against with Slaver, and with Dragon (in my testing) postboard it’s heavily in dragon’s favor.
Quick aside…
Mac’s with oath again, and this time it’s his own deck… he even went out and bought himself Drains…I told you in my last report I converted him, and yes, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
End aside like thing…
10:45am or so
We arrive in Manchester, but instead of heading right for D.M., I detour and stop at my brother’s house, for my secret savage tech…niece and nephew smooches. Oh ya, and I tell my bro happy birthday and give him some cash to buy himself a present…I never know what to get the son-of-a-bitch, he’s so damn choosy. Whilst yapping with said brother, my cell rings and it’s Rachel, and she’s sounds almost hysterical, wondering were Mac and I are... it turns out Rachel and Toof thought that the tourney started at 11 and they didn’t want us to be late. I straighten everything out (reg started at 11, tourney starts at 12) and then grab Mac, toss him over my shoulder, throw him in the car (I was thinking of Duct Taping him to the roof of my car, but I forgot my Duct Tape… All Hail The Almighty Duct Tape!) and drive to D.M., which, in case you were wondering, is 2 minutes from my brother’s house…and that’s if you walk there with one leg crazy glued to your elbow, with a blindfold on whilst being chased by an army of mildly upset mountain goats.
11:00am or some such junk
We arrive and shoot the shit with Toof and Rachel, find out that I bruised Rachel’s hip tossing her over my shoulder the day before… to which I apologized even though I didn’t really mean it…I mean, hell, what guy really means it when he apologizes for tossing a cute girl over his shoulder? Ok, so I didn’t mean to bruise her, but either way she’s gonna sooooo kill me when she reads this report (Note to Self…keep an animate dead handy…might need it).
I break away from the group, wander around for a bit then head to the counter, tossing hello’s at Brett, who seem’s to be getting around better since…that probably do to the fact that he no longer has a knee immobilizer on his leg. In my wanderings I notice a rather large amount of Mana Drainers and joblin welders…Ok…maybe I’m not playing Slaver today. Yup, that’s right, I changed my mind again (Damn the wifeys rubbing off on me). I grab a reg sheet and write down the following…
5cDRAGON
Monsters
4 Worldgorger Dragon
3 Squee, Goblin Nabob
3 Xantid Swarm
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
Spells
3 Necromancy
4 Animate Dead
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Lim-Dul’s Vault
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Intuition
2 Compulsion
4 Force of Will ( I hate these in Dragon, so few blue cards to pitch…I’m seriously considering Duress or even Circular Logic in this slot if I bring Dragon to another tourney)
1 Chain of Vapor
Artifacts
1 Black Lotus (proxy)
1 Mox Jet (proxy)
1 Mox Ruby (proxy)
1 Mox Sapphire (proxy)
1 Mox Pearl (proxy)
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol ring
1 Mana Crypt
Land
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Gemstone Mine
3 City of Brass
2 Glimmervoid
Sideboard
2 Verdant Force
2 Sundering Titan
2 Rack and Ruin
3 Null Rod
2 Sacred Ground
3 Frantic Purification (I tested Ray of Revelation, and I found it wanting, so I decided to go a bit off the wall and out of the box with this one)
1 Xantid Swarm (Should have been a Bounce spell)
I turn in my sheet and then proceed to do some trading, picking up a Personal Tutor and a foily Darksteel Ingot (oh praise thee oh Darksteel Ingot) amongst a few other things. About 5-10 minutes before the start of the tourney I hear a bit of a commotion from up front. I get up and head towards the counter, and it turns out someone didn’t bring enough cash for his entry fee, and he seems pretty upset over it. The guy, whose name I later find out to be Max, is short 10 bucks. I pull out my cash and give Brett my entry fee and an extra 10 so Max can play. Max started thanking me profusely and tells me he’s got 15 bucks on his gas card, and that he would pay me back in gas later. As it would happen, Max would leave before me so I didn’t get the gas from him, but he obviously forgot and next time he sees me, I’m sure he’ll hook me up. Or, if I never see him again, that’s ok with me too. I helped pay for his entry fee for my own reasons…those being 1) I owe Brett for leaving that Ancestral up that I had won two months previous when he could have just put the Twister up instead, and this seemed like such a minor thing that I could do to pay him back 2) I want everyone who can possibly play to in fact play…I love having more competition 3) well damn it, I was the right thing to do… All of us players of Vintage are a community... a family if you will… and I just felt that it was right to help another member of us out.
After all this happened, spot Jared (aka Nataz) and swing over to say hi, and find out he still short some cards for his deck…I then proceed to pull out my binders and slide him the last few cards he needed for his deck and sideboard. Of all the people I have met at various Vintage tourneys, Jared is my favorite… he’s an easygoing guy, funny as hell and a damn good player. So Jared, if you ever need something, let me know…I always have extra shit lying around…other then tech…I’m not on a team, so my only way to get tech in to sneak into other players houses and steal it, and if they have any Darksteel Ingots in plain sight, I get savagely confused and forget to steal said tech.
OK, for all of you scrollers….this here tourney report actually starts here. So Stop Scrolling!
To be honest, I once again didn’t keep notes, so the details are fuzzy…If you wanted blow by blow of every match, your only hope is Brett has hidden cameras and he posts the video on the net. So beforehand I wish to apologize for any details I get wrong.
Pairings go up, I find out what table I’m supposed to be at and head for said table
Round 1 vs Matt Allen with Cerebral Assassin
Game 1
I win the die roll and opt to play. My opening hand is insane, and I combo out 2nd or 3rd turn.
Game 2
All I saw game one was a few artifacts, so I just board in some Null Rods and shuffle up. I keep my seven and on my turn play Bazaar, which then gets striped on his turn. I develop my mana base as he plays a shaman and a welder, followed soon after by a Bazaar…ok, now at least I know what he’s playing. After he plays his bazaar I eot intuition for 3 bazaars, play it and dig, looking for a dragon so I can combo out, and fail to find one. I pass the turn back and he peels a waste, killing my last Bazaar…4 turns later I still haven’t draw a dragon, or compulsion and die to spirit tokens and welder beats.
Game 3
I once again keep my opening hand, needing only an animate spell to cook Matt to a crisp. I play a Null Rod 3rd turn, turning off his first turn Tormod’s Crypt and start Bazaaring through my deck…still looking for a damn animate spell, and not finding it. Eventually he wastes my Bazaar, and I still need an animate spell…aaarrrggg. On the following turn I play a xantid and pass. On his turn he Tinkers for Trike, and murders my swarm. I don’t realize until after the match is over, that you can’t kill a swarm with a Trike with Null Rod in play….woops. Two turns later he has lethal damage on the board, and I still haven’t drawn a damn animate spell. I draw my card for the turn, seeing Bazaar staring at me. I play it. If one of the top 2 cards is an animate spell, or demonic tutor, I win….if not…I’m toast. I activate the bazaar and peel my two cards. The first is Squee, and the second is Animate Dead. Needless to say, poor Matt gets cooked. Better to be lucky then good, eh?
Matt was fun to play against, after he calmed down a bit that is…game one he seemed kinda jittery, but to be honest, I think it was the table….the damn thing was Huge… I mean jesus, I needed binoculars to see his half of the board �. I mean this table was wider then my first apartment! Ok ok, I know, enough about the damn table. After the match ends, I run outside, smoke a quick ciggy, and then head back in just as pairings are going up.
Round 2 vs Young Moses aka Jacob Orlove with Workshop Aggro with Tops.
Game 1
I lose the die roll and keep my opening hand. He leads with sea and top, while I sit with a befuddled look on my face, with he politely refuses to comment on. I play land and pass. On his turn he plays, amongst other things, a crucible and a wasteland. Wonderful. I play a Mox and pass…and he wastes my turn one land. 2 turns later on my eot he vamps, then draws and plays a trinisphere and the only thing I have on the board is Mox. Mama didn’t raise no fool. I scoopededed.
Game 2
I sideboard in a bunch of shit, and pull out a bunch of stuff ( I can’t remember for the life of me what I boarded out in just about any match, that’s why I haven’t said much about my boarding btw). All that remember exactly is that I played a turn one Swarm, turn two null rod and won turn 3 or 4.
Game 3 (aka The I’m a fucking doofus game)
This game swings back and forth for a while until he taps low and I decide to go for it, but the only problem being the fact that my only red source in play is a city, and I had boarded out my witness…sttttuuupiddddd. I start flipping over my deck…and I can’t find Kumano…the bastards hiding…my plan being to cook him low, then swing for the win. I keep going and going…still no damn Kumano. I pause for station Identification with 6 cards left in my library. Now what I should have done was Bazaar one more time. Two more cards wouldn’t have made much of a difference. But I was too busy starting at the Sundering Titan in my yard and lost my focus. So I changed my target to the Titan and pass the turn. Jacob draws and passed. I untap draw the fucking Kumano and swing with the Titan, knocking Jacob to 12 and pass. He untaps and draws and passes. I draw, swing him down to 6 and pass. My eot he vamps and then on his upkeep he looks at the top 3 with his top, he smiles and goes into his draw phase. After he draws he puts his top on top of his library, plays a workshop, taps both his workshops for a duplicant, sealing my fate. If I had only Bazaared one more damn time…sighs…I hate screwing up.
After the match I head outside with Jared (who had just played my buddy Mac, losing to intuition for 2 orchards and a wasteland, which would have made the Oath active for Mac), and smoke another cigarette, and yap for a little while with various other players. About ten minutes before the round ended Mac and Toof come out side, and I find out about the plans for Waterbury. Basically, Rachel’s going to call and reserve the room, she just needs to know if Mac and I are coming, and if we are, to fork over some dough for said room. Mac and I both state are intention to go to Waterbury, eventually sometime during the tourney, we fork over said dough…along with finalizing our plan to kidnap Adam (my favorite Fat Kid!) and drag him along with us, even if we have to tie up his pregnant girlfriend and sell her on e-bay. Whilst this here conversation was going on, I spent most of the time think about how badly I had screwed up against Jacob, and vowing to myself to not Screw Up Again. After we settle our plans we head back inside, and wouldn’t you know it…it’s time for round 3
Round 3 vs Ron White with Food Chain Goblins
Game 1
I lose the die roll and keep my 7. His first turn consists of Taiga, Mana Crypt, Food Chain…well, I least I know what he’s playing. On turn three I blow him sky high, Ron’s draw seeming rather slow, meaning all he played in this game, I think, was a skirk prospecter and a siege-gang.
Game 2
I once again keep my opening seven…but this time I think I should have mulled. On his turn three I’m facing 4 piledrivers, a warchief and some other dude. Needless to say, I didn’t see my third turn.
Game 3
I keep a hand that only needs Bazaar to win. Turn three I peel it off the top and go off.
This is the first time I had met Ron, but he was wicked cool, not getting in the least bit upset at the fact I never freaking shut up…as a matter of fact, he might have even thought I was funny( god only knows were he got that idea).
I run over to the pizza joint in the plaza, order a sub, pay for it and head back over to the venue, and sit on my ass outside and jabber on some more with Jared. After eating half my sub and stuffing the reminder in the cooler, I have a ciggy, babble at Brett and wait for the pairing to go up. Just before the pairings go up Mac and Toof track me down and let me know they are both 3-0 and sitty pretty, while I let them know I’m holding down the 2-1 for us…so they don’t have to you know. Opps, pairings are up. Hmmm, who’s my next victim??
Round 4 vs Seth Patterson with R/G Beatz (with maindeck rootmaze and ground seal)
Fucking Great! In testing this Is by far my worst matchup. I’m soooo toast…I think to myself, so, do any 4-2’s make it in? Seth and I have played before, him winning one and us drawing the other, so my mojo against him is poor. I had been hoping upon hope that I wouldn’t get paired against him, but apparently DCI reporter had other freaking ideas…Fucking Computers.
Game 1
I lose the die roll and keep a pretty good opening hand. He plays a first turn root maze. I can’t find my damn Chain of Vapor, and I get rolled.
Game 2
I board in my frantic’s and apparently he boarded in goblin bombardment. Wonderful. On turn 5 or 6 he’s got a shaman and a bombardment out, and a few lands. I madness out Frantic purification, and combo out using my forbidden orchards for my red, leaving him nicely flambéed.
Game 3
He plays a turn one Tormod’s Crypt. I play a turn 2 Null rod. Turn 3 I light him up light the fourth of July.
Now for anyone who hasn’t met Seth, here’s a quick description. He smiles… alot… he’s one of those guys that must have heard the old saying “Smile, it makes people wonder� cause I know it makes me wonder. Hell, if Wizards ever decides to use real people for the artwork for older cards, Seth would make a wonderful Psychatog. I can just hear it now…I’ll have Seth eat my hand and my yard, the Berserk him for the win.
Outside, I meet up with Mac and Toof and find out they both had suffered their first match loss of the day, so I welcome them to the 3-1 club, pass out membership cards and then we try to figure out what to do if get matched up against one another. We come to no real conclusion, which is unfortunate…because pairings go up and guess what…
Round 5 vs Mike (aka Toof) with the kitchen sink (it’s somewhere between Control Slaver, Meandeck Gifts and SSB, or at least that’s how he explains it).
Game 1
This one’s pretty quick…First turn Swarm, third turn Toof stir-fry. He shows me his hand and it’s a good thing I went off when I did. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have gotten to play with my own cards for a good long time.
Game 2
See game one. Swarm again, and I kill him while he has a handful of insanity.
I’m sitting on 12 points and can draw in, as long as I don’t get paired down. Mac however lost his match and joins Toof at 3-2. Looking at the pairings, one12 pointer is going to make it in, and Toof’s tiebreakers are really fucking good, Mac’s tiebreakers however, are the suck. I head outside to jabber some more (this time with Chad and the amazing Scottie Patch) and kill myself some more with my cancer sticks. On way out the door I got to finally got to meet our Waterbury overload, Ray, whom I shake hands with and inform that I will be attending his oh so polite tourney.
I manage to waste a half hour yapping and smoking before pairings go up, to which I head inside to check.
Round 6 vs Chris (aka Demonic Attorney) with Slaver
We are both sitting on 12 points. We shake hands and ID in. I mean jeez, who wants to play Magic anywho? I mean, I can help myself get lung cancer…why bother playing a game, ya know?
Toof wanders over to me and tells me that he and Mac got paired against one another, and Mac gave Toof the win, considering Toof had much better breakers. Toof and I stand around and watch the Round 6 match between Max (yes, the very man whose entry fee I paid half of) and Ron (my round 3 opponent). Toof and I go over the breakers, and if Ron wins, Toof most likely top 8’s. If Max wins however, he’s in. The match goes to 3 games, but in the end Max comes out on top. A few minutes later, Brett posts the top 8. It’s as following
(1) Dominic Minicucci (Control Slaver)
Vs
(8)Max Fitzer (U/R Fish)
(4)Me
Vs
(5)Demonic Attorney (Control Slaver)
(2)Ryan Durney (The Mountain Wins Again)
Vs
(7)Oliver Beaumont (?)
(3)Jacob Orlove (Workshop aggro with Tops)
Vs
(6)Scottie Hatch (Control Slaver)
Dominic beats Max
Ryan beats Oliver
Jacob beats Scott
And for me and Chris…it’s go time!
Quarterfinals vs Chris
(I’m really sketchy about these matches…sorry, not much detail…I was exhausted)
Game one
Early Swarm with Force back up. I win in short order.
Game 2
I remember nothing of this game other then one thing. I get flatted like a bug.
Game 3
I resolve an early Null rod, stack my deck with Lim-Dul’s Vault on his eot, and Bazaar into my Dragon and win condition.
Note about Chris…This man is a literary talent of the first order, as seen in his and Steve’s long discussion about Slaver a while back on these boards. And now for the warning… His playskill dwarfs his writing talent. If you get matched up against him, Fear Him. You make one mistake and he’ll beat you like you were a redhead, and his step-child…ya dig?
Semi-Final’s vs Dominic
I really don’t have much to say about this match, other than the fact it was long, and drawn out.
Game 1
I get the goods, swing with Swarm and win.
Game 2
I mull for only the second time today, and it didn’t help much…I get Slavered and crushed
Game 3
I lead with Ancestral turn one, he forces. I then lay a swarm and I can tell by the look on his face, he’s not a happy camper. I build up my hand, he searches…I play Null Rod, and he frowns again. Soon after he kills my swarm, and the turn after I intuition for animate on his end step. On my turn, I decide to go for it, with him having only two cards in hand. I play animate…he ancestrals….and stares at his cards…ancestral gave him nothing and I win.
Finals vs Ryan Durney
I offer a split with him, twister and a minty Italian drain for the Walk. He ponders it a while, and decides to play.
This match-up is horrid for me, and I know I’m going to need a lot of luck to pull this one out.
I don’t get it
Game 1
I got smacked around and beat to death with little red guys and genju.
Game 2
He beats me down for a while I build up my hand. A turn before I die I got for it… I animate the Dragon, he activates his Crypt, and I add Necromancy to the Stack. He lets the Necromancy resolve and with the CIP trigger of the Dragon on the stack, he plows it.
It’s over…and I’m a little sad…but not that sad. Brett walks over and hands me my Timetwister (3 down, 6 to go), I pack my stuff up, grab Mac and toss him in the vehicle, say my goodbye’s and head for the homestead.
Props
Everyone I played and everyone who showed up.
My wifey, for forcing me to come up despite it being my little big mans sign up day for Cub Scouts.
Mac, for being my good luck charm (two tourneys’ he’s ridden up with me, and both times we head home with a piece of Power in my bag.
Toof and Rachel…You know why
Adam…for all the playtest games with me playing Dragon…if it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to play it in the tourney
Brett and Dan…for supporting Vintage in New Hampshire… and for being cooler then the other side of the pillow.
Slops
Force of Will…why do you need a second blue card to be useful??? Force of will in Dragon…bad…I think I would rather play Circular Logic then you dammit.
Out.
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