OVC is run as a 32K-value sanctioned tournament. I like sanctioned type 1, as it's the format I play most often, and otherwise judging/organising gets in the way of playing sanctioned matches, so I don't get many shiny cards in the post.Â
Sanctioned means there's less Dragon and Workshops. Dragon tends to beat me much of the time, Workshops have a tendency to win the die roll against me and win that way. They're not much fun to play against either. Not sure why there's not more Combo though - it's relatively cheap beyond power. Anyway, having to play with all-real cards makes you feel much better about having a nearly all-foil, all alpha deck. Like you couldn't play here without it, if you traded it for, e.g., a car or a downpayment on a house...
I'm playing my tried and true Affinity build which got me multiple T8s earlier in the year and a Waterbury playmat. The only changes are Arcbound Workers and a Wheel for 3 Needles, and Crypt most firmly back in the board. Although I don't play Gifts all day. Metagame looks diverse, there definitely some Bazaar Madness around (good) and some Dragon (bad). I saw at least 2 people with decks they swear they created themselves, but are almost card for card Mountains Win Again decks (very, very bad)
// Lands
  2  Glimmervoid
  4  Seat of the Synod
  1  Tolarian Academy
  3  Vault of Whispers
  3  City of Brass
// Creatures
  4  Arcbound Ravager
  4  Disciple of the Vault
  4  Frogmite
  2  Myr Enforcer
  2  Ornithopter
  4  Myr Servitor
// Spells
  1  Ancestral Recall
  1  Black Lotus
  1  Demonic Tutor
  1  Lotus Petal
  1  Mana Crypt
  1  Mana Vault
  1  Mox Emerald
  1  Mox Jet
  1  Mox Pearl
  1  Mox Ruby
  1  Mox Sapphire
  4  Skullclamp
  1  Sol Ring
  4  Thoughtcast
  1  Time Walk
  1  Timetwister
  1  Yawgmoth's Will
  3  Pithing Needle
  1  Oxidize
// Sideboard
SB: 2 Â Myr Enforcer
SB: 2 Â Chain of Vapor
SB: 2 Â Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Â Stifle
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Â Pyroblast
SB: 1 Â Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Â Oxidize
And this one's in Canada. Granted, that's not local to NJ, but it's not as bad as I'd been thinking. And I have a good college friend living in Toronto, so I need an excuse to go see her. I also seem to have an affinity (!) for going to Canada in Winter. Perhaps I'm a glutton for punishment. But they have lots of great things - beer, nice people, the Queen (on their money even), strip clubs, waterfalls - so it's always a blast to go. I pack some clothes, some cards, the wife and very little else into the car Friday and set off late afternoon on the 8.5 hour drive. We get there, get some "Wellington" beer
http://www.wellingtonbrewery.ca (it was bootiful) in a nice bar, and then crawl out of bed the next day with only a minor hangover, borrow her bike to get there, and caution the wife not to financially cripple me with her afternoon shopping.
There's a slightly lower than expected turnout, but it would be hell if the place was full.
1st Round - Simon
Start with the Simon mirror match.
He starts out with a mulligan, then drops Forest, Emerald, Priest of Titania. I grin inwardly, but feel slightly bad as there are top class decks around that this is capable of beating, but mine isn't really one of them. I get a very slow start, which is good as it makes the game feel fairly interactive. A win comes from somewhere after I needle Viridian Zealots and he uses them as Skullclamp food. Game 2 looks much the same, except he doesn't have much business at all, and I do.
1-0
2nd Round - (waiting for match results to be posted on DCI website to figure names)
Turns out he's playing Workshop aggro, which I only learn afterwards. I assumed it was Stax.Â
I start winning coin flips to play first, get some good business and he scoops a little prematurely after I needle his Welder while he has a Gorilla Shaman, but needs to spend all his mana on that rather than stopping the onslaught.
Game 2 he gets no red mana and I run around making things big and drawing cards, it doesn't last very long either, I didn't see him drop a guy bigger than 1/1 in the match, hence my confusion as to what he was playing. I wonder if maybe the deck wasn't fully powered.
3rd round -
This guy's another local TO. He's playing full powered Uba Stax. And wins the flip, so his Chalice for 0 hurts my otherwise excellent hand of land, mox, Lotus, double Frogmite and other goodies. He gets a Duplicant and stabilises at 8 with a Welder too. Just another illustration of how much the coinflip matters in this kind of match.
Game 2 he drops an early Null Rod, but only after I have stuff on the board, and the artifact mana he played it off wasn't much use, nor the other he drew into.Â
Game 3 I have to mulligan to 5 to find a mana source to start from. 7 cards had Academy, Mana Vault and more at 1cc... He drops the Chalice, and I draw into a Mox. I drop a Disciple and end up having to keep it back to block Karn, while a Crucible beats my head in.
2-1
4th Round - Scott
I pick the wrong Scott to begin with, but the right one finds me before we start play. He has U/W control, I thought it was fish, but there's no Faeries, and there was Tinker/Colossus.Â
But it's Fish all the way from here...
These games are hard fought, he Plows plenty of my guys, and has a Shackles to steal some too. Game 1 goes to me after I'd just about given up on it as Exalted was rapidly levelling the life totals, but I think I drew a second Clamp to put on my Frogmite, drop an Enforcer and Walk from a Demonic that came with him, and I'm holding Will, and draw a Ravager.Â
Game 2 he smacks me down to 2 with a Colossus, and has stolen my Disciple already - but he'd missed a few damage earlier, unfortunately he doesn't forget when I play a Ravager in my turn.Â
Game 3 I just Demonic for a Disciple with a Ravager out, then discover I'm a damage short. Still, an opponent at 1 can't fetch or Force, and he doesn't get anything that can deal with both my guys.
3-1
5th Round -
I just sat next to this guy last round and saw him fail to identify the win condition in his opponent's deck with his Meddling Mage, so I'm fairly confident. It's U/W fish, which isn't too bad a matchup for me if the opponent isn't too familiar with it. I batter his head even after he hardcasts an Exalted in Game 2. I think after he does, I drop a second Disciple and a Ravager and play the "ping for 2" game when he blocks something big.
T8 - George
George is Danish with a Romanian name. And he's wily, and knows it's a bad matchup for his U/R fish. Game 1 he's chumping my 7/5 clamped Ravager with Lavamancers and Faerie Conclaves, and runs out of things. Game 2 he draws 4 Mishra's Factories, but I Needled the first one. He buys a turn by saying "OK, I take 6. My turn?" impatiently, and I say "sure" before I even think about it, look and count that I have lethal damage on the table if I want, but he doesn't draw an answer. Poor guy says he always makes T8 at these things and never gets to T4.
T4 - Steve
The other T8 match with the Uba Stax deck is still taking place, I ask what his opponent is playing, and he tells me it's the exact same deck. I take this to mean there's definitely Uba Stax coming. But I'm wrong - he's talking about his teamamte and himself.
Steve gets a bad mauling at the hands of Mr Ravager Game 1, he's 5/1 with 2 clamps on him very early, and he gets to 7/3 before being Disenchanted. But 4 cards aren't wasted draws and with 2 clamps already out, it's over. Game 2, it's a 6/2 double Clamped Enforcer instead, and he mistakenly attacks, assuming he'll block with his Neddled Mishra's Factory.
The rest of T4 (Including Steve) is composed of guys in identical team shirts. So the other 2 don't even play - they are after all playing the same deck - they just elect a champion to play me. Not certain this is entirely kosher but it gets the tournament over with faster, and I need to get out of there ASAP... They want their list witheld until after Rochester, I don't think I'm revealing any tech here.
T2 -
I keep a hand on the draw of 2 lands, some decent 1 drops, and Frogmites. This is ideal if he's playing Uba Stax, and frankly adequate in nearly all circumstances. "Plains, go" is all I see, after he mulliganed to 5. I drop Disciple, and he abandons his weapon for a farm implement, and then my land gets Wasted. If I'd dropped my Needle first naming Wasteland, this would have been a very different game. In fact if I'd drawn any other mana sources, it would.
And I make a mistake. I drop my Frogmite after the Needle and a Clamp. Then I play another, and he waits a long time, which makes me impatient so I try to announce a 3rd one, and he stops me, deciding to Force the 2nd one that he hadn't yet OK'd, and Swords the first. His Ninja is drawing him cards, and a Frog would seriously make a mess, the 3rd one I try for next turn gets Dazed. Then he Rips Null Rod and it's looking very bad.
Game 2 I just don't have more creatures than he has Swords, and so I lose. I have to choose between an English Drain and a Time Vault. I pick the Drain based on cash value, but I'd quite like a Vault. I guess I can trade for it if I really want. I get out of there after a quick photocall - 3 guys in identical team shirts and me. Harriet isn't yet climbing walls or eating people for hunger, so it's OK. We get some good Thai food, then drink lots of beer and err, lots more beer. Have Brunch the next morning, and head out late afternoon for the long slog home, but go through Niagara Falls and spend a few minutes ogling them. Find NJ is snow covered (but still basic), and the plow has blocked my driveway with a small wall of snow, so we have to dig our way in.
Props:
- to all my opponents, they were all good guys.
- to Paul judging and the store owners for holding it.
- to Canada for being fun to visit.
- to Jim for lending me his Pithing Needles.
Slops to a random metal plate bobbling around on the QEW between Toronto and Hamilton that messed up (cosmetic only) the front of my car when Harriet drove over it.
