So I was sitting around tonight having finished my homework, and I got to thinking I should write one of those report things I hear are so popular with the kids these days. Obviously I didn't do terribly well the day I played, but I got to experience the event as both a judge and a player, so I figure what the hell.
My story of course, like all good tournament reports, starts the Friday before the event. I get packed up and head out at around 12:30PM....
To go to office hours. I'm a teaching assistant, and Friday I have office hours from 1PM to 5PM. It's a serious beating, particularly this Friday as an assignment is due. I'm beset on all sides by students for four hours, with never a spare moment to breath or think about how awesome the 'morrow will be, but at last it ends and I head out around 6PM...
To pick up my friend Nate, whose other friends all decided last minute they didn't want to go. So finally, we head out and start the drive, which is completely uneventful. Calm weather over a drive I've made a million times does not make for interesting stories, so without further ado we arrive at my friend Josh's (KrauserKrauser) whereupon we set about borrowing cards from each other. I try to talk Josh into playing Belcher, but as I curl up on Josh's couch in preparation for a long day of judging, Nate convinces him to stick with Goblins, and so I fall asleep to chatter about little red men (who are actually green! You can check!). I then dream about galactic conquest as apparantly the best thing my subconcious has to dwell on is what the next steps I should take in Empire at War are.
After a somewhat restless night, I wake up very early Saturday morning, hop in the shower (hygeine is such savage technology), and head out to the convention center leaving those other two lazy bastards to indulge in their “plenty of sleep” plan. Like 5 hours isn't enough to get through an 18 hour day. Pshaw. Anyway, I meet Matt Villamaino and the other judges at the hall at 7AM and we head inside to start setting up. I am shortly dispatched with a small team into the bowels of the Richmond Convention Center on a daring quest to find the Van of Star City berthed in the great harbor of Loading Dock, wherein the Great Merchandise and Prize Support is kept by the Lord Hoefling and his band of Merry Men. Our task was to rendezvous with Lord Hoefling and render aid in bringing the Great Merchandise and Prize Support to the hall where the event was being held.
Make no mistake, the caverns which are hidden behind the walls of the Richmond Convention Center are long and perilous. Nevertheless, our band was brave, and possessed of a somewhat competent guide, such that we not only reached our destination safely and with only one wrong turn, but I also gained two levels in the process. The Great Lord Hoefling entrusted us with a portion of the Great Merchandise and Prize Support, which we then ferried back to Matt.
After moving some furniture around and setting up some judging stuff, we opened the halls at around 8:15 to let the flood of people come in. All 6 of them. Seems a lot of you went with the “plenty of sleep” plan, you bastards. You sick, well-rested bastards. How I hate you.
Three other judges and I were then tasked with setting up product for 2HG Champs, and with pre-registering 4 card pools. This was done behind the drapes set up for more private judge-related matters, and though we remained unseen the entire time, I assure you there was no innapropriate touching going on WHATSOEVER. The pool I registered was absolutely insane, including such bombs as Hex, Selesnya Guildmage, Selesnya Evangel, Vhitu-Ghazi, the City Tree, Savage Twister, and so on. Needless to say, when these pools were handed out to the top 4 later on, the recipients of mine won handily, beating my friends Josh and Nate in the semis (apparantly they decided they were too good for Type 1), and beating Bennie Smith & friend in the finals. But that was later. There was also a Type 1 event happening, after all.
So that gets done, and I get to emerge from behind the drapes (once again, NO INNAPROPRIATE TOUCHING WENT ON), and get to mingle for a bit. I meet Randy Beuhler, Reb, and a number of others, as well as old acquaintences like Doug, Kowal, Brassy, Rich, Jacob, Steve, JD, and so on. Good times, but all good times must come to an end, and we were forced to at last start the event.
Round one seems to go smoothly as I wander around, but with Round 1 over the decklists have been checked and it turns out we have problems. About 8 people had either illegal main deck lists or illegal sideboard lists, and so an equivalent number of gamelosses needed to be given out. The recipients of these losses include Smmenen, Marc Perez, and Doug (who was playing Rich Shay, which will be important in a bit). I am tasked with gamelossing Doug and Marc, neither of whom are pleased, but are understanding, and with that ugly business taken care of I resume my rounds...
Only to get called back to Doug's table no more than 10 minutes later. Rich, it would seem, had Doug on the ropes and Doug was ready to concede when the guy next to Rich looks down and says “Who's Tinker is this?” Rich has me look through his deck and OBVIOUSLY it's his, so I have to give him a game loss as well. They then shuffle up for game 1 (or game 3, depending how you look at it), and Doug manages to pull out the match. Worst match ever. The remainder of the round is uneventful, although I am called to Outlaw's table multiple times in the same turn as Outlaw punks his opponent with Time Vault tricks, apparantly confusing the poor boy utterly.
As Round 3 begins, Matt decides it's time to start doing deck checks. He picks the number 12 out of the aether, and asks me to do the swoop. We go to the scorekeeper to find out who's at table 12, and of course it's Doug. Poor Doug. I go wander around in Doug's vicinity while players go through their pre-game sequence, and answer a couple questions. Doug asks me if I'm there to bother him again, which I neither confirm nor deny until I snatch up his and his opponent's decks when they present. No problems this time, but I swear I'm going to give that boy a complex.
Round 3 happens, and about half the people I know get knocked out, leaving me to burn with jealousy during Round 4 as they procede to start playing Type 4. Near the end of this round I head behind the drapes to eat some pizza (ok,
this time there might have been some innapropriate touching), and emerge revitalized to run a dozen side events. At this point I sort of lose track of the main event as I am continually dispatched to start another draft or 8-man box tournament.
Things start to calm down by the time the top 8 rolls around, and I discover Rich is in the same bracket as Demars. Another side event later and Rich is playing against Demars. I go to the bathroom and come back to find Rich has beaten Demars in two games, and there was much rejoicing (no offense Demars, but I'm better friends with Rich than you). Seriously though, it was great to see so many TMDers in the top 8. Much better than having half of it be people no one knows about. The winner is eventually declared Rich Shay and Matt tells me I can leave, so I head back to Josh's to prep my decklist and get some sleep.
Somewhat fresh off almost 7 hours of sleep, I get to the venue around 9:15, ready to play. I sit down with Meandeck to chat it up with JDizzle and get advice on my build. Cards go in and out and I ultimately settle on the following:
2-Land Belcher
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Land Grant
4 Tinder Walls
4 Dark Ritual
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Goblin Charbelcher
4 Goblin Welder
3 Cabal Ritual
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Living Wish
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Memory Jar
1 Necropotence
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Bayou
1 Taiga
1 Black Lotus
1 Channel
1 Grim Monolith
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
Sideboard:
1 Artifact Mutation
1 City of Brass
1 City of Traitors
1 Dark Confidant
1 Scavenger Folk
4 Shattering Spree
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Viridian Shaman
4 Xantid Swarm
I can't really talk about most of the new choices. They never really came up. The idea behind Therapy is that there are really only a very small number of cards you actually care about, so blindly calling Force of Will is not really a bad thing. Honestly, JD says Shattering Spree is good and I'm willing to trust him on that. I just never brought them in. They're certainly going to be better against Stax than Xantid Swarm or Therapy.
Round 1: WildWillieWonderboy with Something Containing Volcanic Islands. Game 1 is a bit slow, even after Willie mulls to 5. I Land Grant for Bayou and play LED on the first turn. But it takes me a couple turns to find the additional mana to play Belcher. Ultimately I topdeck Dark Ritual into Cabal Ritual into Belcher, then sac LED for the win.
Out: 3 Cabal Therapy
In: 3 Xantid Swarm
Game 2 I have a turn two kill. I lead with an ESG into Xantid Swarm, which gets Forced, but I follow it up turn 2 with Lotus, Crypt, Belcher and Welder. Willie thinks he has an out in Tinker for Needle, but realizes I'll just weld it out and scoops.
1-0
I still don't know what he was playing. Good start for me, disheartening for him.
Round 2: George with Something Running Duresses and Probably Some Other Cards Game 1 my hand is Wheel, DT, Will, Ruby, LED, Land Grant after mulling to 6. Obviously I win turn one with a DT for Lotus and then Belcher.
Out: 3 Cabal Therapy
In: 3 Xantid Swarm
Game 2 is almost as fast. I get a scare turn 1 when he Duresses me seeing Lotus, Wheel, Land Grant, and some other cards. Fortunately for me, he takes Lotus instead of Land Grant, which might have ruined me had I not ripped Taiga off the top on my turn. I use it to play Xantid Swarm and then play a Ruby, deciding to play it slow. Turn 2 he Duresses me
again, this time taking the Land Grant. Fortunately that's not enough to stop me. The next turn I swing with Swarm, Wheel into Bayou, Ritual, ESG, Tinder Wall, and a Belcher for the win.
Starting 4-0 in games has me feeling a bit giddy, and I'm starting to wonder if I could possibly go far today. Unfortunately, Rounds 3 and 4 bring me back to Earth.
Round 3: Feature Match! Ben Kowal with Gifts Even if I hadn't known already what Kowal was playing, this match I saw enough of my opponent's deck to figure it out.
Game 1 is a squeaker. Kowal wins the roll, plays a land and passes. I lead with Taiga, Welder, and ESG for Chromatic Sphere, then pass, expecting to get a Belcher down on the next turn. Kowal is holding his maindeck Darkblast, so Welder dies and he passes back. That was very fortunate for him, for after I drop Tinder Wall and Ritual Ritual into Consultation for Belcher, play it and pass, he is able to Tinker into Colossus. At this point I have Black Lotus, LED, a couple Dark Rituals, Mana Vault, and Mana Crypt as my options to let me activate the Belcher, but instead I draw into a Cabal Ritual and have to pass again. Kowal shows me Time Walk and I scoop.
Out: 3 Cabal Therapy
In: 3 Xantid Swarm
Game 2 I start off strong with LED and ESG for a Sol Ring. Sol Ring is tapped to play a Sphere and crack it for black, drawing Land Grant. Land Grant gets Bayou, which lets me play Xantid Swarm and I finish the turn by casting Vampiric to get Belcher, with the plan to Ritual into playing it and activating next turn. Kowal drops and Chalice at one and follows it with Tinker for DSC. This would be bad for me as I now have insufficient mana to drop Belcher, but I topdeck Mox Jet and win the game.
Game 3 is heartbreaking. I keep a hand of 7 of Black Lotus, Wheel, Xantid Swarm, VT, a Ritual or two, and Tinder Wall. Obviously good, but very dependent on the Black Lotus. Kowal starts off with a Chalice at 0 and I frown. I draw into ESG which lets me play Xantid Swarm, but it gets Forced after which Kowal further deepens my pain with a Pithing Needle on Belcher. Next I topdeck Land Grant, and that gets Drained. Just when I'm about to scoop I rip Bayou off the top and have an out. I drop the Bayou and play my Wall. When the turn comes back, I'm able to double Ritual and sac the Wall into Wheel of Fortune, casting VT in response to get Living Wish. My new hand contains the Wish and substantial quantities of mana. I'm able to Wish for Viridian Shaman and play it, nuking the Needle, then drop a Belcher. Unfortunately at this point I'm 2 mana short of activation and have to pass the turn. Turns out I Wheeled Kowal into Will.
2-1
This was truly one of the most fun matches of Magic I've played. Our games were all good and close, and I got to play with a friend, which is always a bonus.
Round 4: Josh Meckes with DragonThis is where I get knocked out of the tournament. Dragon was not a matchup I even considered I would have, and so this ended up costing me pretty heavily.
Game 1 I'm able to drop a first turn Memory Jar. I pop it on my next upkeep and see an amazing hand of gas. Unfortunately, I only have one black source and he Forces my first Ritual, stalling me out. When I pass the turn, he animates the Dragon. I make him play it out, but unfortunately he knows what he's doing.
Out: 3 Cabal Therapy
In: 3 Xantid Swarm
And this is where I screw up. Had I known what Dragon's plan would be here, I would have brought in Shattering Sprees instead.
Game 2 starts off badly as I mull to 5. It's a good 5 though, with two Land Grants, Mox Jet, Tinder Wall and a Belcher. Basically everything I need. I LG into a land, play the Jet and the Wall and pass. Josh plays land, Emerald, NULL ROD. I am now in trouble. I topdeck Welder and play the Belcher anyway, planning on welding out his Rod if I get a chance. Unfortunately, before he's forced to Bazaar too much of his hand away, he finds Compulsion. It still takes him a few turns of giving me chances before he can assemble the kill, but I just continue drawing now useless Welders instead of things which would let me get artifact destruction out of my board. Ultimately, he's able to animate the Dragon and Stroke me out.
2-2
Well, I lost. I did better than I thought I would, but this kind of blowout was not how I wanted to get eliminated from contention. Oh well, I drop and get up to see what's going on.
I go bug Matt to get my compensation from the day before so I can do some pack wars. I play two games with two different opponents, but in both my pack sucks or has Savage Twister way at the bottom and I am defeated both times. Fortunately one of the packs had a Stomping Grounds, so I win anyway.
By this time Anusien has shown up, so he, Rich Shay, myself, and who I believe was T00l went to go eat overpriced convention center food and talk about stuff. After eating, I'm able to get Kevin Cron, Willie, Muzzono Ami, T00l, and Anusien for some Type 4. Anusien's side event starts, so he leaves before we actually start drafting. About halfway through the draft, so does T00l's, so Brass Man takes his place.
Let me say that drafting Type 4 with Kevin is one of the most awesome things about the format. We spend the entire time laughing about how amazing the cards we're drafting are, except of course for the time we spend laughing about how terrible the cards we're drafting are. I draft a deck with a lot of reanimation effects, Holistic Wisdom, and Yawgmoth's Agenda; not to mention Gleemax and Greater Morphling, so I feel pretty good. Unfortunately my opening hand is pretty bad and I die to Willie's Hunting Pack tokens. I forget who wins, but it's all in good fun so it doesn't matter.
Game 2 I get off to a strong start by dropping Agenda with a fat bin, followed by a complicated affair involving Alladin's Lamp from Willie, Sculpting Steel from Kevin, Confiscate from me, and some other shenanigans which end up with me having the only Lamp on the table. I soon get Beacon of Immortality going, and would probably have won except that Muzzono has to go and so Death Clouds the table to death.
After game 2, Brassy, Kevin and Willie leave, so T00l, Doug, and a couple people I can't remember (WhateverWorks maybe?) take their place. I start off getting owned, but manage to stabilize at about 6 life and slowly regain position. Doug ultimately wins this one (as he was playing with Kevin's deck), but I was pround at having escaped annihilation from 6 life to live to be last to die.
At this point everything is mostly wrapping up. Kowal is in his finals match and most everyone else is wandering out, so Nate and I leave to come back home to Blacksburg. Another uneventful drive back complicated only by how tired I was, and my trip is over.
My weekend was awesome, I had an amazing time. If you didn't come, you missed out, and I strongly suggest you make time to go to the next.
Props:
TMD people, who are amazingly awesome.
The Judges: I mentioned Matt, but the event judges also included Chad Daniels,
Jon Webb, Thomas Topolnicki, Dan Reif, Aaron Clutter,
and Mike Palmer. Judging is a lot of fun, but it's a huge drain on your
energy, and these guys deserve serious props. Particularly Jon, Chad,
and Thomas, who judged both days.
KrauserKrauser, for offering up his couch to me.
Paul Mastriano, for making Type 4.
JDizzle, for making Belcher amazing.
Both people I annihilated in the first two rounds, for taking it in stride. While it
may always be fun to win in a blowout, it's rarely fun to lose in one.
My judging compensation box, for containing 3 duals and other good stuff.
Doug, I love you even though I gave you a game loss. <3
Slops:
Dragon, for boarding in Null Rod.
A Burger King in Shadwell, Charlottesville VA, for closing at 10PM. WTF?
