[Results] Untouchables (Toronto) Black Lotus: 05/26/07

[Nightwing]

In another great show of support for our events, 57 players came out to play in our Lotus tournament at Untouchables!


Many thanks to all the players and to our two-headed judging team of Georges Rehak and Rob Johnson - a great job handling both the main and event side-events.

The side-event was started after Round Three of the main event.  This was a freeroll single-elimination tournament with brackets based on standings after Round Three.  The prize was an English Mana Drain, won by Chris Edmonds.


Due to the top-heavy first place Lotus, the prize structure looked like this:

1st - Unlimited Black Lotus or $900
2nd - $150
3rd - $75
4th - $75
5th - $25
6th - $25
7th - $25
8th - $25



Top Eight After Round 6

1. Eugene Lo, 16 pts.
2. David Caplan, 15 pts.
3. Ryan Trepanier, 14 pts.
4. Mike Antonarakis, 14 pts.
5. Owen Leskovar, 14 pts.
6. Paul Johnson, 13 pts.
7. Alana Saulnier, 13 pts.
8. Steven Wolfman, 13 pts.


The top eight players discussed an eight-way split and it was determined that at least one match was to be played out (declined split), so they went at it.

After defeating Owen Leskovar, Mike Antonarakis (who was now a semi-finalist) agreed to split with the remaining players, who had all been hoping for such a split.

As a result, Mike Antonarakis became the technical winner of the tournament, having defeated the most number of players and advancing the farthest in the event.

1. Mike Antonarakis $315
2. Eugene Lo $160
3. David Caplin $160
4. Ryan Trepanier $160
5. Paul Johnson $160
6. Alana Saulnier $160
7. Steven Wolfman $160
8. Owen Leskovar $25


The decks at this event varied widely, as they tend to do in all of our tournaments.  Sideboarding and proper maindeck preparations were key in advancing at this event.  Many people mentioned dropping their original decks prior to arriving, expecting a lot of hate for graveyard manipulation.  The main concern was Ichorid, but Flash Hulk also faced a field of sideboards full of Leyline of the Void.

In the end, the top eight contained some combo, some control, and some good old fashioned fish.  Congratulations to each of these finalists on their accomplishments.  Their deck lists follow below, according to the final standings:


1st - Mike Antonarakis: Landstill

1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth
3 Fire/Ice
4 Force of Will
3 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
3 Spell Snare
4 Standstill
4 Stifle
1 Time Walk
2 Trickbind

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
3 Null Rod

2 Faerie Conclave
2 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
3 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland

SB
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Echoing Truth
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Pithing Needle
1 Pyroblast
1 Pyroclasm
1 Rack and Ruin
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Rolling Earthquake
2 Tormod's Crypt


2nd - Eugene Lo: Bomberman 2.0

1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Echoing Truth
1 Extirpate
4 Force of Will
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Rebuild
2 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Walk
1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Auriok Salvagers
4 Dark Confidant
4 Jotun Grunt
3 Trinket Mage

1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Black Lotus
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sol Ring
1 Tormod's Crypt

2 Flooded Strand
1 Library of Alexandria
2 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland

SB
3 Aether Vial
3 Cabal Therapy
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Darkblast
2 Pithing Needle
1 Rebuild
1 Tormod's Crypt


3rd - David Caplan: Meandeck Doomsday (Post Future Sight)

1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Ritual
1 Chain of Vapor
4 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Doomsday
3 Duress
4 Force of Will
1 Gush
1 Imperial Seal
1 Mind's Desire
1 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Necropotence
1 Research/Development
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Time Walk
3 Unmask
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will

4 Street Wraith

1 Black Lotus
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire

3 Flooded Strand
3 Island
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
3 Underground Sea

SB
4 Defense Grid
1 Duress
3 Massacre
2 Rebuild
1 Research/Development
1 Sins of the Past
1 Tendrils of Agony
2 Wipe Away


4th - Ryan Trepanier: Hulk Flash, Hulk Smash

1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Flash
4 Force of Will
1 Imperial Seal
4 Merchant Scroll
2 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Pact of Negation
4 Summoner's Pact
1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Body Snatcher
1 Carrion Feeder
1 Elvish Spirit Guide
1 Karmic Guide
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
4 Protean Hulk

1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire

1 Flooded Strand
2 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
4 Underground Sea

SB
2 Chain of Vapor
4 Dark Confidant
4 Duress
1 Echoing Truth
2 Pithing Needle
2 Rebuild


5th - Paul Johnson: Fish

4 Dark Confidant
1 Dimir Cutpurse
3 Icatian Javelineers
3 Jotun Grunt
4 Meddling Mage
2 Ninja of the Deep Hours

1 Ancestral Recall
3 Daze
4 Duress
2 Echoing Truth
4 Force of Will
3 Stifle
1 Time Walk

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
3 Null Rod

3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Strip Mine
3 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland

SB
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Echoing Truth
4 Leyling of the Void
1 Rebuild
2 Seal of Cleansing
3 Yixlid Jailer


6th - Alana Saulnier: Gifts

1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Burning Wish
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Duress
4 Force of Will
3 Gifts Ungiven
4 Mana Drain
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Rebuild
1 Recoup
2 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will

1 Black Lotus
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 Pithing Needle
1 Platinum Angel
1 Sol Ring
1 Tormod's Crypt

2 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
3 Polluted Delta
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island

SB
1 EMpty the Warrens
2 Extirpate
1 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Misdirection
1 Pithing Needle
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Sundering Titan
1 Tendrils of Agnoy
1 Tormod's Crypt


7th - Steven Wolfman: Welder

3 Goblin Welder
1 Gorilla Shaman

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Balance
1 Crop Rotation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Tinker
1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Black Lotus
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Crucible of Worlds
1 Darksteel Ignot
1 Duplicant
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Orb of Dreams
1 Pithing Needle
1 Platinum Angel
1 Sol Ring
4 Sphere of Resistance
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Trinisphere
1 Triskelion

1 Barbarian Ring
1 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 City of Brass
3 Gemstone Mine
4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland

SB
2 Ancient Grudge
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Razormane Masticore
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Slice and Dice
1 Sundering Titan
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Triskelion


8th - Owen Leskovar: Random Fish with 10 Proxies

3 Children of Korlis
4 Dark Confidant
4 Dimir Cutpurse
4 Meddling Mage

1 Ancestral Recall
3 Daze
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Duress
1 Echoing Truth
4 Force of Will
3 Stifle
1 Time Walk

1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
3 Tormod's Crypt

3 Flooded Strand
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
3 Wasteland

SB
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Disenchant
1 Echoing Truth
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Yixlid Jailer

[bitey]

Tournament Report, Untouchables Lotus Tournament Saturday, May 26th 2007

Pictures of the event can be found here: http://mtgontario.com/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5769&start=90

Apparently being a member of mtgontario is like a super secret society, and they don't let just anyone in, so I won't be posting this there.  Oh well.

For some reason lately I've been interested in playing Magic.  A little back story about me first.  I started playing Magic in about '94 with Revised and Fallen Empires.  The peak of my Magic playing days were probably between '95 and '99-'00 or so.

Since then, I've played in tournaments sporadically at best, the last constructed tournament being 401 Legacy tournament in March '06.  I've tried to keep up with developments in the Vintage and Legacy metagames, via sites like mtgontario and themanadrain, so I wasn't completely in the dark going into this tournament.

My favourite deck for Vintage is typically multi-colour Oath, but looking at the rule change of Flash and the rise of Ichorid I decided that it might not be the best deck choice.  I'm fairly restricted in the decks I can put together with 5 proxies, so I decide to go with a U/w/b fish deck with some card help from Steve Wolfman.  Steve only has 1 Cutpurse, so I run Ninja instead.  Here's the decklist:

4 Meddling Mage
3 Jotun Grunt
3 Icatian Javelineers
4 Dark Confidant
2 Ninja of the Deep Hours
1 Dimir Cutpurse
3 Null Rod
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Duress
3 Stifle
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
2 Echoing Truth
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
1 Scrubland
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

3 Yixlid Jailer
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Echoing Truth
2 Seal of Removal
1 Rebuild

Now, let me say right away, this deck is terrible.  Really, don't play this deck.  Just because I somehow managed to make top 8 at a 57 person tournament and someone else at the same tournament playing a very similar deck also T8ed doesn't mean that this deck is a good choice at all.  Seriously, don't play it, just trust me.  I had so many bad draws with this deck that it felt like I Parised at least once a game.

Anyway the first obvious question is, "Why aren't you playing Brainstorm?".  Honestly?  I'm not a good enough player to play Brainstorm is the answer.  It takes me forever to decide what cards to shuffle away, and I always end up drawing matches because I take forever to make play decisions.  I'm not stalling, I'm just not that smart.  I believe that when you construct a deck, it's important to take into consideration your own liabilities as a player.

And if I wanted to actually defend myself without the self-depreciation, I'd probably say this: When you play Brainstorm, the optimal play is to drop a land turn 1, play a fetch land turn 2, then Brainstorm EOT, leave the worst 2 cards you have on top of your library, and reshuffle with fetch.  That is a great play if you're playing combo, or control, but it's too slow if you're playing in an environment where decks can win turn 1 or 2, and it slows my deck down.  In addition, if I had Brainstorm in my deck, I'd be tempted to keep 1 land draws and hope to Brainstorm into land.  That can be a good thing if you do manage to get land, but if you don't it's pretty much game over.

Onto what little I can remember of the matches:

Round 1: Flash without Hulk (Shawn?  That is the name I have written down.  Might be Sean.)
Game 1 he Tinkers for Sundering Titan turn 1.  I decide to concede and go to game 2.  I don't know why I do this, since I do have 2 Echoing Truth in my deck, and it would help to get more information about his deck before sideboarding.  I guess it's my own pessimistic nature getting the better of me here, maybe I really don't expect myself to win at all?  I sideboard in Seals, Truths and Rebuild, as I have some idea he's playing Stax.
Game 2 I think I had a very good draw this game, but I don't really remember.  I win, and more importantly I realize he's not playing Stax.  I board out Rebuild for something I took out.
Game 3 is the good game.  He plays Gorilla Shaman, I play Javelineers.  I Duress him, and use the information with Mage to lock out flash, get Ninja in play, but he gets Symbiotic Wurm into the graveyard via Thirst or Bazaar (?) and topdecks Animate Dead.  I play Confidant, and I'm drawing 3 a turn trying to find an answer to the Wurm before I die.  Fortunately for me, the Wurm doesn't have trample, and I can just chump block with guys I draw until I eventually get Echoing Truth.  Confidant gets me low on life, but I pull it out.
1-0

Round 2: Ichorid (Simon)
Game 1 I'm basically going to lose first game.  He gets Bazaar and I Wasteland it on my turn, but of course that's all he needs.  The judge has to be called when I try to Stifle his Dredge to buy time.  I tried this because in the FAQ for Ravnica is says this:

"Dredge

Dredge is a <B>static ability</B> that lets you return cards from your graveyard to your hand. Only cards from the Golgari guild (black, green, or black-green) have dredge."

Of course I'm wrong about Dredge being an ability that can be countered with Sifle, but as I said, I'm not that smart.  Anyway, to further illustrate how not smart I am, I attempt to block his Dread Returned Street Wraith (swampwalk when I have a swamp in play) and his Narcomoeba (flying) with a creature that doesn't have flying.  As humiliating a defeat as I could imagine, really.
Game 2: I board in the Jailers, Leylines and Truths.  I Paris to 5 and start with 2 Leyline in play, but I only have 1 land.  He gets Bazaar in play and uses it aggressively to find an answer to Leyline.  I eventually get a Javelineer in play which gets Contagined (he has Dryad Arbor in play) but I get another Wasteland and take out his Arbor.  He concedes.
Game 3: I go to 6 cards but I don't have Leyline.  He Serum Powders and ? mulls to 6 (I think).  He starts Bazaar and uses it.  I don't have Leyline, but I do have a sweet draw of Wasteland Pearl, Sapphire, Meddling Mage naming Contagion.  He Dredges turn 2, but I have turn 2 Jailer, and that's pretty much a lock against his deck.
2-0

Round 3: Gifts (Alana)
Game 1 I lose the die roll for the third time in three rounds and she starts Ancestral on my upkeep.  I have absolutely no idea what she's playing and I have mad Meddling Mages.  My first Mage is for Brainstorm (another advantage of not running the spell myself is that it's usually a good blind bet against other blue decks).  I play around Mana Drain by dropping a Ninja, but everything I see points to Flash Hulk (Lotus Petal, Merchant Scroll x2, duress my Echoing Truth) so I say Flash when the Mage comes back down.  Her body language says she approves of this, meaning she isn't playing Flash Hulk.  I get a small army of guys in play, but she Tinkers for Platinum Angel.  I get her to 0, but I lose to the Angel without seeing a single Daze, Duress or Force of Will.
Game 2: I'm figuring control slaver at this point, so I bring in 1 Seal, 2 Truth.  I get a better Disruption draw this game, but she has turn 1 Ancestrall again.  Of course, I didn't have turn 1 Duress, Force of Will or Daze in my hand so this goes through.  I get a Mage down for Mana Drain I draw and cast Duress, and then the Mages just keep coming.  One gets REBed, but I get 3 in play after she Gifts and manage to keep Platinum Angel from coming into play.  This game almost times out, so it ends in a draw.
2-0-1

Round 4: U/w/b Fish (Owen)
Game 1 he mulls to, I think, 5 and doesn't really have a chance.  All I see of his deck is Ruby, 2x Force + Stifle when I duress him, Wasteland and some duals so I don't really know what he's playing.  I think this is the game I had Wasteland, Pearl, Lotus, Ninja which is Forced after I Duressed stifle.  Something like that.  I have a bunch of creatures and he doesn't do much after that exchange.  I think long and hard about what to sideboard, but in the end I just brought in 1 Truth.  I don't take out the Null Rods because Ruby says he is playing more than 4 artifact mana (turns out he has Lotus, Sapphire, Pearl, Jet, Ruby and Lotus Petal).
Game 2 I think he mulls to 6 and plays Yixlid Jailer turn 1, again with Ruby.  He then plays a proxied Jitte and attacks with Jailer.  I have Null Rod, and waste his only land and it looks really, really good for me because all he has is a Jailer and useless artifacts with no other land... until he wastes my only colour mana.  We both go landless for about 5-6 turns, and in the end the Jailer goes all the way.  I think I took 19 points from a turn 1 Jailer this game.
Game 3 I mulligan to 4 because I never find a draw with more than 1 land in it and that's it.  I have enough to stifle his opening wasteland, and force his first play, but the card disadvantage is too much to overcome.
2-1-1

Round 5: Flash Hulk (Steve)
Game 1 He has a solid opening draw and goes off turn 3 with protection.  He says he misplayed it, but it doesn't matter.  I think I had Force, but it still didn't matter.  I bring in the Chalices, Leylines and Truths
Game 2 I Paris to 5 I think.  I get opening Leylines and Chalice for 0.  The game ends up going on forever, as he tries to find a way out and I try to find something to win with.  I foolishly didn't board out by Grunts, and I have, yes, 1, 2, 3 of them in my hand in short order.  I did say I'm not very smart.  He starts building up land, and I figure he's going for hard cast Hulk, so I waste and strip him back to 3 land, and he concedes, visibly frustrated.  I swap my Grunts for different creatures.
Game 3 Is all the fun and pulse-pounding excitement you can expect from a Flash Hulk/Fish matchup.  He tries to Flash Hulk turn 1, I have Force, and get Chalice for 0 again.  He tries to go off a turn or 2 later, but I have Stifle.  He has Mana Crypt in play and he rolls my die that has not won me a die roll yet today (that's 5 losses in a row).  He misses the first crypt damage, but from then on he gets hit for 3 every single turn.  I have absolutely no pressure at all, just disruption and permission.  He gets down to 4 from Crypt and then concedes to me, visibly angry that he keeps rolling odd on the die again and again.  He marks drop on the sheet and leaves.  I mentally thank myself for not giving up faith in my die because it may well have just won me that game.
3-1-1

Round 6: Counter 'Goyf (Lam)
Game 1 I finally win a die roll!  Of course I end up mulliganing to a terrible draw.  He gets an early Tarmogoyf and it's up to 3/4 with what we have in the graveyard.  I can't really do anything about it and Duress just makes it worse (4/5).  He has a bunch of permission (Spell Snares, Force) and it's enough to keep me from doing anything substantial.  I board in the Truths and a Jailer for the Rods.  I think about Leylines, but decide against it because it won't help unless I open it, and I don't know what else is in his deck.
Game 2 Ends up being tight.  I get 2x Javelineer and I have 2x Grunt to do damage early and make his 'Goyf smaller.  He gets down to 5 and I all out attack with Grunt and Javelineers, expecting him to block the Grunt and go to 4, but he blocks one of the Javelineers and goes to 1.  He has Rushing River on his turn, but I Force it and he concedes.
Game 3 he mulls to 6 and keeps a 1 Wasteland draw.  He doesn't see more land quickly, and it's not difficult to win.
4-1-1

I make it in as 6th seed.  I drew with Alana who is in T8, and lost to Ownen, who is also in T8, so I guess my tiebreakers weren't as bad as I thought.  7/8 of us decide to split the prize so each person gets $160 or so, but Owen wants to play.  I understand that desire, but I'm matched up against Ryan Trepanier, and I may not be smart, but I'm also not stupid.  We play for fun anyway.

Finals Round 1: Hulk Flash, (Ryan)
Game 1 I know what he's playing, because he tells me (because I told him what I was playing) but I pretend I don't, as I don't Paris my hand (I have land and creatures) and honestly I'm just tired of mulling every single time.  I lose the die roll (of course) and he mulls to 5, then goes off turn 1.  Game.  Over.
Game 2 I get a draw with Chalice, Leylines, 2x Force of will, but no mana.  I keep it anyway.  I start Leylines and Chalice for 0 and pass.  It completely cripples his draw.  The Forces mean he can't do anything bad to me and I draw into land and Meddling Mage.  I use my 4th Force to get Mage for Flash in play and he concedes.
Game 3 I have a fairly weak draw of turn 1 Chalice, turn 2 Mage, but as I said, I'm tired of Paris and we're playing for fun so I just keep it.  He has all the tools he needs to bounce Mage and go off protected, so he wins on turn 3 I think.

Owen loses to Mike and we split.  I spend my prize money on Dual lands and we go for dinner.  A great time is had by all.  A drunken Ryan Trepanier asks me in a semi serious way if it was fun.  And yes.  Yes it was fun.  It's been a long time since I was T8 at a tournament, and this definitely brings back memories of the days with the Milton crew, trying to qualify for the Pro Tour (and sometimes succeeding).  Those were great times, and this tournament felt a lot like that.

[Sextiger]

Round 3: Gifts (Alana)
Game 1 I lose the die roll for the third time in three rounds and she starts Ancestral on my upkeep.  I have absolutely no idea what she's playing and I have mad Meddling Mages.  My first Mage is for Brainstorm (another advantage of not running the spell myself is that it's usually a good blind bet against other blue decks).  I play around Mana Drain by dropping a Ninja, but everything I see points to Flash Hulk (Lotus Petal, Merchant Scroll x2, duress my Echoing Truth) so I say Flash when the Mage comes back down.  Her body language says she approves of this, meaning she isn't playing Flash Hulk.  I get a small army of guys in play, but she Tinkers for Platinum Angel.  I get her to 0, but I lose to the Angel without seeing a single Daze, Duress or Force of Will.
Game 2: I'm figuring control slaver at this point, so I bring in 1 Seal, 2 Truth.  I get a better Disruption draw this game, but she has turn 1 Ancestrall again.  Of course, I didn't have turn 1 Duress, Force of Will or Daze in my hand so this goes through.  I get a Mage down for Mana Drain I draw and cast Duress, and then the Mages just keep coming.  One gets REBed, but I get 3 in play after she Gifts and manage to keep Platinum Angel from coming into play.  This game almost times out, so it ends in a draw.
2-0-1

Um Shouldn't your opponent have won 1-0 instead of you getting a draw?

[bitey]

Um Shouldn't your opponent have won 1-0 instead of you getting a draw?

Sorry, that wasn't clearly worded.  She won game 1, I won game 2.  There wasn't time for game 3.

[Prometheon]

Here's a mini report from me (Owen) as well. (I may have the rounds/games mxied up, and I'm sorry for forgetting people's names!)

The deck: A lot of people have been criticising the list, and I admit that there are some notable exclusions. This deck is surprisingly good. It is similar to SS, but has a ton more creatures so it doesn't lose to other Fish decks.) Meddling Mage is friggin insane. I will try to explain some of the biggest choices:

Lack of Brainstorm: This is the biggest one. When talking to Mike after losing, I mentioned that I had no Brainstorms, and he seemed to sort of just dismiss my performance or the deck in general after that. I did not miss Brainstorm once all day. Every turn you want to be spending all of your mana laying a threat. Turn 1 you hopefully drop a Confidant, Meddling Mage, or Children of Korlis (which I'll get to in a second) and turn 2 you want to supplement that, perhaps with a Cutpurse. Brainstorm does not fit into this strategy, and is weak in Fish in general. You end up swapping random creatures for other random creatures and it all seems like a waste of time/mana.

Lack of Null Rod: I wanted to play with 3 MD Tormod's Crypts, because I was expecting a TON of Ichorid, and it's good against Gifts and Flash as well, as well as being free so you can continue to lay threats. I was very impressed all day and didn't miss Null Rod at all. This deck is more like SS than traditional U/W Fish.

Children of Korlis: My hugest disappointment of the day. They were in there to stop Ichoird (they remove Bridge from Below) and act as a big roadblock against Tendrils Combo. I didn't play against either all tournament, and they should have been in the SB, as they are terrible against DDay, Flash, Slaver, other aggro decks, etc. A bad metagame call.

The manabase: It had both too many fetches and one too many land in general. I'd probably cut one fetch from the manabase in the future, as I was constantly getting flooded, and Daze and Stifle both help to encourage a slightly lower land count, albeit in different ways. Cutting the off-color mox could also be tested.

The SB: The SB was amazing all day. Yixlid Jailer is great against Ichorid, and Kataki is great against Stax, and they both come in against Fish because they are bodies that can hold Jitte. I was trying a strategy where I didn't run StP against other Fish decks, so that I could name that with my Meddling Mages and then have diversified threats. This backfired against Landstill somewhat. Engineered Explosives was there against decks was expecting to have a lot of EtW, as it mops up tokens and Moxes, neither of which Gifts is happy to see occur.

All in all I loved the deck, I feel like it has game versus all of the major archetypes (especially decks like Gifts, Slaver, Ichorid and Long). With that said it needs several changes made to it before I would play it again (which I probably won't.) The changes I would make to the list is:
MD: -3 Children, -1 Mana Source, + some combination of Jotun Grunt, Brainstorm, and Icatian Javelineers (good against Ichorid for the same reason Children is, because it can kill itself to off Bridges, but it's also good against opposing Welders/Confidants)
SB: -2 Chalice +2 Pithing Needle, -something +Children of Korlis

The report: Round 1: Arend Kraehling with Slaver.

G1: I win the roll and go first. I establish some ealry control and kill some lands, but he Tinkers out Platinum Angel and I can't find DT or E-Truth in time and lose.
G2: I forget how I SBed, but I brought in the E Truth and 1 Jitte, as well as Kataki. I get some early beats, ruin his manabase, and win through insane card advantage off Confidant and Cutpurse.
G3: See game 2.
1-0

Round 2: Rich Mattiuzzio (sp?) with U/B Confidant Control.
I don't remember the details of this match, except that Game 1 I was wrecked by Cunning Wish for Darkblast, Game 2 I pull out a win, and game 3 is a draw, though Rich would have won if he had 1 more turn. I don't consider this a loss for the deck though, as I was playing for the draw, which I was 99% sure I could get, rather than the win, which was more up-in-the-air. The game ended with me at 2 life and Rich at 1.
1-0-1

Round 3 (may be mixing this up with round 5): Andrew with Ritual Gifts.
Both games I aggresively attack his manabase and he simply can't recover. In game 1 two Chilldren go all the way with infi backup, and game 2 I destroy him with a Meddling Mage after a Duress.
2-0-1

Round 4: Paul with U/W/B fish.
I get destroyed in game 1, and bring in 4 Jailer, 2 Kataki, 3 Jitte, E Truth and both Disenchants. I take out Duress, FoW (terrible in the Fish mirror) and Children.
G2: I get an early creature down with Jitte, and then frown when he drops Null Rod. We both draw blank for a few turns (4-5) and then I draw mana while he doesn't. This gam was pretty stupid overall.
G3: He mulls into oblivion. Sorry Paul! You're a great guy and need to give your play skill/deck a bit more credit. Don't beat yourself up.
3-0-1

Round 5: I forgot your name! Sorry! With Slaver.
This is very similar to my match with Arend. I get wrecked by Tinker game 1, and then wreck him games 2 and 3. Kataki played a huge roll in one of the games by shutting off two of his Moxes. In game 3 I win by naming Pyroclasm with Meddling Mage which was the only card he could have topdecked to win.
4-0-1

Round 6: I draw into top 8.

The top 8 wanted to do an 8 way split, and I was the only one who wanted to play. Here's how I saw it: If I wanted to make a hundred bucks after an 8 hour day, I would have gone to work. I wanted to win a friggin Lotus! Sadly I am paired against Mike Antonarakis and get destroyed by his Landstill list. I mull into oblivion in game 2, but I don't think it mattered. His deck was pretty much an unbeatable matchup, and is one of the reasons I want to throw a few Pithing Needles into the board. I thought he was playing Gifts, as that's what I'd seen him playing at every other T1 event, and Gifts is a great matchup. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be.

All in all I had a terrific time, and Untouchables is a fantastic venue and John is the best TO ever. I strongly endorse any of their events.

Props: Everyone I played against. Seriously,  I had some very intense and enjoyable games against great opponents.
John for being an awesome TO.

Slops: I was watching a game one of my friends was playing against Ichorid. The player attacked with a few Bridge Tokens, and my friend double blocked one with Piledriver and Lacky and then put them both in the graveyard. They have a combined toughness of 3. Another friend noticed this relatively immediately, but when he stood up, the Ichorid player snapped "don't say anything." I didn't notice until later, and a judge was called. Unfortunately, the game had already concluded (literally 3 seconds prior) and the judge said that he could not do anything and could not prove intent even though the Ichorid player was CLEARLY allowing an illegal gamestate to occur. This is blatant cheating, and pissed me off quite a bit.

[Razvan]

was that ichorid player simon from montreal? he seems like a harsh opponent, and is very unhappy when people point out if he makes a rule error or not. something similar happened in my game vs. simon with a nether shadow trigger (although that was the only problem, in a way).

[ReAnimator]

Nice reports guy's, also 57 players is awesome, too bad I had to miss this one.

[bitey]

was that ichorid player simon from montreal? he seems like a harsh opponent, and is very unhappy when people point out if he makes a rule error or not. something similar happened in my game vs. simon with a nether shadow trigger (although that was the only problem, in a way).

Yes, I think it was him.  Actually I didn't get that impression at all, seemed like a nice enough guy.  Maybe it was because it was me making all the dumb mistakes?

[Yames]

I started a thread over at MTG ontario when my also from Quebec opponent cheated, he somehow got the judge to rule in his favor. Why do we invite those guys to events?

[PacmanXSA]

I started a thread over at MTG ontario when my also from Quebec opponent cheated, he somehow got the judge to rule in his favor. Why do we invite those guys to events?

Yeah, I'm sure that all of those Quebecers are cheaters...

Pac

[Tobi]

Thanks for the decklists!

The lists of Eugene and Alana miss a maindeck card each.

[goobafish]

MTGOntario is quite hard to get onto. If you tell me the user name you signed up as I will send a message to Trent to try to get you on.

I had a great time at this event and was very happy about the split because my deck was definitely not suited for playing against gifts, except when i go the Street Wraith beats route .

[Chiz]

I started a thread over at MTG ontario when my also from Quebec opponent cheated, he somehow got the judge to rule in his favor. Why do we invite those guys to events?

Yeah, I'm sure that all of those Quebecers are cheaters...

Pac

Just find a single time were me (Martin Bonneville) or Lany Chabot Laroche “Cheated” in that tournament… The only time I did something “Special” was in the first game of the final of the side-event, were I was trying to “prove” to my opponent that he misplayed the Flash combo and that will maybe cost him the game… Of course, there wasn’t any misplay there and I wasn’t trying to win that game, I just tried to show him that I “didn’t understand the deck” that much, which isn’t true… That’s sort of a mind trick, your opponent will probably think that you’re a scrub that doesn’t know the deck and that may gives you an advantage… Well, that may work only if your opponent doesn’t know you, that wouldn’t work here in Quebec but could have worked in Toronto…

I ask everyone to relax… We were not going to Toronto with the goal of winning everything at every cost (which includes cheating…). We went to Toronto for a Magic road trip. We have a lot of fun doing those road trip and we haven’t much road trip since last Rochester, so we decided to go for that tournament… If you don’t want to “invite” outside people to your tournament, that would be very bad for your tourneys… I mean… We gave you 100$ for your prize structure, can you really afford to refuse 100$ for your prize structure?? I really don’t think so…

I just want to point out to you guys that we had some issues with some of you too… But we wouldn’t call every Ontarian cheaters because of these. Here in Quebec, I enforce a rule that a lot of you don’t follow:

14.   Spectator and Press Responsibilities
Spectators are expected to remain silent during matches and are not permitted to communicate with players in any way while matches are in progress. Players may request that a spectator not observe their matches. All such requests must be made through a judge.

Spectators and members of the press who believe they have observed rules violations should inform a judge, but must not interfere with the match.

We had really big issues with that rule before and especially Simon had. In a top8, a “random” spectator (who was at his first tourney I think) told Simon something like: “That’s good to draw 3 lands in a row!! Simon was playing Control Slaver and “faked” to draw good things and kept those lands in his hand. But his opponent now knew that he had nothing in his hand and win right now (what he wouldn’t have done if he didn’t hear that random spectator, because he wasn’t backed…). Anyway, from that time, I really enforce that people can’t interfere with the match… I allow players to ask others which game are they playing or who won the first game, but that’s all… If they saw an error, they have to tell the judge, not the players. I saw many people telling players mistake in their games, which isn’t allowed in the rules.  That was what upset Simon in the 2 situations that people told before… Simon told to people to don’t talk because his English isn’t that good and because in the past, people talking caused him to loose games that maybe he could have won (in a legal way, he wasn’t cheating or doing any illegal moves). That said, for the Nether shadow I don’t know the reason, but for the Piledriver he told me that he wasn’t sure if he had 1 or 2 toughness, but since his opponent put it in his graveyard he though that he had 1 toughness. I agree with you that he should have checked that if he wasn’t sure…
Here are the rulings that apply here:

122.    Game Play Error — Illegal Game State
Definition
The ongoing state of the current game is illegal as a result of a prior misplay.
Examples
A.   In a Magic tournament, two copies of the same Legendary permanent are in play.
B.   In a Magic tournament, an Armadillo Cloak (cost 1GW) is enchanting a creature with Protection from Green.
Philosophy
Both players share a responsibility in allowing the game to continue in this illegal state. Because many decisions and plans may have been made based on this state, no effort should be made to back up the game and fix it or try to compensate for the effects of the illegal state.
Penalty
All Levels
Warning

Apply state-based effects or other game-specific ways of making a game state legal. In addition, the opponent of the player controlling the permanent making the game state illegal should receive a Game Play Error — Failure to Maintain Game State infraction.

125.   Game Play Error — Failure to Maintain Game State
Definition
This infraction is committed by a player who has allowed their opponent to commit a Game Play Error and has not pointed it out it immediately. If a judge believes a player is intentionally not pointing out their opponent’s illegal actions, either for their own advantage, or in the hope of bringing it up at a more strategically advantageous time, the infraction is Cheating — Fraud.
Examples
A.   In a Magic tournament, a player's opponent forgets to discard a card to Masticore during their upkeep. It is not noticed until the end of turn.
B.   In a Dreamblade tournament, a player’s opponent forgets to sacrifice a creature after spawning a creature with the Appease ability. The error is not noticed until the end of turn.
Philosophy
Games are, for the most part, played in public zones. If an error is caught immediately, then the dangers of the ongoing game state becoming corrupted are much lower. If the error is allowed to persist, at least some of the fault lies with the opponent, who has also failed to notice the error.
Penalty
All Levels
Warning

Judges should not usually upgrade this penalty, as players will be reluctant to call a judge if they believe that they could receive a significant penalty as a result.

So, both players received a Game Play Error — Illegal Game State warning, there’s no doubt about it. They both are responsible to look if there is an illegal action that occurred and point it if there is one. Simon should also received a Game Play Error — Failure to Maintain Game State warning too. So, the real question is if the judge believes that Simon was intentionally not pointing out their opponent’s illegal actions or not… I can tell you that it can go both ways, it’s a judging decision, there is no clear way of handling this for the judge… That’s his responsibility to determine if he believes Simon or not…  If he doesn’t believe Simon, Simon will get a Cheating — Fraud, disqualification without prizes. In both cases, the judge will make a player unhappy. That’s a difficult situation from a judge’s view, I can tell you. It’s hard to call a disqualification if you weren’t watching the game when the situation occurred…

For the situation that involve Bill (Guillaume, he told people to call him Bill because no one of you would have been able to say it right…), he said that he clearly wanted to extirpate the confidant in the draw step, since that’s the best time to do so (more chance of getting one in your opponent’s hand). Anyway, Bill just told me that you drew and immediately tapped your 2 lands, that he didn’t had time to stop you. I don’t know the exact situation, I wasn’t watching the game, but I’m pretty sure Guillaume had the intention to Extirpate your Confidant even before your turn started… He just didn’t have time to do so and there was maybe a bad communication from his part. I could be wrong, but that’s what I think. I understand that you are upset with that Yames, but I really, really dislike what you’re doing now… Calling all Quebeckers to be cheaters is really stupid and uber wrong! Telling everyone that Guillaume in a picture was “Bragging to his friends about the benefits of waiting for someone to tap mana then extirpating back in the draw step” is even more stupid and so much wrong!! Guillaume didn’t even say anything other that he dislike that kind of situations… He never told us to wait to play extirpate, never… That’s not because we talk French and that you have difficulties (or you simply can’t) understand what we were saying that we used that as an advantage to “cheat” or “gives others ways of cheating”. If someone doesn’t trust me, just learn French and come with us. You will see that we are there to have fun, nothing more (otherwise we wouldn’t drive 6-7 hours to go to a tournament just for the prizes, it doesn’t worth it). Even if I crapped out in the main tournament, that tournament was lot of fun (especially the side-even), killing a Platiniun angel with an Emerald Charm made my tournament! I could have mulligan into oblivion every other single game, I wouldn’t care, I had so much fun Chump-blocking a non-flyer Platinum Angel!

Oh, and by the way, Guillaume played in round 4 against a SS player… The SS player attacked with Confidant and Cutpurse. Guillaume block with Children of Korlis the Confidant. His opponent tell him clearly: “ We put damages on the stack”, Bill said yes and in response to the damages dealing, he sac the Children… His opponent let the Confidant into play. Me and Lany were watching that game, both of us saw this error, none of us told the players… We didn’t told the judge, since Guillaume was dead anyway… But we told Guillaume after the match, and Guillaume said to us: “Yes I block and the confidant was in his grave”. We told  him that no, the confidant was still in play, but anyway that would have changed nothing since he scoop after saying his draw…

Another example I want to gives you is in the quarterfinal of the side-event. Lany played against a workshop deck in a sudden death match (well, sudden death after the 2-3 minutes left in the round and 5 additional turns.).  Anyway, at one point, bill thought the Lany’s opponent should have taken a damage from his Barbarian ring. He putted it into play, tap it among other lands and play Crucible. Bill told the judge who was near and didn’t interfere with the game. The judge asked the player what happen and he realize that there was an Orb of Dream into play, so there wasn’t damage dealt from the Ring. But that’s the way you should handled play error (or what you think is play error), you can’t interfere with the players; only the judge can do so…

I just wanted to point out that we were not there to cheat and Simon and Guillaume (Bill) didn’t have intention to cheat (From what they said to me). Even if they had a real intention to cheat, you shouldn’t put all Quebeckers in the same lot: We have thieves and murderers in Québec and so you have in Ontario… I never killed someone, nor did I steal, you know, we all are different people, even within the border of our provinces. All we want is playing Magic and have fun to do so (And winning sometimes… that’s part of the fun of playing Magic) and I hope you want the same.

[ReAnimator]

@ Chiz

I'm pretty sure Yames and Pac were being sarcastic, though in bad taste.



I for one am an Ontario player that loves it when the Quebecers make it down for an event. The more people who play the better. I only wish i could make it up to your province more often to play, I might be able to make the GP, we'll see.

I think a lot of the bad stereo type of Quebec type 1ers is because of a few bad instances in the past where there have been some shady french players who have made it down, but i really don't think that is any different then the shady english players we have here.

Sorry I couldn't make it out for this one I would have loved to chat 


@ Gooba,
I already got bitey hooked up with an account, if any one else needs an account feel free to PM me or Gooba.

[goobafish]

Always one step ahead Oyen. I also like French players coming down, and I spoke to a few of you and was quite impressed with your friendliness in face of some of the nasty things I had heard. As for the player not killing the Confidant. I think that was Tony and he would be the last person to intentionally cheat, he just doesn't play magic very often and probably didn't notice. Had someone said something it wouldn't have been an issue.

[Razvan]

martin:

lani chabot is an absolutely awesome opponent and person. I have never played against you, but i assume you were the fourth quebecer there after simon and guillaume. i am certain you are a fine opponent as well.

the problem that people have is that such problems keep happening. i recall at albany SCG where marc sims was given his only game loss in the swiss after a quebec player called a judge insisiting that his poor condition mox ruby was 'marked'.

furthermore, when i played against simon on saturday (i was his fourth round opponent with gifts, and with both of us at 2-1, an important match, as the loser's out, and the winner can 1-0-1 into top 8, unfortuntaely, i think simon got screwed on tiebreakers), and all you guys were around him, talking in french (which i speak, btw), being generally distracting and laughing at me and essentially taunting me, and talking to him during the match.

now, seeing that you guys were all around us, and talking into a different language, but unless i missed something, you weren't communicating about the match, or my hand, or whatever, so i have no problem with that. and i can understand that you guys are excited your friend's very close to top-8ing at a lotus tournament. but after doing that, and you make it an issue to point out in your post that you disagree with spectators talking and distracting the players (as well as revealing information), i find it a bit improper.

finally, simon, in g1, triggered the nether shadow with not enough creatures on top of it at the beginning of the upkeep, with the intention to dredge up to 3 so it can come into play. when people pointed it out, he kept saying how it doesn't matter, and just undid the play. now, i will admit i wasn't certain about the precise interaction of nether shadow, as i know ichorid's upkeep ability can be put on the stack no matter what, and you need to remove a creature only upon actual resolution. nether shadow, in retrospect, obviously needs 3 for the trigger to go on the stack, but i was stupid and didn't realize this. it was my fault, and i will take full responsibility for the proceeding.

i think we can all see where there can be a lot of language and behaviour barriers. one can only hope that no player, ontarian or quebecer, will ever resort to cheating. james is understandably angry, since it did cost him the game, where in my case, the error was caught (and i still lost ).

so in conclusion, i hope you guys come down here more often, and foster a healthy rivalry and a lot of good competition, as you are all very talented players.

[PacmanXSA]

Sarcasm has obviously become a lost art.  A shame...

I for one, did not have that great of a time at this event.  While I did see a few cool familiar faces, someone tried to drop me whether on purpose or not. 

Not sure if my team will be returning.

It was great meeting Razvan for the first time, however.

Pac

[Nightwing]

@ Chiz

Sorry if you felt that the criticisms of a few players are representative of the view that out-of-town players are not welcome at our events.  This is certainly not the case.  As you, and ReAnimator, pointed out, the more players at an event the better - for both the prize support and the community.


@ Pac

I'm not sure if there are other reasons that reduced your experience at this tournament, let me know if there are.  As for the attempt to drop you... I hadn't heard about it, and I've never seen that at our events in the past.  It may have been intentional, as I'm sure you feel it was, but this was also the first event in which we have used result slips.  We switched to slips to avoid confusion over results submissions, but I guess there are flaws to every solution 

[Nightwing]

Deck Breakdown, as best I could figure out:

Bomberman: 2
Gifts: 5
Hulk/Flash: 9
Ichorid: 5
Oath: 2
Stax: 4
Sullivan Solution: 2
Tendrils-based: 5
Welder-based (non Stax): 7

Other Aggro (creature-based): 8
Other Control: 5
Other Combo: 3

[ketchupgun]

Salute Les Gars! (Or however you dudes spell it in Que.)

Oh, and by the way, Guillaume played in round 4 against a SS player… The SS player attacked with Confidant and Cutpurse. Guillaume block with Children of Korlis the Confidant. His opponent tell him clearly: “ We put damages on the stack”, Bill said yes and in response to the damages dealing, he sac the Children… His opponent let the Confidant into play. Me and Lany were watching that game, both of us saw this error, none of us told the players… We didn’t told the judge, since Guillaume was dead anyway… But we told Guillaume after the match, and Guillaume said to us: “Yes I block and the confidant was in his grave”. We told  him that no, the confidant was still in play, but anyway that would have changed nothing since he scoop after saying his draw…

As gooba mentioned, I wouldn't intentionally cheat..i just suck at this game.

I'm sorry about that play error....and yes, if someone would have mentioned it, that would have been an end to that.

- Just like the time I played brainstorm against Mike and forgot to put two cards back.
- Or my famous game loss against Yames drawing off Ninja before StP resolves...oh the good times had by all !!!
- or my embarrassing match against Rich Matiuzzo awhile ago where I would Confidant, Draw, then put a counter on AetherVial .. Rich let it pass but let me know what I was doing is wrong.

what can I say..
"Je Suis desolies!"

(What I was trying to do there was just play a fourth spell that turn in order to flipp erayo, be it the stifle on my own Cutpurse or on your Korlis...know what I mean? But I got confused).

Just like I tried to Threads Christ's Serendib....I gotta read these cards more often.

btw, I also learned soemthing at this tourney...if you have a cutpurse, flipped erayo and a bob in play, and you opponent plays a tangle wire...don't respond with Chain of Vapour...Hurkyl's recall is a MUCH BETTER option!!!


Oh, and Pac...sarcasm is not a lost art, it is just near impossible on The Internet...let alone to people who's first language is not engllish...Communication Breakdown baby (And that's a professional comedian telling you!

quebec dudes, come down more often..you're a solid bunch, and made the tourney that much more exciting. Lany, it was an honour trading you one of my original proxies!

[Razvan]

Sarcasm has obviously become a lost art.  A shame...

I for one, did not have that great of a time at this event.  While I did see a few cool familiar faces, someone tried to drop me whether on purpose or not. 

Not sure if my team will be returning.

It was great meeting Razvan for the first time, however.

Pac

it was great meeting you and the rest of tog too... i really hope you guys will come back, and come often.

[zeus-online]

Oh, and Pac...sarcasm is not a lost art, it is just near impossible on The Internet...let alone to people who's first language is not engllish...Communication Breakdown baby (And that's a professional comedian telling you!

Compared to Danes, you're all pretty bad at sarcasm 

/Zeus

[Chiz]

It’s always nice to see English people trying to speak in French! Here is a little course for you Ketchupgun (and to everyone who want it!)

/ Start of the French course

Salute Les Gars!

The good way to write it is:
Salut les gars!!

That said, “salut” can be use as a “hello” or a “goodbye” when we speak with other… But when we write, “salut” mean more “goodbye”, so you usually don’t start a message with “salut”. You can still use “salut” as a “hello” in writing, but usually we don’t do that since it’s too much familiar (But used sometimes to reply to a friend’s email or something like that). “Bonjour” or “allo” are more often used in writing, although “allo” is pretty familiar too…

"Je Suis desolies!"

The good way to write it:
Je suis désolé!

Don’t forget the accents, since they change the pronunciation very much and sometimes could change the entire meaning of the word… (Like près (near) and prés (meadows)).

Advance course:
Here, “désolé” is correct, since Ketchupgun is a guy. If a girl write this, she would have to write: “Je suis désolée!”. The verb that’s used with the auxiliary “être” must be granted with the subject of the verb (That’s why there’s a “e” in my last exemple). If you are a lot of people that are sorry, you should write: “ Nous sommes désolés!” (Nous= we). The “s” mark that there is more than one person that is sorry. If all of those people are girls, the correct sentence is: “Nous sommes désolées”, “e” for the girls and “s” because they are more than one.

That’s much more complicate with the auxiliary “avoir”, I won’t get into that! (Most of French people even have trouble with all the rules and the exceptions with auxiliary “avoir”... French is sometimes too much complicated (There is always an exception that confirms the rule and sometimes exceptions of the exceptions...  ))

/ End of the French course


Back on the subject:

now, seeing that you guys were all around us, and talking into a different language, but unless i missed something, you weren't communicating about the match, or my hand, or whatever, so i have no problem with that. and i can understand that you guys are excited your friend's very close to top-8ing at a lotus tournament. but after doing that, and you make it an issue to point out in your post that you disagree with spectators talking and distracting the players (as well as revealing information), i find it a bit improper.

I remember that game and I’m sorry about that one… No, we didn’t talk about strategies or the game… The situation was funny, that’s all… That said, we should take care a little more about our French, I can unbderstand that it could become an issue if people don’t understand French at all… We take care about it more when we were in the US, but even though more people in Toronto understand French we still should stop talking French (except between rounds)
That said, we shouldn’t even talk to players, we rarely do so (maybe the only time in the tournament I can remember of… But I could be wrong).

As for the player not killing the Confidant. I think that was Tony and he would be the last person to intentionally cheat, he just doesn't play magic very often and probably didn't notice. Had someone said something it wouldn't have been an issue.

For me that’s an issue… Why do you let people don’t follow the rules!? Isn’t that a “definition” of cheating? If you don’t follow the rules you (in some degree) are cheating… If the rules don’t allow it, we shouldn’t do it. This rule is there for some reason… (Reason like Ketchupgun said (not knowing the other language) or people giving “advices” or “hints” (voluntarily
 or not) ). If you allow everyone to interfere with the games, those situations will arrive someday and let me tell you that it’s not funny when you face that kind of situation. The spectator responsibilities rule is there to prevent bad situation to arise. It should be enforce a little bit more at this store, since lot of people interfere with the games (And one day, a bad situation will arise, which no one would like to see…).

[goobafish]

For me that’s an issue… Why do you let people don’t follow the rules!? Isn’t that a “definition” of cheating? If you don’t follow the rules you (in some degree) are cheating… If the rules don’t allow it, we shouldn’t do it. This rule is there for some reason… (Reason like Ketchupgun said (not knowing the other language) or people giving “advices” or “hints” (voluntarily or not) ). If you allow everyone to interfere with the games, those situations will arrive someday and let me tell you that it’s not funny when you face that kind of situation. The spectator responsibilities rule is there to prevent bad situation to arise. It should be enforce a little bit more at this store, since lot of people interfere with the games (And one day, a bad situation will arise, which no one would like to see…).

Cheating means to mislead, deceive, elude or act dishonestly. None of those describe accidental negligence. Tony (who is Ketchupgun) did not recognize the mistake or make it purposefully, hence it is not cheating. If you accept the fact that Tony did not notice then in this case Tony "cheated" as much as his opponent did because they both did not see the error or remedy it. When I said:

Had someone said something it wouldn't have been an issue.

I simply meant that he would not have been upset, he would have been thankful someone alerted him to something that should have happened. It is not a comment towards what should have been done strategically, but a rule. A good example was at GP Columbus. I was playing against goblins when I stifled a Ringleader's CIP ability. My opponent then put the ringleader in his is graveyard. If someone who was watching had said something I would not have called a judge on them because that is not what occurs, that is not how the game is supposed to work and I would be playing on a mistake of the rules. (I actually told my opponent what he had done wrong, and he put it back into play). In short, I do not think it is right to interfere in games, simply because it is against the rules, but I was saying that Tony wouldn't have been upset if someone HAD interfered because it was a ruling mistake.


P.S. What was the guy's name who was playing the deck with Children of Kiloris from Quebec? He is the only one I had a chance to talk to and he was awesome.

[ketchupgun]

P.S. What was the guy's name who was playing the deck with Children of Kiloris from Quebec? He is the only one I had a chance to talk to and he was awesome.

I think it was Guillaume (?)
not sure.

If a girl write this, she would have to write: “Je suis désolée!”. The verb that’s used with the auxiliary “être” must be granted with the subject of the verb. If you are a lot of people that are sorry, you should write: “ Nous sommes désolés!” (Nous= we). If all of those people are girls, the correct sentence is: “Nous sommes désolées”, “e” for the girls and “s” because they are more than one.

that still doesn't explain if these "girls" are hot.


As for the match in question, I agree with gooba. I'd have prefered (I'm sure my opponent as well) if someone would have spoke up because both players missed it...the gamestate, if I recall had 3 cutpurses on my side of the table and a newly flipped erayo...I think we were both concentrating on the cutpurse/erayo lock and the fact he only had 3 Mindcencors in his hand in his hand.. it was pretty much GG at that point.

Just like gooba's example about the ringleader stifle...if it went to the grave, it would have continued the game wrongly. And what good does that do.

a la prochaine!

[Boner_TOG]

Just like I tried to Threads Christ's Serendib....I gotta read these cards more often.

That was pretty hot

I had a lot of fun at this event, and as it being my first Vintage event, I can say for certain that I'll be happy to attend pretty much as many possible in the future.

The only downside was the garbage can scenario. I got paired up in round four, i think, and low and behold: I was seated right next to the garbage. It was disgusting. Hot, sick garbage breathing down your neck isn't necessarily the most optimal way to play.

Other than the whole garbage debauchle, it was all good.

- Christ