Ongoing Waterbury Results

[nartman99]

I didn't see any threads about it, and I just got off the phone with my friend JR, so this is what he said:

~128 players


Ton of Flash, Gat, some Stax, some Bomberman, no Ichorid

Josh Meckes Flash 5-0
Rich Shay GAT 4-0 (Still playing)
Kowal GAT 4-1 (Still playing)
JR Ur Phid 4-1
Desolutionist Gush-TPS 5-0
Roland Stax 2-1-1 (Still playing)

Andy Probasco is playing GAT, don't know his record though.

The ICBM Guys are playing Flash, except for the Carps, who are playing Oath of course, don't know any of their records.

Definitely seems like an interesting tournament, and I can't wait to see the final results!

Please post anything else you may hear!

[Demonic Attorney]

Report going into Round 6.

Most of this is confirmed, but some information is a rough estimate taken from table seating:

1. The Atog Lord: 5-0-1 (ID into t16)

2. Outlaw: 5-0-1 (ID into t16)

3. Brassman: 4-1

4. GrandInquisitor: 4-1

5. Feinstein: 4-1

6. Dan Carp (formerly AngryPheld): 4-1

7. thespookykid: 4-1

8. Kowal: 3-1-1

9. JR: 3-2

10. Meddling Mage: Out

11. Changster: Out

12. Travis LaPlante (formerly JuggernautGO): Out

13.  FFY:  Not in attendance.


The cut will be to top 16, and no one seems to be certain about whether or not decklists will be posted.  GAT is everywhere, and there are also solid numbers of Flash, a rarity in the Northeast.  Total attendance is about 125, meaning 7 rounds. 

[islanderboi10]

How did JR go from 4-1 to 3-2?

And where is Smennen?  What is Outlaw playing?

[MarkPharaoh]

How did JR go from 4-1 to 3-2?

Most of this is confirmed, but some information is a rough estimate taken from table seating

[wethepeople]

What is Outlaw playing?

Outlaw is playing Flash.

GI should be informing me the final top eight soon. They are just waiting on two more players, as far as I know.

13.  FFY:  Not in attendance.

Really? Although I've never met or even see ffy, I could've swarn I saw someone wearing a name-tag that said "Brian DeMars" on it. I know a lot of people were wearing the incorrect name-tags (I think I saw a few different Rich Shays...), yet I am almost positive that was him.

[hulk3rules]

Did Steve win the tournament yet?

[Klep]

From Kowal:

Brassy, Rich, Outlaw, and Feinstein in top 8, Brassy and Outlaw in top 4.  Feinstein may or may not be in top 4, Rich is still playing it out.

Kowal is in the drinking bracket.

[Dxfiler]

Greetings from Ray's computer.  I'm hacjacking it and can't type long.

Waterbury has finished...


top 4 split then played it out for the bragging rights...

matches!

Brassman/Rich Shay both gat= Rich shay winner

Outlaw with flash/Anonymous masked rider with UBW fish :p = outlaw wins

FINALS- OUTLAW VS RICH SHAY...

RICH SHAY HAS BEEN POISONED.

OUTLAW WINS.  OUTLAW WINS.  OUTLAW WINSSSSS!

I still do not win :p

Tourney was a blast.  I am tired.  Report coming at some poin.t  I felt honored to be part of such a ridiculous top 4 and the top 16 in general was absolutely vicious filled to the brim with good players.  Merchant scroll will probably get restricted somewhere down the road... other than me I'm not sure anyone else in the top 16 had no merchant scroll :p

That's it for now.  Oh crap Ray's angrily staring at me... time to run.

BB.

- Teh Feinsteins

[Cross]

gee gee

[tehmajickguy]

Congrats to Outlaw on finally winning one. Also, wtf at Cross for not showing up...

[Shock Wave]

~128 players

Outlaw with flash

OUTLAW WINS.  OUTLAW WINS.  OUTLAW WINSSSSS!

Congratulations to Outlaw on the win. I wonder if the fact that Flash just won a 128 man event is just another irrelevant statistic, or perhaps it is actually a broken deck?

[MadManiac21]

In Outlaw's final four games he played - i.e. two against Feinstein in the semi's and two against Rich in the finals - he went off turn 1 three times and turn two once.

I'd say the deck is broken.

[Shock Wave]

In Outlaw's final four games he played - i.e. two against Feinstein in the semi's and two against Rich in the finals - he went off turn 1 three times and turn two once.

I'd say the deck is broken.

Nah, we need to wait a little longer. We need to wait until the deck can kill the opponent before they even shuffle their deck. Then there will be a problem. And even then, we could just adapt. 

[diopter]

In Outlaw's final four games he played - i.e. two against Feinstein in the semi's and two against Rich in the finals - he went off turn 1 three times and turn two once.

I'd say the deck is broken.

Nah, we need to wait a little longer. We need to wait until the deck can kill the opponent before they even shuffle their deck. Then there will be a problem. And even then, we could just adapt. 

A deck should be deemed degenerate and subsequently neutered from Type 1 the moment it wins a Waterbury. It makes perfect sense - we don't want Waterbury winners to pollute our metagame.

[forests failed you]

What is Outlaw playing?

Outlaw is playing GAT.

GI should be informing me the final top eight soon. They are just waiting on two more players, as far as I know.

13.  FFY:  Not in attendance.

Really? Although I've never met or even see ffy, I could've swarn I saw someone wearing a name-tag that said "Brian DeMars" on it. I know a lot of people were wearing the incorrect name-tags (I think I saw a few different Rich Shays...), yet I am almost positive that was him.

I teleported into Waterbury for a quick stint, (only a matter of minutes) just to see how things were going, but then quickly teleported back to the crowed bars of Detroit, Michigan...  Where to women are meanspirited and have expensive taste.  Anyways, congratulations to the winners, I was really bummed I couldn't make it out for the whole event!  Cheers.

[Implacable]

Hulk Flash is not a very good deck...  Ichirid (sic) is an even worse deck (although ironically, destroys Flash).   Both decks are pretty awful, imo.

I agree with this statement 100%.

How did Staxless Stax do?  That's the one deck that I can see doing very well in this sort of metagame (i.e., it wrecks GAT).

[Moxlotus]

~128 players

Outlaw with flash

OUTLAW WINS.  OUTLAW WINS.  OUTLAW WINSSSSS!

Congratulations to Outlaw on the win. I wonder if the fact that Flash just won a 128 man event is just another irrelevant statistic, or perhaps it is actually a broken deck?

No, Flash is obviously inconsitant and extremely vulnerable to hate.  It is in no way stupidly broken despite its streak it has going across the country...

I am surprised that a northeasterner won with flash though.  I would have bet money that Flash would win, but I didn't think people in the NE played Flash

I can't wait to see the decklists.  Especially the disruption package Outlaw played.  I'm gonna assume he had the Sliver kill.

[tehmajickguy]

~128 players

Outlaw with flash

OUTLAW WINS.  OUTLAW WINS.  OUTLAW WINSSSSS!

Congratulations to Outlaw on the win. I wonder if the fact that Flash just won a 128 man event is just another irrelevant statistic, or perhaps it is actually a broken deck?

No, Flash is obviously inconsitant and extremely vulnerable to hate.  It is in no way stupidly broken despite its streak it has going across the country...

I am surprised that a northeasterner won with flash though.  I would have bet money that Flash would win, but I didn't think people in the NE played Flash

I can't wait to see the decklists.  Especially the disruption package Outlaw played.  I'm gonna assume he had the Sliver kill.

Outlaw was playing the Sliver kill main, with Tarmogoyfs in his board for a back up plan.

[ELD]

The Sliver kill has proven to be the strongest.  It isn't affected by Crypt or Needle, and it can be played on an opponent's turn.  The deck is much stronger than I understood it to be.  That said, I feel Flash has two main flaws. 

1.  It does have to Mulligan quite a bit.  Inert cards, and hands that go nowhere happen frequently.
2.  It does not make amazing use of Ancestral Recall.  Drawing the Slivers can slow down the clock and delay winning.  Brainstorm is sometimes a stronger card in the deck.  Because of this, the deck is less likely to be able to control an opponent, and the counters can (usually) only be used to defend the kill. 

These two flaws are apparently not enough to stop the deck from getting the job done.  The results speak loudly.  I expect GAT vs Flash to be very common in the coming months.  It seems to me that this match can go either way.  I cannot see how GAT can be tweaked to completely shut down Flash.  It seems to me that no matter what, you're going to have a game on your hands.  I'm not certain that is a bad thing. 

I played Flash 3 times, and the above factors were a involved in every match.  There were a couple games I won because my opponent's mulled low.  There was another game where two Virulent slivers in hand made flash a two turn clock, which gave me enough time to win.  Despite all of that, Flash did hand me one of my two losses on the day.  I look forward to this new metagame.  It seems that Flash, GAT, Bomberman, Fish, various Workshop Decks, various Ritual Decks, Gush based combo, and several other archetypes are playable. 

EDIT:  Any word on Day 2?

[nartman99]

I don't know what is going on for today. I sent JR a message asking how it was going and he hit me back up with the word "Undefeated".

I hope this means that he is doing well. Last night he mentioned that he was thinking about playing Worldgorger Dragon today. I'll post more about today as I hear about it.

Congratulations to those who did well Day 1 and go JR!

[Smmenen]

These two flaws are apparently not enough to stop the deck from getting the job done.  The results speak loudly.  I expect GAT vs Flash to be very common in the coming months.  It seems to me that this match can go either way.  I cannot see how GAT can be tweaked to completely shut down Flash.  It seems to me that no matter what, you're going to have a game on your hands.  I'm not certain that is a bad thing. 

I agree, however I think that maindecking 2-3 Red Blasts with Leylines in the SB should give GAT a nice edge.   

[Vegeta2711]

Just got off the phone with Rich. He says hi.

First: He lost to Outlaw yesterday on turn 2 & 3 respectively.

DAY 2 STUFF:
Currently they are being deck checked for T8
Shay is in T8 w/ GAT
Elias is in T8 w/ Goblins
Kowal made T16 w/ Ichorid
JR didn't make it in.

another ICBM guy made T16 w/ Goblins and I@n lost in the last round w/ goblins to Shay

Apparently GAT and Flash was everywhere still and ICBM brought Goblins to the event. Flash doesn't like trying to win through Fanatic / blockers. Who knew? Exerts include MD Leyline of the Void, Aether Vial and normal goblin stuff.

[nartman99]

Wow, I guess JR went from undefeated to not making it in. No wonder his phone is off! Thanks for the updates!

EDIT:

Just got off the phone with JR. Apparently his cell phone wasn't charged. He went 4-1-1 playing UR Phid and lost in the last round.

From what he could remember:

Top 8:

Rich Shay GAT
Elias Vaisberg Goblins
Spooky Kid Stax
Chad Kline Bomberman
Mike Hetherington GAT

Interesting to see Goblins up there. I wonder what the rest of the Top 8 looks like...

[desolutionist]

bleh, I love going like undefeated in the swiss and losing the top 16 to get 9 packs and a playmat.

Rich beat Elias in the finals

[Kowal]

This was one of the most fun experiences ever.

First, the bad:

No prize money day one, very very little prize money day two.  Frowns!

Also, the new venue is a nice place, but poorly equipped for that many attendees.  It was crowded to the point that walking was difficult on day one, and not much better day two.  The presence of a WoW tournament and a Yu-Gi-Oh tournament made this problem considerably harder to deal with.  I'm not sure if there's a good solution to the problem, though perhaps the store could put its regular Saturday events on hold to accomodate the high player volume.  By Waterbury standards, the attendance for this event was very low.  I shudder when I think how uncomfortably tight this would have been if there had been 200 people instead of 120.


Then, the good:

Started day one at 3-0, playing three color GAT with mana drains.  I had a mana drain list tossed together the night of the unrestriction, but it was pretty awful.  I adopted Mon's Opts as well (for some reason I forgot this card existed, and ran Sleight instead which isn't exactly synergy-tastic) and did very well early in the tournament.  I began with a bang, taking out TK in the first round.  In round four however, Rich refused to ID with me, and lucksacked me terribly out of the win.  I didn't really recover all day, and between my deck shitting out and my interest in the game rapidly dwindling, I couldn't make GAT win another match all day.

So, I reminded JR the liquor stores close early.  We picked up a bunch of beer, went back to the hotel room, built bad decks for the following day, and started drinking.  Eventually there was a pretty awesome hotel party that involved me, JR, BrassMan, Elias, Outlaw, and all of team ICBM.  Spookykid will probably be posting a ton of pictures and maybe even some short video.  It was hilarious.  Nothing is quite so absurd as a fall-over drunk BrassMan trying to sing and play guitar.

Day two I was too hung over to play a real deck, so I registered Ichorid, aka "I'm Still Drunk."  I won't go in to details, but I did have a couple absolutely awesome games where I won through a very high concentration of hate.  One player lost to me with multiple tormods crypts, a welder, a sphere of resistance, a leyline of the void, and a platinum angel all in play.  I quite nearly beat Jeremiah Rudolph through Magus of the Moon, Platinum Angel, Leyline of the Void, two Drains, and four Force of Wills.  However, I lost my slot in the top eight in the last round, when Gush Tendrils drew very solid hands and my deck refused to produce dredgers.

I was pleasantly surprised how often the matches WERE actually player intensive.  Almost every game two requires an Ichorid pilot be competent and sharp, and with one exception I think I did that very well.


Props to Ray and his staff for providing another great weekend for us.  With the exception of my minor gripe above, everything was fun.  Also props to JR and BrassMan for making things absolutely ridiculous between day one and day two.

[Outlaw]

Waterbury = the win


One of the greatest tourneys evar! Lower amounts in attendents but a star studded win team.  Grats to everyone and perhaps if people wish i'll try for a hilarious report, but i'll need help from people that I played I won being completely out of it.  Great party and I want Ray to put up my interview a great amount because I called winning it 


Yet again, congrats

Rock on

[Nehptis]

Gush had no business being taken off the B/R list, free card drawing are they insane?  And Flash is just as broken in T1 as it was in Legacy.  I think folks are in denial about its potency.

"Flash is easy to disrupt, you just bring in 4 Leylines, some EEs, Duress them, Tinker out a Plat with REB backup, solve world hunger and teach Neo Kung Fu....all on your iPhone."

Hopefully, major tournament results like this will be impactful enough for the next B/R update.

[JR]

It was my first waterbury, and it was all that it was cracked up to be. While I had a very frustrating weekend (being eliminated late both days under questionable circumstances), I had a blast after the tournament. Drunken Brassman faceplanting the wall, Dave Fienstien diving over a bed after the wallet I threw across the room screaming "This isn't a fucking drug cartel", and drinking mox sapphires will be things I remember for quite some time.

I would also like to thank Chad Klien for being a true gentleman and splitting prize with me after our clusterfuck of a feature match.

Also, I'm not going to deny that flash is a broken deck, but i would like to point out to people that I went 6-0 in matches and 12-1 in games against the deck. It's not unstoppable. You might even win a match or two by hardcasting slice and dice.

The midwest needs a waterbury of its own, for sure. It was nice to meet all the people I hadn't had a chance t run in to before!

[Outlaw]

It was my first waterbury, and it was all that it was cracked up to be. While I had a very frustrating weekend (being eliminated late both days under questionable circumstances), I had a blast after the tournament. Drunken Brassman faceplanting the wall, Dave Fienstien diving over a bed after the wallet I threw across the room screaming "This isn't a fucking drug cartel", and drinking mox sapphires will be things I remember for quite some time.

I would also like to thank Chad Klien for being a true gentleman and splitting prize with me after our clusterfuck of a feature match.

Also, I'm not going to deny that flash is a broken deck, but i would like to point out to people that I went 6-0 in matches and 12-1 in games against the deck. It's not unstoppable. You might even win a match or two by hardcasting slice and dice.

The midwest needs a waterbury of its own, for sure. It was nice to meet all the people I hadn't had a chance t run in to before!

Great to see and meet ya JR (not sure if I have before as you look extremely familiar) mmmmm mox sapphires!  Flash is a great deck for anyone that likes to mess with their oppponents mind, as insane as it is it does have its fault.  I would love to get a thread going with peoples thoughts and perhaps the ability for people to brainstorm for another kill, as there has to be another that we have not found yet.

[T00L]

Eventually there was a pretty awesome hotel party that involved me, JR, BrassMan, Elias, Outlaw, and all of team ICBM.  Spookykid will probably be posting a ton of pictures and maybe even some short video.  It was hilarious.  Nothing is quite so absurd as a fall-over drunk BrassMan trying to sing and play guitar.

I was urged to write a report about this party and post it since i was, to my knowledge, the only sober person in attendance. It was quite the ridiculously fun time.

THIS IS NOT A FUCKING DRUG CARTEL