It is about time!!!!!!!!

I apologize ahead of time to the people who are lost while reading this. It was originally just going to be read by other players of the game.


July 30th Extended Tournament Report


I wasn't planning on going to the tournament today. I was supposed to hit the casino with Phill and his family, but about 12:30 last night I started feeling bad for backing out on Kish and Bob. So I started to build my deck and then would decide what I was going to do in the morning. So I end up awake until like 3am building my deck. So when Phill picked me up at 10, I was still planning on going to the casino. When I get in the vehicle Phill informs me that downtown is without power, so none of the banks are open. This kind of put a damper on my casino plans since the bank is my source of funds. So I had Phill swing by my mother's house and I borrowed some money from her. Needless to say, my plans changed during the time it took to get to Norwood.

We are the first ones to get there, so I hit the guy running the tournament up for some cards. I was mildly suprised when he actually took the time to find them for me. So everyone starts rolling in and come to find out that we are short people, so it is going to be a shorter tournament. This brings back bad memories because last 1.x, I played the same deck and went undefeated until I lost in the top 4 to Kish who is also playing the same deck he did last time.


Round 1 put me against Wayne Stevenson. Wayne was playing a Mono Black Ninjitsu deck. Game One, He starts off with a Duress but the only thing in my hand he can hit is a Cabal Therapy. I start dropping land and mana chickens while collecting combo pieces and waiting for the Aluren. I finally draw a Living Wish and snag the Academy Rector and thanks to the Cabal Therapy in the yard I easily pull out the Aluren. I then proceed to pass out infinite life loss. Game Two, I keep a sub-optimal hand and he starts dropping creatures like crazy, I'm convinced that we are heading for game 3. Somewhere along the line, I manage to drop an Aluren and then play Cavern Harpy alot of times and then I cast Brain Freeze to flip his library over.

Match 1-0 Games 2-0

Round 2, I played Kish. I am not very happy to be facing him, but what can I do. He is playing Reanimator, a combo deck that can get a very explosive draw. Game 1, I know it is a race to see who can go off first. He manages to get an Akroma, Angel of Wrath out and swinging. He drops me down to 7 life and I am looking at death next turn. I topdeck the Aluren and manage to covert his library to his graveyard. Game 2, I mulliganed down to a 5 card hand with a Swamp, a Cabal Therapy and 3 green cards. I am gonna have a hard time recovering from it, but I will try anyways. Luckly, He was having difficulties as well. I manage to drop some creatures and go into beatdown mode (which is very rare for this deck). I manage to actually kill him with sheer force. I manage to win against him which is both a confidence boost and a bummer because I remember last time I had beat him in the Swiss rounds and then he creamed me in the top 4.

Match 2-0 Games 4-0

It was then lunchtime so we headed down to the Hometown Cafe. At that point I was 2-0, Kish was 1-1, and Bob was 0-2. So we were talking about what we should do against other players, at that point there were only 3 people who hadn't lost yet, so we were talking about what I should use against those two players. We were also discussing the idea that was thrown out that since two of the undefeated players would be playing each other next round they should take a tie. Anyway, once again it was great food and I recommend the Ranch Chicken Sandwich to everyone.

Round 3, I played Ben Taylor, he played Fish. It is a control deck that runs cheap counterspells, which my deck hates. I decided that taking a tie was not in my best intrest since I could loose round 4 and possibly loose out on the top 4 . Game 1, I managed to drop a couple Birds of Paradise and started to play the waiting game. I couldn't find all my combo pieces to save my life, so I drop the Aluren when I get my chance and settle for infinite life gaining. It should be automatic win, but he plays it out. We start the draw-go play and he jokingly mentions that he runs Mindslaver in his deck. I know I am gonna deck him, but in case he is running it I start discarding combo pieces he could use to force me to draw out my deck. Eventually he ends up drawing all his cards and I win. Game 2, We start the game with only 10 minutes left in the round. I start off with a strong hand, sadly I am worried about his cards because one wrong move on my part could be fatal. I start playing the draw-play land-go game. He thankfully made a mistake by leaving the wrong lands untapped (it wasn't so much a play mistake than a psychological mistake). So he passes the turn and time runs out, now we into the you better win fast rounds. So that is just what I did, I dropped the Aluren and confidently comboed off for the win.

Match 3-0 Games 6-0

Round 4, I am paired against Erik Andresen. He was the only other undefeated player left. We decide to take a tie since either way we are in the Top 4. I was also ranked in 1st, so the tie let me stay there. I am a little worried because of the last time. Not to mention after everything is done with Kish just makes it into the top 4. *insert big sad face here*. Thankfully, he is actually put into 3rd place so I won't have to think about facing him until the finals. So the top 4 looks like this, 1st- ME 2nd- Erik 3rd- Kish 4th- Wayne (snuck in also and I am very happy about this)

Match 3-0-1 Games 6-0

Round 5, I faced Wayne Stevenson again. I was happy to be sitting across the table from him. I should have no problem with this match. Everyone keeps telling me to watch out for his discard, but that actually helped me win game 1. I guessed he liked me having that Cabal Therapy in my graveyard because he put it there again. Just like last time, it pulled out the Aluren and let me combo off for the win. In between matches, he shows me what he is sideboarding in against me. He shows me the Engineered Plague and says, I could call Beast with this and that would stop you from drawing all those cards. I pull off my biggest tech move of the day and say, "If you get two out calling Elf that would stop it too" (Thank you Jedi Mind Tricks for allowing me to sow the seed of confusion). Game 2, What does he do but drop the Plague naming Elf, and I almost fell out of my chair. I then proceed to drop the Savage and Harpy and the killing commenced.

Match 4-0-1 Games 8-0

So I am heading to the finals and because I am so awesome I never bothered to watch Kish and Erik's game.

Round 6, I faced Mystery Opponent (who also goes by the name Erik Andresen). I am a little nervous, cause he is running the same deck that he took to Ottawa and won the Mox with. Game 1, We each took turns dropping mana critters. I dropped an Aluren and attempted to combo off but failed to find what I needed. So I tried again next turn and still missed the needed cards. When he dropped a Deranged Hermit, I knew I needed to pull this out of my ass. I then drew land upon land and my single Wall of Blossom was not enough to fend off his pissed off beaters. Game 2 lasted a whole 5 minutes if that, I drew an almost perfect hand and top decked exactly what I needed and went off on turn 3. While shuffling for Game 3, Erik asked how long it usually took the deck to win and I made the comment about it going off on Turn2, but Turn 3 is ideal. I look at my opening hand and almost died, I drew and almost perfect hand last game and this game I am sitting on the ideal Turn 2 win hand. I unfortunatly did not go off on Turn 2 thanks to a Rishdan Port and then a Plow Under only to be followed by a second Port. So I go a few more turn dropping the much needed land. I eventually get 2 Hickory Woodlot, Yavimaya Coast and a Forbidden Orchard in to play. I drop a Cloud of Fairies to untap the 2 Woodlots he has tapped down and drop the Aluren. It was then Good Game.

Match 5-0-1 Games 10-1

Not bad for the last chance to run the deck. I finally broke this curse of making it close to winning the whole thing and then failing miserably. Props to Kish for making 3rd and to Al for stopping in to hang out.

Good Try to Bob who was robbed the first 2 rounds, but came back the last 2.