all your report are belong to us

Hi again. My name is Abe Corson and I am a computer science student at VT. Last
Saturday, I attended the Richmond Comix monthly sanctioned t1 tournament. I
apologize for this report being so late, but I've been all kinds of busy with
pre-spring break stuff at school and with coordinating "The Egon Report" (read
on to find out). Anyway, here's what happened.

Sometime last week -

I ask my trusty sidekick Egon if he wants to go to Richmond on the upcoming
Saturday, and he is interested. As I've explained several times before, Egon
really isn't much of a type 1 player. In fact, given the option, he's more of a
limited player. But being that, as far as I know, he and I represent 2 of the
only 6 magic players at VT, he's generally happy to go to any MtG event at all
that we can find through the school year.

Of course I would have to build Egon a deck out of my extra cards, once again.
This might seem like it would be an annoyance, but I'm generally happy to do it.
I'm essentially committed to playing the same deck tournament after tournament,
thus I never get to use anything else. So, the practice of supplying Egon with
various decks and observing his success is basically a method in which I can
play magic vicariously through him. Besides, I'd prefer to see some of my other
cards get used once in a while rather than just collecting dust in my box.

Egon isn't happy with the Void deck that he played last week, and would prefer
something else. I have almost all of the cards for JP's Stacker, but I'm missing
a few obvious things. I only have 3 Workshops, no spare Sol Ring or Lotus, and
only 3 spare Moxes. Nonetheless, Egon wants to play it, so I build it for him as
best as I can. I contact Azhrei at some point and ask him to bring some spare
REB's for Egon's sideboard, and once again, I have most of the important pieces
to the deck. We make plans to leave early on Saturday morning.

Friday -

I'm supposed to be the special guest star on my friend Greg's radio show.
Unfortunately for me, his show lasts 2 to 4 am, and Egon and I are planning to
get up at around 5 am. My plan is to get to sleep sometime on Friday afternoon,
then get up a little before the show starts. A ton of things present themselves
for me to do, and as a result, I don't get to bed until around 9 pm or so. Greg
shows up at around midnight to wake me up, explaining that his show is to start
an hour early. Ack. I decide that I just can't make the show, and apologize to
Greg. Later, when we get to the tournament, the TO, Frank, would mention that
some people "came a long way to be here today." Screw that, I missed being a
big-time radio celebrity to be there.

Saturday -

My alarm goes off at 5:00 amish, and I roll out of bed, but Egon is still asleep
on my couch. I need to prepare myself by getting showered and dressed and stuff,
and I do so before waking up Egon. Egon prepares himself by getting out of bed
and putting on his shoes. Truly gross.

I get ol' Mapquest to generate a few maps for me, grab my backpack, and Egon and
I head out of the dormitory to his apartment. It gets COLD in the mountains at
night, and this morning is certainly no exception. The walk across the
drillfield is particularly excruciating, as there aren't any buildings nearby to
block the wind. We cut through a couple of buildings on the way in order to keep
warm. Before leaving the last one, I find a vending machine and realize I have
$2 in my pocket to burn. So, I eat the power breakfast of a Honeybun and some
Reese's Pieces as we continue to Egon's place.

Finally, we get to his apartment and grab a few sodas, some cards, and some
other things. Egon is convinced Mask of Intolerance would be a good sideboard
card for the day. Unfortunately, my face is too frozen to look at him funny, so
I'm unable to talk him out of it. He pockets the cards, and we head to the
Egon-mobile. We get there at 6:30. This is problematic in that I have it in my
head that the tournament is to begin at 10 am, and the estimated total trip time
according to mapquest is a little over 4 hours. However, whereas I generally
refuse to speed, Egon refuses to not speed, so we tear ass up 81 in an attempt
to get there on time.

After a couple hours in the car, we stop at a Burger King for some breakfast
(feels more like lunch). There is an insane number of people in line for this
time of the morning, so we leave and try a Hardees instead. Hardees screws up my
order, and instead of giving me a Frisco breakfast omelet, I get some
nasty-looking biscuits and gravy. I dare Egon to eat it, then retrieve the
correct breakfast item. We finally eat, but this exploit sets us back a good 20
minutes.

We get back into the car, and try to make up for lost time by going even faster.
Once we get to Richmond, we take a few wrong turns, and are set back even more.
I didn't bother to print a site map, so we are forced to drive around a little
bit until we find a road mentioned by the directions. We get back on track
relatively quickly, thanks to Egon's superb sense of direction. Maybe that's why
he was able to find his way home all of those times that his parents left him in
the woods when he was a child.

It's 10:15 by the time we turn off of the last road, and I'm convinced that
there's no way we'll make it, but we should still show up to hang out for a
while. We pull into the parking lot at about 10:30, get parked, and head in.
Much to my surprise, registration is still going on as Azhrei and Sssmwc greet
us. We discover that the tournament is REALLY supposed to begin at 11:00. But,
this means that I need to actually build Egon's deck, and both of our
sideboards. I gather the requisite REB's from Azhrei and procure a couple of
Wastelands from my friend Jordan Chavez, who is also in attendance today. I
sleeve a few cards, build his deck, then strain to remember what was in my
sideboard the previous tournament. Finally, I'm all done deck building, and I
tell Egon that we should play a little bit just so he can get some practice. As
we are shuffling for the game, the tournament begins. Sigh.

The tournament is to be 4 rounds with a top 4. Anyway, here's what I was using
for the day:

4 Underground Sea
4 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
4 City of Brass
1 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
5 Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
4 Mana Drain
4 FoW
1 Counterspell
1 Misdirection
2 Morphling
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Braingeyser
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mind Twist
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 The Abyss
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Balance
1 Dismantling Blow
1 Regrowth
1 Sylvan Library
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Fire/Ice
1 Zuran Orb

Sideboard:
4 REB
1 BEB
1 Moat
1 Ivory Mask
2 Cop: Red
2 Compost
1 Hurkyll's Recall
1 Timetwister
1 Scrying Glass
1 Aura Fracture

I really wanted to sideboard Dwarven Miner. However, I didn't see much of a
point, as there seem to be so few control decks played at RC. Josh Reynolds, who
I would be expecting to play OSE, was not in attendance for this tournament,
which seemed to make Miners even more sideboard deadweight. I also wanted to
sideboard an Ensnaring Bridge, but I don't have any of them with me. I have
plenty of them at home, but that obviously isn't very helpful.

I stand by Compost despite a lack of green mana sources. I've yet to have a
problem with the mana, although I've had a few problems with not drawing
Compost. When it comes out v. any kind of aggro black, I tend to win. As such, I
think that it is very much worth it. The Timetwister is still somewhat
experimental, but I like being able to sideboard it in when I have no other
obvious things to bring in. For example, when playing against Winter Orb-less
Stompy, I generally want to remove both the Shaman and the Dismantling Blow, but
have only the Moat to side in. Twister could easily be the other card that gets
brought in.

The Hurkyll's Recall, as mentioned before, is something that I blatantly stole
from Azhrei as something helpful for the Funker matchup.


Round 1:

Darren diBattista (Reap Lace)

When last we played, Darren beat me, so I want some revenge. Darren seems a tad
annoyed to be playing me, and I don't know why. Later, I find out it was because
he was hoping not to be paired with any Keeper players, and I was (as usual) the
only one. Anyway, I'm totally expecting him to be playing OSE, and I'm surprised
when I learn that he is not.

Game 1 -

Darren wins the die roll and opens with a first turn Bayou. I'm confused, as I
can't think of a single deck that he could be playing that would use them. I
squint at him for a few seconds, to which Darren seems to take extreme glee. I
start with just a land and a Sol Ring. On my next upkeep, he Deathlaces the
Ring, and I realize what he is playing. When Darren misses his 3rd turn land
drop, I take this as my cue to play my Wasteland and kill his Tropical Island,
leaving him with just the Bayou. He doesn't draw another land until well after
it is too late, and I win handily.

Sideboard:
in- Timetwister
out- Diabolic Edict

I didn't quite realize how much blue he was using, and thus, I didn't think to
bring in the REBs. I suspected that Darren would side in something like
Negators, and I certainly didn't want to get caught by it, so I left in The
Abyss. I left the Zuran Orb in to eat Laced lands, although most of the lacing
that occurred was to my artifacts. The Twister that I brought in was purely
filler.

Game 2 -

I believe that he successfully Forces my first turn Shaman this game, then plays
2 Moxes on his turn. The game goes back and forth for a bit. I manage to make a
3-point Mind Twist remove his entire 5 card hand, as I leave 2 lands open to
counter his Force. At the end of his next turn, I Fact or Fiction to reveal some
goodies. I have Shaman, Timewalk, and Mind Twist, and Strip Mine in my
graveyard, while Darren has a few Moxes, an Academy, a Bayou and a Tropical
Island. I have a decent supply of mana and a Wasteland in play. I tap a bunch of
stuff and go for Yawgmoth's will. I bring back a Shaman, and eat Darren's
Sapphire, leaving him with no more artifacts and a powerless Academy. I play a
Morphling from my graveyard and I have but a Wasteland untapped. Now, I can
either bring back the Strip Mine from my graveyard to destroy both of his lands,
or play it safe and bring back a blue-producing land and go for the Time Walk,
as I have a Drain in hand but no FoWs. I decide to live dangerously and kill
both of his lands, which leaves him with just an Academy in play and 1 card in
hand. And I sure pay for it. Darren draws, calls the attention of some other RC
players on his next turn, then plays Black Lotus, taps it for white, and
Balances away my entire side of the table.

I'm not drawing into any counters, and I'm getting frustrated. Darren casts his
Fact or Fiction, which reveals a Reap and a bunch of other good cards. I think
for a few minutes, and then put the Reap in one pile and the rest of the cards
in the other. The only time that you can be sure that you split the piles
correctly is when you do the 1-4 split, and your opponent takes the 1, and
Darren does just this. I draw something that isn't a counter, and I concede.

Sideboard:
in - 2 REB
out ? The Abyss, Fire/Ice ?

I caught on to Darren's heavier usage of blue last game, so in come some of the
REBs. I notice that he did not seem to bring in any surprise creatures
(Negators) game 2, and he does no sideboarding for game 3, so I remove the rest
of my creature control.


Game 3 -

I get going very quickly, but Darren has some mana trouble. He taps out to
Intuition for 3 Ancestral Knowledges. I have no counter in hand, and I start to
worry. I do, however, have a Wasteland in hand, and notice that Darren has only
a Tropical Island for blue. On my turn, I Waste his Tropical, and I'm done.
Darren untaps and plays Bayou #3. Yes! I stall him long enough, and then
eventually get a Mind Twist to remove his hand. He's not drawing what he needs,
and I'm drawing all sorts of neat spells. I get a Morphling into play with the
help of a Drain, and I'm done. At this point, I begin hallucinating, as I could
of sworn Darren took his turn and said that he was done, so, with him at 10
life, I Mystical Tutor for Time Walk. I then untap, draw, and try to attack with
the Morphling, but Darren stops me from doing this, and points out my mistake.
Oops. I can't remember the last time I had done anything quite like this, and
I'm very sorry.

I expect that Darren will just ask me to concede, and I would have done so
without complaining, as it's clearly my mistake. However, we both notice that
the situation is 100% recoverable, as we both knew what I had tapped, and we
both knew what I was about to draw (the Time Walk). Darren lets me put
everything back. He can't draw anything to help, and he concedes.


Round 2:

Jordan Chavez (Blue/Red Ophidian with Back to Basics)

Game 1 -

I have no idea what Jordan is playing, except for the fact that he had asked the
previous night if I had any spare Volcanic Islands to lend him. Little did I
know that this would be the most memorable game of the tournament for me.

Jordan wins the die roll and starts with an Island. I start with Tundra and I'm
done. I try to Ancestral on Jordan's upkeep, but it is Misdirected. I cringe. On
my next turn, I go for the Balance with a 3 cards in hand (no permission) to his
7, but this is Leaked. Jordan untaps his Library, and Island, then plays an
Island and taps out for Back to Basics. I cringe again. I have only a few cards
in hand, and couple of tapped lands in play as I start my turn. Summoned by my
own anguished thoughts, my single Undiscovered Paradise magically appears at the
top of my deck just in time for me to draw it. I play it, hoping that I can
establish a bit of headway, but it's hopeless as Jordan Strips it away next
turn. I grumble something like "come on, man" as I feel the situation getting
even worse. Jordan is apologetic, but I would have done the same thing in his
situation. On my next turn, I draw a Mox, and play it along with a land, leaving
just one more land in my hand. Jordan stalls a bit on mana, but remains
confident. I topdeck... Dismantling Blow. I play my last land, and tap out. Blow
the Back to Basics? Now it's Jordan's turn to cringe.

Not a whole lot happens for the next few turns, until I topdeck Sylvan Library.
I try for it, suspecting that Jordan can counter, and I'm somewhat surprised
when he does not. I use it to find a Wasteland to remove Jordan's LoA before it
becomes active again, then find my own LoA. I have two Libraries in play to
Jordan's 0! I have achieved Library advantage! I keep an extra card from Sylvan
3 turns in a row. Two of my lands are CoBs, and it's starting to hurt. I get
poked down to 2 life before long. Eventually, I have both Libraries working, and
even begin using them at the same time: at the beginning of my draw step, I
announce Sylvan's effect, then on top of that goes my turn's Draw. Then on top
of that, I put the LoA effect on it. Resolution of this would basically allow me
to draw 4 cards each turn, putting 2 back. Jordan is skeptical with regard to
the legitimacy of this particular play, but I challenge him to tell my why I
shouldn't be able to do it. We argue over the rules a little bit, and he
suggests just flipping a coin for it. I don't want to do this because I'm pretty
damn sure that I'm right about it, so we enlist the opinion of a gentleman
watching the match. I don't catch the gentleman's name, but I know that he is
somebody that I should recognize. Regardless, he sides with me, and this
convinces Jordan enough to allow me to do it. This continues for a few turns
until Jordan Disks away the Sylvan along with some Moxes.

Then the counter war starts. Jordan tries for a Morphling, which I Counterspell.
He Counterspells back. I Drain. He Misdirections, pitching a Mana Leak. I
Misdirect the Force back to its original target, leaving enough mana open to pay
for a potential Mana Leak. I win the war, but I'm now at 1 life due to CoB, and
I'm left with one card in hand: Yawgmoth's Will. At this point, Egon wanders by
and points out that Jordan could Ice one of my CoB's for the win. I rather
rudely shoo Egon off, as if he's going to give play advice to my opponents, he's
not allowed to watch my matches. Anyway, it's my turn, and I draw Black Lotus. I
play it, blow it off for black, and announce the Will, and Jordan has no
responses. Kick ass. My graveyard is loaded at this point with a Morphling,
Ancestral, Walk, My Moxes, Zuran Orb (I was at 1 life), and all kinds of goodly
things. I win four turns later. Phew.

We talk a little bit about the game afterward and he points out that he isn't
powered (aside from Library and possibly some other things I didn't see), while
I most certainly was, and this was significant factor for the matchup.

Sideboard:
in - 4 REB, 1 Aura Fracture
out - Braingeyser, Gorilla Shaman, The Abyss, Counterspell, Zuran Orb


Game 2 -

I shuffle for the game with great confidence knowing that the 4 REBs let me have
a comparable amount of permission to Jordan. Jordan starts with just an Island.
I start with an Underground Sea, Mox Emerald, and Sylvan Library, although I
have nothing else of interest in my hand. Jordan's unpowered handicap is
demonstrated here, as I suspect that he could have Leaked the Library had he
started with a Mox. Regardless, he's unwilling or unable to try for a Force of
Will, and I get my library. I Sylvan into a Drain and a Fow, and keep both. The
Aura Fracture is on the top of my library, which I take, note of. I take lands
with the Sylvan turn after turn to make sure that I can win permission wars
involving Mana Leak. Jordan tries for an Ophidian at some point, but I elect not
to challenge it as I have the Edict in my hand. I force through the Edict with
the help of a Drain, which leads to more uneventfulness. Eventually, Jordan
tries for Back to Basics, and I immediately think of the Aura Fracture. So, I
let him have it, then Sylvan for the Fracture and an extra FoW which I find the
3rd card down. On my turn, I try for the Fracture, and Jordan asks to read it.
We fight a counter war over it, but I win courtesy of Sylvan Library having
found a bunch of permission spells for me, and remove the B2B a turn later.

Jordan Kegs away the Sylvan and some of my Moxes, but I tap them in response to
try for a FoF. I lose the ensuing counter war, and my hand is depleted. Thus, I
have no counter to deal with Jordan's Morphling, and my Edict is nowhere in
sight. One of my Morphlings is in my hand, and the other is still in my library
somewhere. On my turn, I untap and try for Yawgmoth's Will, which Jordan cannot
counter. First, I try for FoF, which reveals nothing. I take the pile that has
one Mox in it, play the Mox, return my Lotus to play, and then tap all but 2 for
a 7-point stroke, which finds the Edict, but no permission. I successfully Edict
Jordan on his upkeep, but Jordan plays another Morphling which I have to allow.
On my turn, I do the Library trick (replayed via Will) again, which lets me keep
my Demonic Tutor and Time Walk. I play one Morphling, Time Walk, and Tutor for
my second Morphling with about 15 cards left in my library. I untap for the
additional turn, and the shuffle has revealed 2 REBs and a FoW, so I take one of
each, then cast the second Morphling. Jordan counts the permission in my
graveyard and RFG pile, and notices that I still should have plenty of it left,
but he tries for his next Morphling on his turn anyway, which I blast. He cannot
stave off 2 Morphlings with his single one, so I win a few turns later.


Round 3:

Chuck Myers (suicide)

Game 1 -

I played this particular gentleman during my last trip to Richmond Comix, and I
appreciate his relatively laid-back style of play and friendliness. Mono Black
is always a tough matchup for Keeper, but I do have 2 Composts in the sideboard
ready for it. Mr. Myers rolls a 5 and complains about it having been his
highroll for the day. Anyway, I start with a Tundra, and Sapphire, and Chuck has
nothing to do with his first turn Swamp. I untap and go for a VERY quick
Morphling with the help of a Black Lotus. I win this relatively uneventful game
a few turns later.

Sideboard:
in - 2 Compost, 1 Moat
out - Gorilla Shaman, Braingeyser, Stroke of Genius

I sideboard with the intention of Compost being able to serve all of my card
advantage needs, and thus the Stroke and Geyser are unnecessary. I remove the
Shaman as I don't see too many small artifacts from Chuck, and Moat is just more
useful.

Game 2 -

Chuck starts quick with a first turn Negator, and I can't Force it, although I
do have a Misdirection in hand. I play a first turn Sol Ring, and I wonder what
I'm going to do about the Negator. Chuck follows up with a Second swamp and a
Hymn, but I Misdirect this back to himself. After discarding a Specter and a
Cursed Scroll, he attacks me down to 15 and is done. I draw a land on my turn,
which doesn't help me much obviously, so I play it and a Mox. Chuck attacks me
to 10, plays a Mishra's Factory, then tries to Hymn me, which I Counterspell. I
untap and play my 3rd land, which leaves me with 6 available mana, and I'm done.
I have a Dismantling Blow in hand, and I very much want to be able to Blow the
Factory with Kicker in order to draw into something to deal with the Negator.
Unfortunately for me, Chuck Sinkholes one of my lands before his attack phase.

Now, I COULD float the mana, then Blow the Factory with kicker if he animates it
BEFORE his attack phase. However, I anticipate that he will simply say "I
animate the factory and attack," as this is what he has done during previous
games with me. In case you did not know, 6th/7th edition rules has made it good
and legal to wait until after your attack phase has begun before you animate the
Mishra's Factory/Chimeric Idol/etc. that you attack with. I realize that I could
simply ask him to make sure that he announces his attack phase, such that I
would still have a chance to blow the Factory with kicker should he animate it
beforehand. However, I really can't imagine doing this without appearing to be
the biggest rules-lawyer asshole. After all, it's clearly a superior play to
animate the Factory during your attack phase instead before it, and hoping that
Chuck would just not know about this would be a clear exploitation of a lack of
rules knowledge. Thus, I decide it would be very unsportsmanlike to try for
something like this on somebody who I suspect isn't 100% positive about the
specifics of attack phase rules, so I simply blow the Factory without kicker.

Regardless, I don't draw anything helpful in the next turn, and I die dead.

Game 3 -

This is a long one. Unfortunately, I can't remember anything about it. Just that
it went long, and I manage to get both The Abyss and Moat into play, which
completely shuts him down, and a very broken Will seals his fate. I also
remember almost blowing this game, as I cast Vampiric Tutor at 2 life, with a
Zuran Orb in play. Thankfully, Vampiric Tutor's loss of life was changed to be
part of the effect, rather than the cost, thus I can respond to the tutor by
eating a land, which I realize before it's too late. After the game ends, Chuck
complains "Santa Clause came early for this guy."


After this round, I overhear Azhrei reminiscing about Mirror Universe under
pre-6th edition rules. He wishes that they would errata it to work the way that
it used to, but there's really no good way to do that. I now think that I have a
reasonable solution:

T, Sacrifice Mirror Universe: You may pay 1. If you do, add 1 mana of the same
type to your mana pool. Exchange life totals with target opponent. Play this
ability only during your upkeep.

First of all, this is all one ability. You can pay 1 mana when you announce the
Mirror's ability, and if you do, the Mirror gives you that same mana back. The
important part here is that this will allow you to play mana abilities
mid-resolution of an effect, thus state-based effects would not be checked for
until after the Mirror ability resolves. This means that you could announce
Mirror Universe's ability at 1 life and during its resolution, tap an Adarkar
Wastes for blue, going to 0, but not immediately dying. Life totals would then
be switched. Then, you would receive priority, state-based effects would be
checked for, and your opponent would (presumably) die. Note that this would
still not work with City of Brass, as City of Brass's damage is something
secondary to the mana ability, while painland damage is considered part of it.


Round 4:

Shane Stoots (Funker)

At this point, I'm the only 3-0, and as such I am guaranteed a spot in the top
4. As one of 6 or 7 other 2-1s, Shane needs a win to advance. This is a
sanctioned tournament, so I'm a tad reluctant to just give him the win. I tell
that we should play it out, and if he beats me, good, but if I beat him, the
situation will lend itself to further discussion. He agrees, and we get
shuffled.

Game 1 -

Shane wins the die roll, but doesn't get a very good start. He has only two
lands and a Mox or two, and does not like seeing my first turn Shaman. The
Shaman does quite a bit of damage, and Shane can't get enough mana until I have
absolute control of the game.

Sideboard:
in - Hurkyll's Recall, Timetwister, BEB
out - Zuran Orb, Braingeyser, Stroke of Genius

Game 2 -

Shane has quite a start, but still no first-turn Welder. Regardless, he manages
to Mind Twist me for 4 when I had 6 in hand. Then on his following turn, for his
next trick, he Regrowths the Twist and removes the rest of my hand. At this
point, he mentions something about "Mind Twist advantage" so often deciding the
outcome of our games. I'm inclined to agree. He gets a couple of Moxes and an
Academy going, and then plays a Mishra's Helix to lock me. I concede a little
while later.

Game 3 -

I can't remember much about this one, either; just that Shane wins the matchup.
Regardless, I am the top seed for the top 4, and I believe that Shane is 3rd.
After the game, we talk a little about what I sideboarded for him, what Guns 'n'
Roses has been up to, and some other things. Shane is a cool guy.


Semifinals:

Chuck Myers (suicide)


Game 1 -

It's Deja-vu as Chuck gets a first turn Negator, and I have just a Misdirection
in hand with no FoW. I quite simply can't draw anything to save me in time.

Sideboard:
in - 2 Compost, 1 Moat
out - Mind Twist, Braingeyser, Stroke of Genius

Game 2 -

I cast a Shaman first turn off of a Volcanic, and wonder why I didn't sideboard
it out. I lose my Abyss to a Duress, and Fire/Ice and Diabolic Edict get Hymned
away soon after. The Shaman ends up hurting me very badly, as Chuck gets into
play a Hypnotic Specter, which I can't counter, then casts another one on his
next turn. I topdeck a Mystical Tutor, but I have to think twice about getting
Balance with it, as I have the Shaman in play. I attack with the Shaman, hoping
that he will block with the Specter, but I should have remembered that nobody
ever blocks in type 1. To make matters worse, Chuck plays a Mishra's Factory to
add more pressure to the situation. Chuck attacks, and I absentmindedly say "ok,
I'll take it" with a Mystical Tutor and Wasteland in hand. I snap out of it and
say "uh... ok, both Hypnotic Specter effects are on the stack, so I'll play
Mystical Tutor in response." I look things over and Tutor for Yawgmoth's Will.
On my turn, I untap, Will, bring back the Wasteland to remove his factory, then
Edict/Fire his two specters, buying myself a little more time. On my next turn,
I topdeck The Abyss, and begin establishing some control. A few turns later,
Chuck tries for Cursed Scroll, but I have the Dismantling Blow and enough mana
to kick it. Eventually, I draw into a Morphling and win.


Game 3 -

This game goes very long, as I cannot draw my first Morphling until I have less
than 5 cards in my library. I counter his early attempt to Hymn, as I have The
Abyss and Demonic Tutor in hand. On his turn 3, Chuck goes for Hypnotic Specter.
So, I untap, play my 3rd land, then go for the Cabal Ritual, e.g., Demonic
Tutoring for Black Lotus, then blowing it off for black. I use the mana to play
the Abyss immediately. A Cursed Scroll is eating away at me, but I find an
answer to it before it's too late. 3 Cities of Brass have poked me down to a
dangerously low life, and I find myself sitting at 1 life before too long, with
no Zuran Orb in sight. My game slows down considerably when I'm at 1 life, as I
usually take a few precautions, such as asking my opponent "do you agree that my
mana pool is empty?" before ending phases in which I play a lot of spells. Both
Abyss and Moat are in play, and Chuck is essentially locked, as I'm able to deal
with the Factories. He keeps asking for me to kill him, but I can't find a damn
Morphling.

Eventually, I do find the Zuran Orb, and I use to eat my Library of Alexandria.
I announce to the spectators that I am saving myself from two potential deaths
(accidentally leaving mana in pool at the end of a phase, or subconsciously
using LoA when I have an empty library) with a single action, but I don't think
anyone realizes what I mean. Azhrei watches the game a little bit and points out
that my opponent could still win if both of my Morphlings were the bottom two
cards of my library. I counterpoint that this is not possible, as Chuck is at 15
life from having Vampiriced and kicked a Scuta, and I have a Sylvan Library in
play which would guarantee that 3 Morphling attacks would occur before I'm
unable to draw. Finally, I draw a Morphling with a very skimpy library. I
counter three Diabolic Edicts in a row, and I thank god that the Compost draw is
optional. I win a very, very long match.


Finals:

Darren diBattista (reap/lace)

I realize that I have a reasonably good likelihood of winning here, especially
since Darren complains so much about my deck being his worst matchup.
Regardless, I'm feeling kind of drained, and Egon is acting a bit restless, so I
decide that it would be in everyone's best interest to draw. So, I get a whole
box of Odyssey to go along with Egon's Torment box for drafting purposes, and
Darren gets (I think) 10 packs of Apocolypse and the win.

On a side note, we have drafted OOT once with 4 people already, and in the 8
Odyssey packs we opened, we got 2 foil rares, 2 foil uncommons, and a foil basic
land. God-box mayhaps?

And now, in a half-assed attempt to atone for the severe delay of this report,
Egon and I are pleased to present the first ever "The Egon Report" which entails
some thoughts from the unique Egon point-of-view.



Abe asked me to write a little summary about the Type 1 tourney in Richmond, so
... here goes.

Abe and I drove to Richmond to play in the Type 1 tourney, and it was ... almost
humorous how we missed practically Every Single Turn off of I-64, I-95, I-195,
VA-60, and plenty of other roads. Never have I been so completely clueless in my
direction skills. I knew where the place was relatively, but ... eh, I hadn't
actually done the drive before. Quite frustrating when you cross the same point
three times in one trip. We talked about tons of randomness... I challenged him
to talk to a chick in an effort to get her to hang oot with him, and I
challenged myself to do the same. We both agreed later tonight we'd try our luck
diving in the dating pool.

We finally get there in one piece (45 minutes late) .... Abe ends up 'drawing'
(read: 'winning through political trickery') with Darren in the finals, so
that's pretty coolies. I wound up playing 8 games through 4 rounds, going 0-2 in
my first two matches and 2-0 in my last two. I played Stacker 2, without some
key cards (Sol Ring, Black Lotus, one more Workshop, 2 off-color moxes). I can't
tell you enough how helpful Sol Ring woulda been. AAAARGH! But besides that, the
deck played extremely well; props to JP for the decklist, and to Abe for
supplying a lowly limited player like me with the cards.

.. after the tournament, we stop by a Burger King, walk inside, ... and it was
EMPTY. And I dont mean 'empty' as in 'no people eating food', i mean 'empty' as
in 'NO CHAIRS, TABLES, WALLS, PARTITIONS, OR COLUMNS SFGJASHGKAHGASHG'. I've
never seen that before in my life. To quote my brother ... it was odd.

What Did We Learn:

- Always print off a map of the DESTINATION (not just the overall route map). It
would have been SO much helpful.
- Don't bother playing Stacker without a Sol Ring.
- Frank always runs professional tournaments, and I have great respect for him
as a person, and as a tourney organizer. It went smoothly as always.
- When in doubt, Abe is wrong ... except when it comes to Magic rules.

See you guys next time.

-Egon



Anyway, as usual, thanks for reading.

Until next time.


Katzby