Nothing really exciting happened before this tournament. I just woke up, drove the five minutes to the store, and sat down waiting for the pairings. Exciting huh? Oh yeah- I should probably mention what I played. I have won a few power tournaments in my days, but usually I end up winning with what some may call "cheap" tricks. For example: back to basics, blood moon, and turn one 12/12s with trample. I decided that it was time to really prove my skills, and play Keeper. This was my first tournament with it. The deck list was based off Carl's version from the Concord NH tourney: FollowtheCarl.dec 4 mana drain 4 force of will 4 brainstorm 3 cunning wish 1 ancestral recall 1 time walk 1 mystical tutor 1 merchant scroll 1 fact or fiction 1 fire/ice 2 future sight 2 morphling 3 swords to plowshares 1 balance 1 the abyss 1 mind twist 1 demonic tutor 1 skeletal scrying 1 yawgmoth's will 4 polluted delta 3 underground sea 3 volcanic island 3 tundra 1 island 1 LOA 2 city of brass 2 wasteland 1 strip mine 6 solomoxen (no emerald) Sideboard: 1 allay 1 shattering pulse 1 skeletal scrying 1 coffin purge 1 diabolic edict 1 swords to plowshares 1 vampiric tutor 4 red elemental blast 1 blue elemental blast 1 aura fracture 1 cop: red 1 cop: black I used coffin purge rather then ebony charm because I expected at least 2 rector trix, and only a possible one TnT showing up. As usual I took no notes, so some things may be a little mixed up. Round 1- Pat playing Keeper I had never met Pat before, but from what I had heard he was playing Keeper. So sadly round one wasn't gonna be the breeze I was hoping for... Game 1: Pat didn't know what I was playing, and went for an early Ancestral without backup. I was able to counter it, and then mysticalled for my own and jumped in the lead for card advantage. I never really lost that lead, and forced through a morphling and rode it to victory. Game 2: This game started off slow as you would expect. Somewhere towards the middle of the game Pat tried to cast something on his turn (it may have even been yawg will) and I won the counter war. I had no counters left, and knew I was clear to cast what I wanted. I had future sight and Morphling in my hand, and I made the mistake of casting morphling. Pat then cast his own future sight, and it won him the game after he started playing 4 cards per turn. It took him quite a few turns surprisingly, and he only lived long enough to make it because he drew his zuran orb. Game 3: We only had about 10 minutes left, so I knew it wasn't looking good. I won some counter wars, resolved some draw spells, then got out my future sight. However, we ran out of time. I was in control of the game, so needless to say I was not happy. Note to self- future sight wins games, morphling just deals damage. 0-0-1 Round 2- ?? Playing R/G/u TnT Game 1: I have never seen this guy before either, so I have no clue what he's playing. He won the roll and went first. He threw back his first hand and drew six. He opened with foothills for taiga, cast welder. I think that gave it away. I played a delta and passed the turn. He drew, and I could tell he was disappointed. He laid a tropical and cast another welder, then swung with the first. I cast recall eot, then laid a land and said go. The next few turns were very slow, with him swinging with 2 welders each turn, and me hoping for my fire/ice or mystical. I eventually was able to swords one welder. He cast anger, which I had to drain since I was down below 10 (thanks to welder beats and a scrying.) I was able to waste his only taiga though. I cast morphling the turn after he resolved a su-chi. He attacked, I blocked so he welded it out with a tangle wire I had countered earlier. When he went to weld it back in, I wished for coffin purge. Morphling beat down for the win. Game 2: He resolved welder turn 1. I was able to counter survival turn 2, and blood moon turn 3. He then got a survival on the board, and I was able to wish for allay, and he only got to use it twice. I was low on cards though, and he was able to resolve another welder, followed by Karn. Balance saved the day though, and I drew shattering pulse next turn. So I had allay and pulse in hand, and it was pretty easy going from there. 1-0-1 Round 3- Dan (pernicious dude) playing The Preacher's Field Game 1: Dan won the roll and went first. We both went land-go. On his third turn he dropped enchantress presence. I don't really remember why, but I was unable to counter it. Dan had no white mana though, and I'm pretty sure a hand full of white cards. When he did get his white mana though, he started casting too much stuff for me. He drained me out of counters, but I was able to play a morphling after a drain. Dan cast balance. I had one counter, and Dan had 5 more cards in hand (thanks to the presence.) I knew if I countered it and he had a replenish in hand, I was fucked. But if I let it resolve, I was also fucked because he had the card advantage already, and a presence to keep it up. So since I was screwed either way, I countered the balance and hoped for the best. Of course he had the replenish though, so it was over. Game 2: We again started with land-go. Dan tried to cast something on turn 3, which I drained and followed up with a mind twist, destroying his entire hand. He couldn't recover, and I resolved future sight shortly after. Dan isn't exactly a speedy player, and since this was my first tourney with Keeper I was also playing a little slow. So by the time we finished game two there were only three minutes left. So we didn't even start the third game. 1-0-2 Not exactly how I was hoping to start out the tournament. It was do or die now. No more fucking around. Round 4- Ben Turner playing some artifact based Deck Game 1: This game is a little hazy, but I remember swordsing some cathodions, casting future sight, and resolving yawg will to win the game at about 2 life. Game 2: Ben gets a first turn cathodion, followed by a turn 2 phyrexian processor, I have no FOW so it resolves and he pays 10 life. I spend my resources killing the processor and the two 10/10s he was able to make with it. In the meantime he was able to cast another cathodion and masticore. I needed balance, but had no way to find it. Game 3: I play land, mox DT for lotus with future sight in hand. He plays mox, mox, ancient tomb masticore. I drop sight next turn, and he swings on his. I go through a few cards, but still am lacking white mana for the swords in my hand. Ben only has one card in his hand, and it's gush. On his upkeep, he hard casts gush (he only had one island in play.) There is a mana drain sitting face up on top of my library so I am a little confused. He realized what he just did, and being the nice guy I am I let him take it back. It doesn't really matter, because I got the white mana I needed next turn and the game is a walk in the park for me then. 2-0-2 Round 4- Ray (IamFishMan) playing GAT-ish Ray is playing a psychatog deck. It's not Hulk smash at all. It's basically a GAT deck without dryads and with a few extra counters and Ray-surprises Ray and I look at the standings before we play, it looks like I can make it in the top8, but he has no chance. Ray tells me he wants to play though. He writes something in his notebook as we're getting ready. We shuffle up and play. Game 1: This game Ray just owns me. He duress first turn 2, and does the GAT craziness and just rolls right over me. Game 2: My first hand is just too slow, so I throw it away. My hand of six is: volcanic, brainstorm, 2x swords, balance, REB. We both land-go. On his EOT I cross my fingers and brainstorm. NO LAND. Ugh. So I miss my turn 2 and turn 3 land drop. On Ray's third turn he resolves fastbond. I finally draw a land, and say go. Ray casts duress on me, then sees his window to go nuts. He gushed SIX times on this turn. This game was over. After I shake Ray's hand, he flips a page on his notebook and shows me what he wrote before the match. "I plan on conceding to Brian Phelon with lethal damage on the stack." Damn. What a guy. 3-0-2 Nick reads of the top eight, and I am in fifth place. Ray goes over and looks at the final standings, then calls me to the computer. It turns out we both did the math wrong and Ray would have made it had he not conceded. I felt bad, and offered Ray half of whatever I ended up winning. Quarter Finals- Keith (ctthespian) playing R/G TnT Game 1: I guess it's a lot harder to keep track of what goes on when you're playing a complicated deck like Keeper. All I remember is Keith won this game, thanks to a few wastelands and a wheel of fortune. Game 2: This game I was able to get what I needed, when I needed it. I started off with fetch-sapphire and drain and FOW in hand. I was able to keep the threats off the board, and won the game. Game 3: Keith chooses to go first, and ends up mulliganing to 5. I'm pretty happy, but then he plays, wasteland, black lotus, JESTER'S CAP. I don't have Force of Will, BUT one of my morphlings is sitting in my hand so I don't have to scoop right there. On his second turn he plays a land and activates cap. He takes morphling, future sight, and will. This left me open to mystical tutor for ancestral. I didn't cast it though, so I was able to mana drain his survival on turn three. Keith cast another one on turn 4- to which I told him that if I had mulliganed to 5 and choose the cards I took, I don't think there could be anything better then what he had. However, on my turn I was able to DT for aura fracture so he didn't get much use out of survival. I believe that the game ended when I cunning wished for vampiric tutor, and dropped future sight. Semi Finals- Todd (maligorCT) playing Gro-Mask Game 1: Todd goes first, and plays land, lotus, mask. Mask resolves. He burns for one. Few- no nought in hand. On Todd's second turn, he misses his land drop. I brainstorm, desperately trying to find a wasteland to completely screw him over. I can't, but he keeps missing his land drops. The game was just disgusting. Todd could not draw a land or even a brainstorm/sleight. One turn I iced his land on his upkeep, and drew into a wasteland. So he was left with just a mask in play. I then wished for pulse, and ended up winning the game when Todd had zero permanents on the table. Game 2: On about turn 3 or 4 Todd tries to cast mask. I mana drain it, and drain resolves. I then cast Ancestral, and draw time walk and yawgmoth's will, and I have lotus in hand. So on my next turn I cast: Time Walk, lotus, will, lotus, time walk, ancestral. I take my 2nd turn, and cast morphling and future sight. I take my 3rd turn and just attack. At this point I already have 2 REBs, a force, and some other random shit. It's not too hard to win the game after you take three turns in a row. Finals- Ben (summensaugen) playing myurphid.dec Ben is in the finals because as usual he drew insane shit all day long. For example, game 3 of the semis he was going first and mulliganed to five. He then played land, mox, mox, phid (with force to back it up I believe.) Also- I watched Ben play Carl in NH in the exact same match up. Ben won 2-1, so I was a little worried. And finally- I just wanted to beat the living shit out of him. Game 1: Ben goes first, and plays island go. I play a fetch and say go. He tries to cast recall at the end of my turn, and I force it. I resolve my own next turn, and am in control. I keep countering everything he plays, and wish for and resolve scrying. I get another wish, and get vampiric for Will. I cast will, Ben took a quick look through my graveyard, and scoops. Game 2: In this game, I again counter Ben's recall, and resolve my own. When Ben hit's five mana, he taps out for morphling. This leaves me wide open to send it to the farm though with swords. Ben casts a phid a few turns later, and I respond with an abyss next turn. On Ben's next turn he casts scroll for FoF, and casts it. I think about it, then let it resolve since I have mind twist, and Ben has 0 cards. So Ben takes his pile, and I twist it all away. Two turns later, I cast yawgmoth's will, which Ben tries to fork. I counter that shit though, and go on to win the game. So I win myself another power tournament. It was a good day. The tournament was ~30 people, and the field was surprisingly strong. And- I got to beat Ben in the finals which is just icing on the cake :) It was fun playing Keeper, and I think I'll be doing it much more often now. Props: Ray for being cool in round 5 Sam and Loren- two locals who made top8 for the first time Caleb for beating GI in round 1 Adam- you know why Slops: Mike Broughton for not finding someway to get here Nick for losing to Ben AGAIN RI Crew for the no-show GI for losing first round to sligh That is all, Brian Phelon