all your report are belong to us

[follow up from the Concord, NH tourney on 13 Sep 2003]

Hypothetical sideboard:
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Blood Moon
2 Riftstone
2 Ray of Revelation
2 Hyrkyl's Recall
2 Artifact Mutation
3 Pyrostatic Pillar

******************Day 2, FIGHT!******************

I ended up taking a power nap around 5AM and getting woken up again at, like,
6:30 to drive out to campus, pick up Eastman and Mykeatog, then come back to
Northampton for Pernicious Dude. Although it does have 5 seatbelts, I don't
think that my 2-door Acura was intended for 5 people. Especially since it was
raining for most of the morning, making it impossible to crack open the sunroof
and ventilate. Fogging occurred. Despite this, I still made it down on 1/4 tank
of gas. I love little Japanese rice-burning 4-bangers.

When I got to Poughkeepsie, I decided I wanted to do something ballsy just for
the sake of doing something ballsy. I decided I would cut the REBs from the
board. That made me feel good, since I just don't like saying 'no' to people
like a whiny little control-playing bitch. I later looked back on this decision
and almost wished I hadn't done it, since I got paired against tog every round,
but it definitely made me feel better at the time.

Round 1: Ben (the guy who T8's at every Waterbury) playing Neo-GAT

Game 1: one of us won

Game 2: the other one of us won

Game 3: OK, check the scenario... He was at 5 life, I was at 14. He had 2 togs
on the board and had just swung with both for 1 damage apiece. He passes the
turn. I topdeck bazaar and turn it sideways. Anger and wonder are already in the
yard, he has no counter. We have both already done the math, and either tog can
be lethal next turn. Anyhow, the bazaar turns sideways, and an arrogant wurm
hits the table. I shrug. That wurm is a 4/4, BTW. He was at 5 life. Just wanted
to make that clear. I was about to extend the hand in concession, when he
grabbed the match slip and put me down for a 2-1 win. He scooped before I had
the chance to. I accepted his concession, then asked him about it after the
results were finalized. Apparently, he thought he had fetched a land and was at
4. He asked if he could take it back, but a concession is a concession. I'll
take a win where I can get one, especially in round 1. 

1-0

Round 2: ? playing W/B/G void thingy with swords, angels, and juzams.

Game 1: I play first and go something like land, lotus, LED, arrogant wurm,
roorwalla, flashback roar pitching deep anal, go. He drops a bayou and passes. I
topdeck land, flashback deep anal, then beat for a lot. He draws and scoops.
This makes siding hard so I don't do it.

Game 2: This lasted longer than game 1, but ended the same. I get him down to
about 4 life, with a small army of rootwallas and a mongrel on my side of the
table. He drops a Juzam. Let me reiterate, I have a small army of chump
blockers, and he drops a non-trampling, non-flying thing that hurts him every
turn. It never even turned sideways, it just kinda sat there looking expensive.
Next turn, when he was at three and I had out even more beats, he dropped a
second juzam. I decide to just say go a few more times and win, when he swordsed
his own juzam, tapping a COB for it, to keep above water. This displeases me, so
I tap a bazaar and send some burn at his nuts.

2-0

Round 3: I forget the real name (Ultima) playing Hulk

[shameless plug] although I had never met this guy before, he definitely knew
his shit and was able to discuss card choices and strategy competently. This is
a rare thing indeed, and I strongly believe that he should be considered for
membership. [/shameless plug]

Game 1: I get no love from the topdeck after mulling down to 6. I forget to win.

Game 2: 3 arrogant wurms > Smother and/or deed

Game 3: I mull into a hand full of hate and no gas. I hope to draw out his
counters with the hate and draw into some threats. It doesn't happen. I lose.

2-1

Round 4: I think it was Eastman playing Hulk.

Don't really remember this one much, I remember losing, though.

2-2

Round 5: ? playing Welder MUD aka my bitch.

I was pissed off after playing nothing but tog all day. I took it out on this
MUD player, since he ran no counters to stop the stupidity.

Game 1: Turn 1 sphere, of course. I still managed a land / mox / LED opening. I
drop a rootwalla, he drops a Karn that eats much of my manabase. He swings an
animated sphere into my rootwalla in the middle of an alpha strike, I take it
out and take a bunch to the face. With the sphere gone, I topdeck bazaar, throw
out an LED, and do stupid stuff including taking out his Karn with a Violent
eruption. The bazaar turns sideways a few more times and I beat him down with
big green things. 

Lots of artifact hate comes in.

Game 2: He gets the turn 1 sphere again, but I get land, mox, mox, crypt anyhow.
He plays a smokestack, I toss out a bazaar and some beats. He puts a counter on
the stack, then tosses out a welder. I untap, mutate his stack, and fry the
welder. Next turn, team Saproling smackdown is turning sideways alongside team
Lizard Beatz (TM).

So I ended up 3-2 for the day, putting me in 10th place or so and just missing
T8. This didn't matter to me at all, since playing aggro gave me plenty of time
between rounds to trade with the fine people of New York. I ended up trading up
my junk all day long, ending up with a shiny new pearl at the end of the day.
The vendor was nice enough to exchange it for the moat and Morphling I had won
on the previous day, as well as an assortment of cards that had not been mine
for more than a few hours that I had picked up mostly as binder bait.  This is
why Aggro is better than control. Everyone who came with me and played Aggro in
the tourney ended up with a new mox at the end of the day just because they had
more time to trade. The moral of this story? Win or lose, Aggro players always
have a shot at leaving with power.

Props:
-Madness, for taking sloppy seconds in NY, giving me the time to win a mox in
NY, and being fun as hell to play all weekend.
-Zherbus, for being a generally cool and personable individual, and for hosting
a great tourney.
-Team Hadley, for making a great showing all weekend, and for realizing that our
team needs a new name.

Slops:
-Me, for taking the win in round 1 on Sunday even though I lost the game.
-Hulk, for being the deck across the table from me all weekend when I lost due
to shitty draws and my own play errors
-Beer, for being so Oktoberfestastic at 2am the morning of a power tourney.

-=ADAM=-