all your report are belong to us

Ok, two tournaments in two days... where to begin. First off, I don't usually
write tournament reports because I often have trouble remembering many of the
matches, and I figure it's better not to write something than to accidentally
mislead people as to how the game played out. I'll try my best.

Here's how it all started:

Jacob 0rlove (2:57:23 PM): Hey Jeff
Jacob 0rlove (2:57:38 PM): going anywhere this weekend? ;-)
WeaselDeel (3:10:26 PM): yeah
WeaselDeel (3:10:31 PM): lets go to the cape tomorrow
Jacob 0rlove (3:10:38 PM): cool
WeaselDeel (3:10:38 PM): and King Richard's Faire on Sunday
Jacob 0rlove (3:10:50 PM): sure
WeaselDeel (3:10:53 PM): awesome

It was pretty random. The next morning I picked up Jacob and we headed down to
the Cape, where neither of us had been before. As we approached the end of
Route 3 I asked Jacob what the next set of directions were; unsurprisingly, he
read back the MapQuest directions, which said "make a right onto local road."
We crossed a bridge, drove on some 'local roads', and eventually reached the
store. When we arrived, the venue was nice, with a large playing area,
comfortable padded chairs, and lots of players. I spotted some familiar faces
from Hadley and RI, and then started getting my deck in order.

Here's what I played:

//Mana (27 Sources)

4 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
1 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring

//Disruption (4 Spells)

3 Duress
1 Gorilla Shaman

//Manipulation/Search (13 Spells)

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
2 Cunning Wish
2 Impulse
4 Brainstorm

//Removal (3 Spells)

1 Fire/Ice
2 Swords to Plowshares

//Countermagic (8 Spells)

4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will

//Additional Brokenness (4 Spells)

1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth's Will
2 Isochron Scepter

//Win Conditions (2 Spells)

2 Decree of Justice

//Sideboard

1 The Abyss
1 Rack and Ruin
1 Disenchant
1 Fire/Ice
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Skeletal Scrying
2 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Red Elemental Blast

I had assembled the deck in Bridgewater, Massachusetts the night (or morning)
before, and it seemed to work pretty well. I figured that most of my
playtesting would be playing in the actual tournament rather than before. I was
deliberating about my last sideboard slot (Hurkyl's # 3 or another card) until
Jacob pointed out all the random aggro decks around. In the end, I was
persuaded to run the Abyss.

On to the tournament:

Round 1: Sligh

Game One:
I am paired with a rather young player, but through years of experience I know
that size and age means nothing about the quality of my opponent. He plays some
rather inefficient creatures which I let through in the early game, and I
eventually Scepter a Mana Drain. I counter lightning bolts and other burn
spells, and eventually Decree for the win.

Game Two:
I board in a second Fire/Ice and 3rd StP. The game starts of relatively the
same, except I scepter a Fire/Ice, which pretty much owns him. I get massive
card advantage and Decree for the win.

Round 2: Aaron Kerzner (Kerzkid11) with Keeper (with Chalices)

Game One:
Aaron mulligans to six. I get out a relatively early scepter with Mana Drain
imprinted and it is relatively hard for him to deal. He gets out Chalice for 0
early, but it doesn't really do anything.

Game Two:
Aaron mulligans down to five this time. I think I get Scepter out with either
Drain of Fire/Ice on it, I don't quite remember which (this is the problem with
writing a report a week later b/c of school work. Oh well, priorities first :-)
) I force through some card drawing with Fact of Fiction, and that is pretty
much game because double mulliganing really hurts. We were talking afterwards
about our different decklists, and we determined that, aside from him
mulliganing, his chalice slots, combined with my 2 Scepter slots and 3 Duress,
made my deck much better in the mirror. That's what I was hoping, as I expect
Keeper mirrors to increase Post-Mirrodin.

Round 3: Mike Broughton (Mykeatog) with Brian Phelon's Stax

Game One:
I don't quite remember all the details of this matchup because I played Mike
twice in the same tournament, and Workshop based decks three rounds. All the
games seem to blend together. I am pretty sure I get an early cycled Decree and
am able to keep Welders from becoming active. Tokens go all the way.

Game Two:
I do my best to try to keep Welders off the table and stop threats from entering
play, and I am pretty successful. Mike eventually gets an active Welder into
play and plops down the Jar. He activates his Jar, which leads me to think that
the game will be over soon, but I draw into Hurkyl's Recall, Fire/Ice, and
Brainstorm. I Fire his Welder, in response he welds Jar back into play, and
after the end of turn is stacked and he has to discard his hand from Jar, I
Recall all his artifacts to his hand. This is some good. After all his
artifacts are gone, I pretty much have the game.

Round 4: Jacob Orlove with Welder Mud

Game One:
Jacob mulligans to six and plays an early Metalworker, which I plow. I
eventually drain something and then cunning wish for scrying to draw lots of
cards. Decree goes in for victory.

Game Two:
He gets out an early metalworker, but I Scepter a Hurkyl's Recall the next turn.
On Jacob's turn he reveals two winter orbs, a tangle wire, a chalice, and
another card, casts winter orb, which I let through, and tangle wire, which I
force. I allow his Chalice for 2 to resolve, but I forget that it counters my
Recall on my Scepter. Big mistake, but technically he didn't need to reveal the
chalice to me, so I wouldn't even know it was coming anyway. I need either Rack
and Ruin or Shaman to save me, and I pull one to blow up his Chalice and win.

Round 5: Eric L. DuPuis (ELD) with Hulk

Game One:
I am fearing this matchup because I think Hulk can outdraw the hell out of me.
Eric has two cards in hand, and I get ballsy and cast a Fact EOT. It gets
drained right into Deep Analysis and it all goes downhill from there.

Game Two:
Between Deep Analysis and AK I get completely out drawn and get smashed by a big
mean Psychatog.

Round 6: Adam Bowers (iLL Dawg) with Dragon

Game One:
I play the land destruction game with him, wasting his only land, leaving him
with a Mox Jet. He doesn't draw land for at least three turns, which lets me
play uninterrupted. I get massive card advantage and pretty much seal the game.

Game Two:
I don't quite remember how this game played out, but I remember resolving
Ancestral relatively early in the game. He tried to resolve his, which I
counter, and tries to win the game with Necromany as an instant as I tap out.
Luckily for me, I have Force of Will.

Ok, so with a final record of 5-1-0 I make top 8 and get ready for the next set
of matches. Unfortunately, because of the no Intentional Draw rule and the
extra round of Swiss, I was unable to get much of a break like in most
tournaments. I glanced to see who else was in the top 8, and I hoped that
someone else would eliminate the Hulk deck.

Semifinals: Jeff with Blue/White Control

Game One:
Jeff drops a turn one Meddling Mage off of land, Pearl, naming Swords to
Plowshares. I drop a land and say go. He wastes my land, attacks, says "go."
I lay a land, say go. He attacks, wastes my land, says "go." I lay a land say
go. He attacks, wastes my land, says "go." I draw a card, with the game
already pretty much over, I lay a wasteland, waste his Tundra, and say go. He
drops a Tundra, beats for two. I go, waste his land, pass the turn. He beats
for two and says "go." I draw, drop an island, pass the turn. He topdecks
Strip Mine and kills my island. Between both of us, we drew 7 strip effects.
Meddling Mage took it all the way for him.

Game Two:
I board heavily in against him, bringing in 4 REB and the Abyss (figuring he's
playing with EBA). I resolve an Ancestral with the help of REB, and scepter a
Mana Drain. I have lots of control and kill him with Decree.

Game Three:
I Impulse and Brainstorm a few times, and eventually force through a Scepter
with Ancestral imprinted. I get to use it only once, however, before it is
Dismantling Blowed without kicker. By this time, I have a lot more cards than
him, and I cycle Decree. The next turn he kegs my tokens, but I Decree again
and seal the victory.

Quarterfinals: Mike Broughton (Mykeatog) with Brian Phelon's Stax

Game One:
I am very unclear of the way these games played out in detail, so when I get a
chance to talk to Mike, I may be able to clarify a few things. I think he gets
a lockdown on me rather quickly, and I just scoop the game being unable to play
anything ever again.

Game Two:
I think Mike gets out a Grafted Skullcap and I wish for Recall to remove all his
artifacts after its EOT has stacked.

Game Three:
The game starts off poorly for me, as I paris to five. Luckily, I am drawing.
Mike gets a mana heavy hand that is light on threats, so I don't die
instantaneously. Some spheres eventually come down, which slows me down,
followed by two Blood Moons, and a Chalice for two. Ouch. A few turns pass by,
and I get blessed with Gorilla Shaman to eat his Chalice. I drop a Scepter
imprinting Hurkyl's Recall, and start bouncing his Spheres and stuff back to his
hand at end of turn. He replays them every turn, and I bounce them back at,
until he resolves Goblin Welder. He eventually welds my scepter into another
scepter, which I imprint with Plow from my hand to kill his Welder. I maintain
control of any creatures he might play with the Scepter, and have over 16
permanents in play to ignore any wires and/or spheres in play. Shaman goes all
the way for the win.

By now the time is around 11 PM I think, so Jacob and I decide to split in the
interest of getting enough sleep for the following day's trip to King Richard's
Faire. We collected our Mox Pearl and decided to sell it and split the profits
because money = good. We drove another Jeff back to Bentley college, stopping
at Wendy's on the way and looked forward to going to sleep. Somehow though, we
wound up skipping the Faire and ended up splitting Andy Stok's box instead...

Props for Day 1:

- The entire Hadley crew for always being fun to hang around.
- Mike Broughton for answering a challenge and smashing Crater Hellion's face
in.
- Chris K. For playing the coolest aggro control deck ever. (It had snakes!)
- Jacob Orlove for splitting with me.
- The store for charging only $2 per booster.
- Keeper for being awesome and making a comeback with a Vengeance.

Slops for Day 1:

- The store for collecting over $500 in revenue, while only giving out a
horribly beat piece of power.
- The store owner for not letting me bring in my drink from next door because of
the fact that he sold drinks in the store.
- I-95 for making it nearly impossible to get gas after Midnight.