all your report are belong to us

Well Thanksgiving weekend wouldn't have been as much fun this year if it weren't
for the nice trip to Chicago a few friends and I had taken to the Crazy Con
tournaments. We left Friday from South Bend, Indiana around 130 and arrived at
the school gym around 300. We were looking for cards to finish my friend chris's
deck (Spoils Mask player) and found them about 20 minutes after getting there. I
on the other hand didn't get the cards I wanted to borrow until about 10 minutes
before the teams even had started as some friends from Michigan who were coming
lost the directions to get here and had the use the directions to get back home
to get to the gym. So after frantically searching through my cards to get the
rest of my deck together my team BuFu and I were ready to go. I don't want to
bore you with details of the team event, but I will tell you that we finished
2-2 playing the bothof the teams that eventually split the first place prize.
Later that night we went out looking for a place to crash, my team and the guys
from Michigan, and found this shabby motel down the road about a mile called the
Chalet?, and got a room w/ 4 beds for $75 which was a good deal to me so we
crashed there and did some testing for the big tournament we were hoping to be
involved in the next day.

THE BIG DAY

This was the day I would hope to prove to my friends and some people at home
that I'm not full of it when it comes to playing Type 1 by making the top 4 and
bringing home some cash for the holidays. Alas it didn't happen, but I will give
you a brief tournament report explaining why my plans were ruined.

Animate Dragon

3 Animate Dead
2 Dance of the Dead
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Duress
3 Necromancy
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Ambassador Laquatus
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Compulsion
4 Force of Will
3 Intuition
1 Time Walk
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
4 Worldgorger Dragon
1 Lim-Dul's Vault
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Bayou
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground River
4 Underground Sea

Sideboard

3 Coffin Purge
2 Reanimate
3 Stifle
3 Xantid Swarm
2 Verdant Force
2 Pernicious Deed


Round 1 (U/B Tog)

I really can't say much for this match-up except that I saw no Squees or Dragons
to go with Bazaars and he OWNED me both games. Not exactly the way I wanted to
start off the tournament, but I've overcome worse before.

0-1

Round 2 (Madness)

This isn't a matchup I thought I would see and feared it because I didn't know
the decklist off the top of my head and couldn't remember if the deck ran Force
of Will or not. But my opening draw consisted of Lotus, Bazaar, Dragon, Animate,
Force, Island, Squee so I went for it and got game one without seeing his deck
and didn't really know what to sideboard, but I stuck in two Stifle and a Coffin
Purge just in case...

And in game 2 I find out that he's playing madness by the first turn LED,
Foothills, but he didn't do anything with it and passed the turn. I played Delta
and passed the turn. He sacked fetch eot and I do the same in response fearing
Stifle. Both of the effects resolve and on his turn he draws into nothing , but
sacks the Led to play an Arrogant Wurm, but I Stifle madness and he's left w/ a
Roar in the 'yard. My turn I Purge the Roar and say go. He draws a land and
passes the turn. I draw Bazaar, drop it use it get Dragon AND Animate, and go
off.

1-1

Round 3 (Joe playing Welder Mud)

Joe is a friend from Michigan and the player who loaned me almost all the cards
to play the deck. I win the die roll and get Delta, Mox Sapphire, Compulsion and
say go. He plays first turn Sphere w/ Worksho and mana Vault. His turn he lays
Tangle Wire, Mountain, Welder and says go. I draw dead and say go, he drops
Smoketack and I scoop.

Game two I side in 3 Stifle and a Coffin Purge. I keep an opening hand of Lotus,
Mox Jet, Bazaar, Animate, Vampiric Tutor, Stifle, Swamp, and go off first turn
by drawing into a Dragon w/ Bazaar and animating it.

Game 3 I have to mull down to 5 and he gets an opening hand of Ruby, Welder,
Workshop, Sphere, Tangle Wire, Chalice, and Skullcap and just obliterates me and
his card advantage is too much for me to handle and I scoop on turn 4 when I
don't draw a land to win the game.

1-2

Round 4

I seem to have misplaced my notes on this matchup, but I do know that it was a
Sligh player and that I won in two games...

2-2

Round 5 (Worldgorger, Dante)

I'll just use a quote from this Dante's post as he sums up the games, not much
really happened aside from a few Duress's.


Round 5 - Michael Tabler

Game 1 - He's playing dragon. He knows that I'm playing dragon, but I don't know
what he's playing. As usual, I mulligan. My 6-card hand I remember being
slow-ish, but nothing bad enough to go to 5. He's just one step ahead of me. We
both get bazaars, but he gets 2 early squees, I only get 1, slightly later and
he combos me first.

Game 2 - My opening 7 has one-mox (sound familiar). My 6 card hand is something
like Ruby, Swamp, compulsion, squee, squee, dragon. Poo on that. My 5-card hand
is passable, but I just can't keep up starting 5 to his 8.


I felt bad as he didn't really get any good draws. I hadn't tested the mirror,
but had some assumptions that I wanted test out finally in that match-up, but
they never became an issue.

3-2

Round 6 (Goblin Sligh)

This is one of the players from southern Indiana that I have palaced twice
before and both times he's played Goblin Sligh, so I have a pretty good idea as
to what he may be playing. Game one I win the roll and open up with Bazaar,
Animate, Jet, Sapphire, Swamp, Squee, Island. I drop Bazaar draw two and what do
ya know, I see a Dragon, discard it and the two land and Animate it for the win.

I side in Verdant Force and 2 Stifle as I have a hunch he's playing Goblin Sligh
and is using Crypts as an answer to my Dragon. He drops turn 1 Lackey and says
go. I drop turn 1 Compulsion and pass the turn. He drops a land, Crypt swings
and drops a Fanatic from the the Lackey. My turn I drop a Mana Crypt Island and
say go. He swings again and drops another land and says go. I Intuition at the
end of his turn for 2 Dragon and Verdant Force. He does nothing at his end step
and I proceed to take my turn. I draw into Stifle and have Force back up in my
hand for the Animate spell. I cast Animate he pops Crypt in response, I Stifle
and win.

4-2

After the match I go to see how my firend Dan is doing at 3-2. He's playing
Landstill against 'Tog. All I see is he loses game 1, wins game 2 and there is
about 5 minutes left when game 3 starts. Dan gets the early lead as the 'Tog
player gets his first two lands get Wasted and Stripped. Then the 'Tog player
drops a fetch, Lotus, Sapphire and passes the turn. Dan drops a Mishra's Factory
and Standstill. The 'Tog player responds by sacking the fetch land and Dan
responds by playing Stifle. The 'Tog player literally takes 3 minutes to decide
whether or not to Force of Will the Stifle and finally does after Dan asks him 3
times what he plans to do. After that time is called and the additional 5 turns
start and the game ends up being a draw, BUT Dan calls the judge over for to see
if he can get extra time from a previous ruling in the match, and is denied. The
'Tog player somewhat distraught, I guess, asks to see Dan's hand, full of
counters and another Factory, he gives Dan the match putting him into the top 8
and knocking me out of the spot that I would have gotten. A bit tee'd off, I
wish Dan good luck as he he is good friend and go make fun of Steve, one of my
teammates, who traded off his Ruby to get some foil type 2 cards and some cash.
it wasn't a terrible weekend, but making top 8 and just having the chance to win
some cash would have made it that much sweeter, but hey, it happens. Hopefully
next time I'll come with a deck that I'm more familiar with and rock the house,
3rd times a charm right???