all your report are belong to us

Due to the cancellation of PTQ's in CT, instead of the expected 3-4 Hadley heads
in attendance, which would have made for a good, competitive Metagame, we ended
up bringing about 11 people up to this thing. That, of course, sets the stage
for complete Hadley 0wnage. Having taken the last 3 power tourneys with dragon,
I felt like it was time for a change. Since the DCI, in its infinite wisdom,
decided to hate Madness with its recent changes to the b/r lists, my choice was
obvious. I just want to make sure that there is no confusion about the intention
behind the b/r list changes. It was madness that they needed to kill, long was
just collateral damage. Has long ever won a tournament? Because I know that
Madness has won at least 3, probably more. I can only vouch for 3 because I have
only won 3 myself.

So, after shelling out my 15 bucks for the tourney, I get some quality scouting
in. I saw about 3-4 Dragon decks, and tons of dragon hate. Madness seemed like
more than just the fun choice, it almost looked like a good metagame call.

For reference, here's what I played:

Bombs Over Baghdad
Created by: iLL_DaWg

Where My Dawgz At?
4 Wild Mongrel

Team Lizard Beatz (TM)
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Basking Rootwalla
3 Roar of the Wurm

Mad Phat & Supa' Fly
3 Anger
2 Wonder

This Tastes Like Burning
3 Fiery Temper

I Make Drawing Fun
3 Deep Anal
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Wheel
1 Timetwister
1 Crop Rotation
1 Time Walk

Lands That Don't Draw Me Cards
3 wooded foothills
3 trop
2 volc
3 tiaga
2 Riftstone Portal
1 Strip Mine

Lotuses (Loti?)
4 LED
1 black lotus

Bling
1 jet
1 sapphire
1 ruby
1 emerald
1 pearl
1 sol ring

Board Advantage
4 Circular Logic
2 Ray of Revelation
3 Artifact Mutation
2 Krosan Reclamation
2 Pyrostatic Pillar
2 Violent Eruption

And, as always, cheering me on from the sidelines
3 Wurm Tokens (with the Trogdor the BURNiNATOR alternate artwork)

And, Here's what I played it against:

Round 1: Random.kid playing Fish (aka the bye)
Game 1: I get a decent hand, and show him why 4/4 flying tramplers are > his
deck.
Game 2: I keep a fistful of crap, and proceed to drop an arrogant wurm, with a
mox and a land on the table, and turn it sideways at his little dorks. I never
manage to ramp up to 2, meanwhile on the other side of the table he drops a
thief. I have 2 roars in my yard, and I'm hoping to topdeck a LED and just win.
He turns the thief sideways and picks up my deck. It takes him a while to get
over how incredibly pimp it is, and he eventually takes my time walk, because it
is a power card. Next turn, after wasting my only land, he goes in for my
Ancestral. At this point, I think he managed to 3-for-1 my Wurm, so my board
position is 1 mox emerald. He plays Timetwister. I blink twice, shuffle up, draw
7, and crush him next turn. Note to all of the fish players that run
timetwister: don't play it against Madness.

Round 2: Dan Richardson (Pernicious Dude) playing U/b Landstill
Game 1: My fat > his lands. I remember breaking a few standstills, then turning
stuff sideways.
Game 2: Turn 1 Chalice for 0 is a pain, I have trouble ramping up to 4 mana. I
resolve some rootwallas, and turn a tapped Nev's disk into 4 saprolings. I
somehow forget that his 2 man-lands can turn sideways for damage when I'm at 4
life. I suck at this game.
Game 3: turn 1 chalice for 0 is less good when I play LEDs and Moxes before it
comes down. I turn a disk into dudes again. He forgets I need an island to make
my wonder active. This one was close, but Team Lizard Beatz (TM) ends up
pounding for the win.

Round 3: Derek playing Hulk
Game 1: I resolve some stuff, my stuff beats his face in.
Game 2: He sees all 3 togs, no green mana or deeds. The togs just sit there
smiling and looking at the sky, my Wurms fly overhead and wreck face.

Round 4: Jacob Orlove playing TnT
We ID

Round 5: Steve (Grand Inquisitor) Playing Neo-GAT
We do the math, and I'm in either way. He only makes it if he beats me.
Game 1: I win the die roll and choose to draw. I draw my 7 cards before he cuts,
hoping for the game loss, but he decides to do it the old fashioned way. He
beats me down with stuff.
Game 2: I mulligan into 7 cards, then decide that since I haven't played
ancestral all day I'm just going to go find it and put it in my hand. He lets it
happen. I let him beat me down with stuff again.

T8: Andrew Oliva (Echo Boy) playing U/r Fish
Game 1: he plays some stuff, I play some bigger stuff and beat his face in with
it.
Game 2: see game 1, only this time I boarded in Violent Eruptions. Savage wurm
beats.

T4: Chris K (Moobius) playing d4gr0n (my build, I lent it to him for the day)
Game 1: He animates a dragon.
Game 2: he can't find an animate effect for 5 turns of bazaar/triple squee
searching. I smash face with big guys.
Game 3: I play slow, beating him down with Rootwallas. He can't find what he
needs, tries to go off with 1 card in hand at 4 life. I turn bazaar sideways,
logic his animate throwing krosan rec and ray of revelation into the yard,
holding time walk.
Sidenote: games 2 & 3, if he manages to mill me, I krosan rec for a couple of
lotuses and just win with the roars he threw in my yard, since he also threw
anger and wonder into my yard, and then protect my win with the ray of
revelations he threw into my yard. Damn that's a good sideboard card.

Finals: Jeff Anand (Samite Healer) playing Keeper.
We take a look at the sapphire, and decide neither of us really wants it, and we
have no reason to fight over it since we came up together; that and we are all
quite hungry. We sell the mox back to the store for $200 (it was beat to shit)
and split the cash. We played it out later at a McDonald's on the way home, and
he crushed me 3-0. In my defense, madness knew it wasn't real tournament play so
it handed me shit.

So, I got to have fun with 4-LED madness for a little while longer, and I ended
up leaving with a fistful of cash to beet. Not bad. It's too bad Long had to die
as a result of Wizards trying to slow down Madness, I kinda enjoyed watching it
lose.

-=ADAM=-

-Obligatory Props and Slops-

Props:
Jeff, for splitting in the finals
Madness, for being too damned fun
Dan, for driving us all up there in the snow and ice

Slops:
Kerzner & co, for not making it up
Paper slips, for being inferior to DCIR and keeping Phelon out of T8
Crafty Mexicans, and their glass candy