Fun times (and a rough Betrayers report)
Jan. 23rd, 2005 05:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greybetaOverall, it was a good trip. I met up with the lucky Riest and quiet Luke in Fayetteville, and we then preceded for Little Rock. Andy's dad lives in Maumelle, a close suburb of the Arkansas capital, and he was kind enough to let us stay for two nights.
The prerelease, as usual, was fun. The team portion is pretty cool because most games revolve around one on one duels, and so even if you suck it up your teammates can always pick you up. Although we didn't fare well in the team portion, we managed to garner twenty two packs of product in one of the individual competitions. We did have a rather long wait of four hours between the team round and the individual round that we signed for.
I randomly won a free T-shirt in a drawing. Of course, it's one of those shirts advertising the gaming shop that ran the event.
They gave us an hour to pour over our pool for Team Sealed, and I think we did a fair job of splitting up the colors. Our green and black were deep, but we were bit lacking in the removal departmant overall. I chose to pilot the W/r deck featuring Eight and a Half Tails and Orobi, Who Split the Heavens. Andy took up the risky B/u deck with a bunch of Demon-Ogre interactions and that 6/5 guy who makes every player lose two life and draw two cards during their upkeep. Luke went with the G/U spirit type deck. And so Team Shared Fate bravely fought on (I know it's a bad team name, but we happened to form it during the Mirrodin Prerelease and that was one of the cooler cards we discussed).
Team Sealed, Round 1
Guy with U/R
Game 1
I lost my notes for the team portion, but I do know that this guy rolled me. I played a bunch of one toughness creatuers, and he rolled me over with Frostling and Frostwielder while drawing cards with the blue Honden. Meanwhile, Luke lost his first match while Andy took his.
Game 2
I sideboarded in Mindblaze for the heck of it. I was about to lose so I played it anyways. The problem was that I couldn't remember the name of the Blue Honden. Was it Honden of Infinite Winds? Lucky Andy didn't know, but his opponent blurted out "Honden of Seeing Winds". Thanks for the eight damage, chap. His teammate rolled his eyes. Yes, I should not have asked that question in a REL3 tournament, but it was a prerelease. If it had been a more serious tournament than I would have called a judge to ask. Andy won his match and Luke knotted his match up at one.
Unfortunately, double Kami of the Waning Moon made all of Luke's creatures fearful. So we dropped that one.
Team Sealed, Round 2
Guy with U/G
Two of the most uninteresting games ever. In the first one he got manascrewed. Then he got manaflooded in the second game.
Andy played the mirror match, winning the first one. But in the next two his opponent killed off a key ogre to disrupt the Demon-Ogre chain. Luke again went to a third game, against the other team's W/r deck. His opponent had all of the answers and powered his way to victory.
With only six teams playing, we decided to drop. I was kind of disappointed in only seven teams...the problem is that the Team Sealed was held an hour after the individual flight began. I guess more people wanted to play with the cards firsthand. I don't know, I just wish we could have had more teams.
Then we went to eat, and came back to just miss a flight. So we signed up for the next individual flight. And we waited. And waited. And waited.
Mid day flights are not so popular, apparently. We dropped the team flight at 1:30, and we didn't get our packs for the individual flight until 5:30. Kind of boring to wait around.
I opened up a fairly strong pool, going with the patriotic U/W/r. I had the spirit synergy, with two Shimmering Glasskites and a Teller of Tales in Blue, and the two flip guys for both blue and white that get a ki counter everytime you play a spirit or arcane. Cage of Hands and Ghostly Prison were my defensive spells. Jushi Apprentice and Orobi (again) were my feature rares. I splashed red for two Torrents and Blind with Anger.
Individual Flight, Round 1
Chris with W/B/g
Game 1
He drew a bunch of forests. I rolled him.
Game 2
This game took a long time. He got me down to four before I stablized behind a wall of flyers. The game stalled to the point where I got enough cards to flip Jushi apprentice over. It got to a point where I started counting the cards in his library, forcing him to draw his entire library. He forced my hand when he played the millstone Soratami. I forced him to draw five, bringing him down to eleven cards. He milled two cards off my library, bringing me down to five cards. I untapped. If he killed the flipped Jushi Apprentice, I was going to lose. I held my breath and passed the turn. I expected him to attack, but he decided to simply mill my library. My friend, let me introduce you to the upkeep steep. I'll return Cage of Hands and force you to draw six cards at the end of your turn. During my upkeep, I'll activate the wizard legend again for the win.
Individual Flight, Round 2
John with G/B/u/r
Game 1
He came out with a fast start thanks to Kami of the Hunt Ogre Marauder. He was especially annoying for a defensive deck like mine. Fortunately, I drew mountain for the Blind with Anger I had in my opening hand and wrecked him, stealing his Kami to sacrifice it to the Marauder, and blocking the ogre with my 1/4 Moonlist spirit. He played the 3/3 demon that loses a life whenever you attack or block, but I had Hisoka's Defiance ready for his Painwrecker Oni. That turned out to be a good thing as I later found out that he had the dance that gave all creatures +1/+0 and fear.
Game 2
I drew one of my best hands ever. Hisoka defied one of his spirits, then I followed up with Callow Jushi. Two Shimmering Glasskites, a Faithful Squire, and a Teller of Talers later I had complete flying dominance. It helped that he thought the counters on Callow Jushi fell off when it flipped, as I countered one of his nasty legendary bombs (I don't remember which one though).
Individual Flight, Round 3
Matt with G/R/b
Game 1
As happens often to my opponents, he gets manascrewed so I win.
Game 2
He played one of the most beautiful curves that I have ever seen. Second turn Orochi Sustainer. Third Turn Springcaller guy that gives him a G mana for the turn without any manaburning. Fourth turn Seshiro, the Anointed. At this point, the board is a 3/4 snake, a 4/6 snake, and a legendary snake that gives all snakes the Ophidian ability to nothing on my side of the board. i lost.
Game 3
A very interesting game. Eventually, he started to gain on me as my hand filled up with both of my Torrents and Blind with Anger in my hand and no mountain in sight. I finally got the mountain but by that time a No-Dachi on his side had put me on the ropes. The Matsu Sniper guy kept tapping my only creature, a Teller of Tales. When I tried to use Blind with Anger, he torrented that creature in response. That left enough attackers to knock me down to zero.
After two rounds, Luke, Andy and I had gone 2-0. But Luke and Andy got paired up, which meant only one of them would be 3-0. Luke prevailed, dealing the last point of damage by Stirring the Grave for a Bile Urchin. At 2-1, there was a chance that Andy I would get paired up.
Individual Flight, Round 4
Andy with U/W
Game 1
It would be a sort of a mirror match. Whoever drew their better cards would win. Andy's Kentaro, the Smiling Cat had an awkward moment where he saw himself on my side and they both threw themselves into the graveyard. Meloku the Clouded Mirror is some good, and unfortunately she was summoned on Andy's side.
Game 2
My deck coughed on me since I was due a mana-related loss.
At this point, the tournament organizer aptly named "Tall Mike" announced that he would be willing to shave a round off and distribute prizes. He did a pretty job, splitting the prizes so everyone got at least one pack. It's a good way to appease people who want to leave early, as it was nearly eleven o'clock by then. I got two packs with my 2-1 record, while Andy and Luke received ten packs for their 3-1 showing. I also managed to get a free random T-shirt.
I have to give props to Tall Mike, the owner of the Game Room in Little Rock. His tournaments are so well organized that I don't mind driving five hours to play in them. Also major props to Andy's dad for letting us stay in his house for two nights. And props to my opponents for being good sports. Props to Andy for driving from Little Rock to Fayetteville so I could squeeze this report in.
Slops to the long wait. I don't think I can blame anyone in particular for that one, except perhaps ourselves for being a bit sloppy with our time management. Oh well.
Final thoughts go to Block Constructed, which means that I might actually jump back in if Ft. Smith ever gets a decent Magic base again. We've thrown out ideas for a snake deck, a B/R control deck, and some sort of spirit deck but nothing solid. The project that we traded for was the seemingly combolicious Meloku and Asuza, with protection from Kira, the Glass Spinner. Acceleration into a bunch of flyers seems pretty good. If that actually remains viable by the PTQ season remains to to be seen.
Good times, good times. Alas, now I have to face up the homework that I have yet to complete.
The prerelease, as usual, was fun. The team portion is pretty cool because most games revolve around one on one duels, and so even if you suck it up your teammates can always pick you up. Although we didn't fare well in the team portion, we managed to garner twenty two packs of product in one of the individual competitions. We did have a rather long wait of four hours between the team round and the individual round that we signed for.
I randomly won a free T-shirt in a drawing. Of course, it's one of those shirts advertising the gaming shop that ran the event.
They gave us an hour to pour over our pool for Team Sealed, and I think we did a fair job of splitting up the colors. Our green and black were deep, but we were bit lacking in the removal departmant overall. I chose to pilot the W/r deck featuring Eight and a Half Tails and Orobi, Who Split the Heavens. Andy took up the risky B/u deck with a bunch of Demon-Ogre interactions and that 6/5 guy who makes every player lose two life and draw two cards during their upkeep. Luke went with the G/U spirit type deck. And so Team Shared Fate bravely fought on (I know it's a bad team name, but we happened to form it during the Mirrodin Prerelease and that was one of the cooler cards we discussed).
Team Sealed, Round 1
Guy with U/R
Game 1
I lost my notes for the team portion, but I do know that this guy rolled me. I played a bunch of one toughness creatuers, and he rolled me over with Frostling and Frostwielder while drawing cards with the blue Honden. Meanwhile, Luke lost his first match while Andy took his.
Game 2
I sideboarded in Mindblaze for the heck of it. I was about to lose so I played it anyways. The problem was that I couldn't remember the name of the Blue Honden. Was it Honden of Infinite Winds? Lucky Andy didn't know, but his opponent blurted out "Honden of Seeing Winds". Thanks for the eight damage, chap. His teammate rolled his eyes. Yes, I should not have asked that question in a REL3 tournament, but it was a prerelease. If it had been a more serious tournament than I would have called a judge to ask. Andy won his match and Luke knotted his match up at one.
Unfortunately, double Kami of the Waning Moon made all of Luke's creatures fearful. So we dropped that one.
Team Sealed, Round 2
Guy with U/G
Two of the most uninteresting games ever. In the first one he got manascrewed. Then he got manaflooded in the second game.
Andy played the mirror match, winning the first one. But in the next two his opponent killed off a key ogre to disrupt the Demon-Ogre chain. Luke again went to a third game, against the other team's W/r deck. His opponent had all of the answers and powered his way to victory.
With only six teams playing, we decided to drop. I was kind of disappointed in only seven teams...the problem is that the Team Sealed was held an hour after the individual flight began. I guess more people wanted to play with the cards firsthand. I don't know, I just wish we could have had more teams.
Then we went to eat, and came back to just miss a flight. So we signed up for the next individual flight. And we waited. And waited. And waited.
Mid day flights are not so popular, apparently. We dropped the team flight at 1:30, and we didn't get our packs for the individual flight until 5:30. Kind of boring to wait around.
I opened up a fairly strong pool, going with the patriotic U/W/r. I had the spirit synergy, with two Shimmering Glasskites and a Teller of Tales in Blue, and the two flip guys for both blue and white that get a ki counter everytime you play a spirit or arcane. Cage of Hands and Ghostly Prison were my defensive spells. Jushi Apprentice and Orobi (again) were my feature rares. I splashed red for two Torrents and Blind with Anger.
Individual Flight, Round 1
Chris with W/B/g
Game 1
He drew a bunch of forests. I rolled him.
Game 2
This game took a long time. He got me down to four before I stablized behind a wall of flyers. The game stalled to the point where I got enough cards to flip Jushi apprentice over. It got to a point where I started counting the cards in his library, forcing him to draw his entire library. He forced my hand when he played the millstone Soratami. I forced him to draw five, bringing him down to eleven cards. He milled two cards off my library, bringing me down to five cards. I untapped. If he killed the flipped Jushi Apprentice, I was going to lose. I held my breath and passed the turn. I expected him to attack, but he decided to simply mill my library. My friend, let me introduce you to the upkeep steep. I'll return Cage of Hands and force you to draw six cards at the end of your turn. During my upkeep, I'll activate the wizard legend again for the win.
Individual Flight, Round 2
John with G/B/u/r
Game 1
He came out with a fast start thanks to Kami of the Hunt Ogre Marauder. He was especially annoying for a defensive deck like mine. Fortunately, I drew mountain for the Blind with Anger I had in my opening hand and wrecked him, stealing his Kami to sacrifice it to the Marauder, and blocking the ogre with my 1/4 Moonlist spirit. He played the 3/3 demon that loses a life whenever you attack or block, but I had Hisoka's Defiance ready for his Painwrecker Oni. That turned out to be a good thing as I later found out that he had the dance that gave all creatures +1/+0 and fear.
Game 2
I drew one of my best hands ever. Hisoka defied one of his spirits, then I followed up with Callow Jushi. Two Shimmering Glasskites, a Faithful Squire, and a Teller of Talers later I had complete flying dominance. It helped that he thought the counters on Callow Jushi fell off when it flipped, as I countered one of his nasty legendary bombs (I don't remember which one though).
Individual Flight, Round 3
Matt with G/R/b
Game 1
As happens often to my opponents, he gets manascrewed so I win.
Game 2
He played one of the most beautiful curves that I have ever seen. Second turn Orochi Sustainer. Third Turn Springcaller guy that gives him a G mana for the turn without any manaburning. Fourth turn Seshiro, the Anointed. At this point, the board is a 3/4 snake, a 4/6 snake, and a legendary snake that gives all snakes the Ophidian ability to nothing on my side of the board. i lost.
Game 3
A very interesting game. Eventually, he started to gain on me as my hand filled up with both of my Torrents and Blind with Anger in my hand and no mountain in sight. I finally got the mountain but by that time a No-Dachi on his side had put me on the ropes. The Matsu Sniper guy kept tapping my only creature, a Teller of Tales. When I tried to use Blind with Anger, he torrented that creature in response. That left enough attackers to knock me down to zero.
After two rounds, Luke, Andy and I had gone 2-0. But Luke and Andy got paired up, which meant only one of them would be 3-0. Luke prevailed, dealing the last point of damage by Stirring the Grave for a Bile Urchin. At 2-1, there was a chance that Andy I would get paired up.
Individual Flight, Round 4
Andy with U/W
Game 1
It would be a sort of a mirror match. Whoever drew their better cards would win. Andy's Kentaro, the Smiling Cat had an awkward moment where he saw himself on my side and they both threw themselves into the graveyard. Meloku the Clouded Mirror is some good, and unfortunately she was summoned on Andy's side.
Game 2
My deck coughed on me since I was due a mana-related loss.
At this point, the tournament organizer aptly named "Tall Mike" announced that he would be willing to shave a round off and distribute prizes. He did a pretty job, splitting the prizes so everyone got at least one pack. It's a good way to appease people who want to leave early, as it was nearly eleven o'clock by then. I got two packs with my 2-1 record, while Andy and Luke received ten packs for their 3-1 showing. I also managed to get a free random T-shirt.
I have to give props to Tall Mike, the owner of the Game Room in Little Rock. His tournaments are so well organized that I don't mind driving five hours to play in them. Also major props to Andy's dad for letting us stay in his house for two nights. And props to my opponents for being good sports. Props to Andy for driving from Little Rock to Fayetteville so I could squeeze this report in.
Slops to the long wait. I don't think I can blame anyone in particular for that one, except perhaps ourselves for being a bit sloppy with our time management. Oh well.
Final thoughts go to Block Constructed, which means that I might actually jump back in if Ft. Smith ever gets a decent Magic base again. We've thrown out ideas for a snake deck, a B/R control deck, and some sort of spirit deck but nothing solid. The project that we traded for was the seemingly combolicious Meloku and Asuza, with protection from Kira, the Glass Spinner. Acceleration into a bunch of flyers seems pretty good. If that actually remains viable by the PTQ season remains to to be seen.
Good times, good times. Alas, now I have to face up the homework that I have yet to complete.
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