Whoo!
I mean, WHOO!!!
What a rush! I've never been so excited and tired and proud and relieved and excited and pumped and amped and juiced (not in the Barry Bonds way) and excited and several hundred non-liquid dollars richer!
That's right, I just got back from a tournament in Michigan, and I came back with a Mox Sapphire in tow.
WHOOOO!!!
Okay, I think I need to go throw up or pee or something like that. I'll be right back.
…
Better, better. I'm better now.
WHOOO!!!
Okay, for real. It went down like this: I'm at home for the weekend to get some laundry done when I find out about this tournament that, because I'm home, is about three hours closer. I convince Anthony and Justin to ride with me up to Michigan at about midnight last night. Registration starts at eleven, so we need to get an early start and Justin immediately breaks out a bottle of Tanqueray in order to celebrate the decision. Then we drunkenly play two more hours of Magic and it's sweet because Justin kills me turn 1 with a very, very angry (read: Hatred) Raging Goblin; Anthony burns us all out with a Hurricane for 321; and I get everyone under a Zur's Weirding-Words of Worship lock since Justin has no lands and Anthony has no relevant spells.
We are all of legal drinking age and everything, so it's okay, but it leaves none of us feeling really up to driving in the morning. After some food and coffee (none for me, thanks, I don't like it) I agree to take the wheel for the two hour drive.
On the way, we regale each other with tales of previous drinking and Magic exploits. We agree that nothing is quite as good as the time my cousin Jeff had to remove his pants and underwear to win a game of Unglued-Unhinged madness. Remind me to tell you about that sometime.
Charlie's Cards and Comics
1532 North State St.
Dearborn, MI 48124
We get to the store in good time and not too much worse for wear, except that I'm really thirsty. I pay $2 for a bottle of water, like a sucker and feel bad about it because water comes out of the tap for free (mostly) and it's a shame to have to pay for it.
I register this concoction, and the tournament organizer guy takes our $25:
4x Mishra's Workshop
4x Great Furnace
4x Seat of the Synod
3x Darksteel Citadel
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Mana Vault
1x Mox Diamond
1x Sol Ring
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
1x Black Lotus
4x Thirst for Knowledge
3x Impulse
1x Frantic Search
1x Tinker
1x Chain of Vapor
2x Fire/Ice
4x Goblin Welder
3x Metal Worker
3x Sundering Titan
2x Gorilla Shaman
2x Juggernaut
1x Triskelion
1x Platinum Angel
1x Duplicant
2x Crucible of Worlds
2x Mindslaver
1x Memory Jar
1x Jester's Cap
1x Trinisphere
Sideboard
3x Tormod's Crypt
3x Red Elemental Blast
3x Razorfin Hunter
2x Nevinyrral's Disk
2x Powder Keg
2x Rebuild
Justin decides to go with Mono-W Fish to fool everyone at the tournament (namely Anthony and me) who expect him to play something with black in it. Anthony is unoriginal and decides to play 5c Twaun Stax.
We get paired up, and I have to sit at the back of the hall right under a heating duct that has me sweating profusely in a matter of seconds like the disgusting gamer dork that I am. I remove my sweatshirt and shuffle up for
Round 1 - Steve playing Ichorid.
Game 1 - I get an early Trike and Welder that keeps his 1 toughness creatures from doing too much damage to me. Eventually he Darkblasts my Welder and drops a Null Rod that I can't find an answer to and beats me down through a Sundering Titan. My life drops in multiples of three.
I am sad, but I side in my Tormod's Crypts and Razorfin Hunters for some mana artifacts, Memory Jar, and Trinisphere.
Game 2 - I get two first turn Tormod's Crypts into play and a second turn Jester's Cap for Null Rods. He puts early pressure on me by dredging almost everything into his graveyard and using a luckily found Oxidize on one of my Crypts. I crypt his graveyard and get two Ashen Ghouls and two Ichorids. My mana ramps up quickly, though, and I drop Mindslaver like a rock. His next attack takes me to two. My mana is such that the only thing I have to activate the Mindslaver is to tap my Tolarian Academy for five, so I do that, burn for 1, and take his turn.
And it's awesome! Using the Careful Study and the Brainstorm in his hand, I dredge the rest of his library and end his turn for him. Two turns later, I am the winner.
Game 3 - I Tinker for Platinum Angel early and he never finds an answer for it. I end the game at negative 36 life and win because Platinum Angel is like cheating. Razorfin Hunter is pretty good, too. I was holding off Ashen Ghouls for a while with that guy, until it got Darkblasted that is.
I got lucky, obviously, but that's still good news, though, right? Winning and all, like that. That's just the first step on the way to victory.
1-0-0 matches; 2-1-0 games
Round 2 - Andy playing UR Fish
Game 1 - Fish is usually a pretty good matchup for my deck, so even though he Wastelanded a Mishra's Workshop and my only early source of red mana and dropped a first turn Chalice of the Void for zero, I got out enough mana to put a Metalworker into play. Next turn, I draw a Sol Ring and decide to take a gamble. I try to Sundering Titan, which gets through, so I casually Tinker for, yes, another Sundering Titan. Little tiny fish can't stand up very well to one Titan usually, and two was far too much to handle. His mana never recovered and I won in short order.
I side in Razorfin Hunters again and Powder Kegs in place of Jester's Cap, Duplicant, and some mana artifacts.
Game 2 - This ridiculously long game is brought to you by Viagra; "For ridiculously long games, try Viagra!" We stalemate early as I get two early Razorfin Hunters to stop him from attacking me and he gets an early Null Rod to stop me from doing much of anything at all. He counters my Tinker for Titan and eventually plays an Energy Flux, which is terrible, terrible, terrible. My artifacts die, but he can't draw more creatures and my Hunters are will have him dead eventually, I figure. He delays me enough that we go into extra turns. He Time Walks to no avail, but the turn advantage that gives him means we end up drawing in game two.
Luckily for me a tie is as good as a win, since I took game one! WHOO!!!
I unsideboard and kiss my deck on the lips. There may or may not have been tongue.
2-0-0 matches; 3-1-1 games
Round 3 - Intentional Draw with Anthony
We're both doing pretty well and our opponents are as well, so we decide to scavenge for food instead of playing. The Wendy's down the street is obliging and the caffeine in my rootbeer goes a long way to relieving my headache that was either from lack of food, lack of sleep, or too much Tanqueray.
After gorging ourselves on cheeseburgers, we scout the rest of the field and discuss some of the decks. Because we're so click, though, nothing surprises or frightens us.
I buy a fourth Wasteland out of the case because it's in not-too-very good condition and I can talk the owner down to $7. The Wasteland gets wrapped in a purple sleeve immediately and stuck into UB Fish in place of a Mishra's Factory.
Justin wins his match against some teenager's Mono-B Control and weeps a little for having beaten his favorite deck of all time. He weeps a little more when we get paired up in Round 4 because I have a strict "No IDs with Justin" policy, because I secretly hate him.
2-0-1 matches; 4-2-2 games
Round 4 - Justin playing Mono-W Fish
Game 1 - He mulligans to five but finds no disruption against me at all while I go to town. On turn 4 my Sundering Titan goes farming, but that just makes me end the game at more than 20 life. Even my Welders were attacking after I killed his board with Triskelion. On his last turn, I Cap him and laugh.
Game 2 - My bad karma gets the better of me, and everything Justin couldn't do in the last game he does against me in this one. There's Wastelands galore and more Swords than I can count. My mana goes from zero to three to zero to one to zero and stays there for the rest of the game. I'm left with three Moxes in my hand that I can't play due to Chalice of the Void, an Impulse, a Welder, a Keg, a Chain of Vapor, and Platty. I died in six turns with one useless Keg on the board; he has 14 permanents, including four creatures that attack for two.
This is the worst beating I've ever taken, I think, and all of my orifices hurt…a lot. Thankfully it's just game two and because the first games were so quick, we settle in for a battle.
Game 3 - We go back and forth as his Swords to Plowshares on my big creatures pretty much just negate his attacks. Neither of us really gets any disruption, and both of us manage to keep fairly filled hands throughout the game. Eventually I get a Powder Keg through and wipe his board of two-casting-cost utility creatures. This slows him down, but he plays out a few more that he was saving in his hand. My Welder goes through unmolested and I can recur Powder Keg every third turn until he gets out a Suppression Field. Luckily, I TfK into a Tinker and get Platinum Angel who stays in the game long enough to go all the way, even though I end the game at less than 0 life and in the third extra turn.
Justin and I shake hands an congratulate each other on a game well played. He again suggests that Platinum Angel is cheating, and I suggest that he might enjoy the walk home. Then we hug. Magic is fun.
3-0-1 matches; 6-3-2 games
At this point the tournament, since we had exactly 16 players, the tournament cuts to top four. Anthony and I make it in as the fourth and second ranked players, so we hope we'll meet in the finals and can split. Justin goes to get food as we shuffle up for the semifinals.
Anthony gets paired against my second round opponent and wins handily.
Semifinals - Justin (not that Justin) playing GrimLong
Game 1 - He gets a surprisingly slow start for Grim Long and has to go first turn Brainstorm, second turn Demonic Tutor to get set up while I play first turn Metalworker and second turn peel like a complete master. My second draw is the Mindslaver I need to absolutely wreck my opponents plans (Yawgmoth's Will is a waste when you don't actually do anything with it), and the third turn draw is the Crucible I need to institute infinite Mindslaver recursion for the win.
Aw, it was awesome. I've never felt so alive. This was an actual tournament win in an actual tournament semifinals. WHOO!!!
Game 2 - GrimLong does that sweet thing where it wins first turn. I just smile and laugh because I seriously, no lie, love watching combo win, especially when it does it fast. I think it was something like Land, Jet, Ritual, Lotus, Tutor for Will, Will, Lotus, Ritual, Tutor for Mind's Desire, win. I have no problem with that; go for it.
He certainly did.
WHOO!!! (but for him, not for me).
Game 3 - I have a first turn Trinisphere and a second turn Goblin Welder (off a Lotus) that makes my opponent very sad. On turn four he tries to play a Rebuild, but I Red Elemental Blast it while a Juggernaut goes the distance starting on turn 5.
That's right, Juggernaut went the distance. All the way to the finals.
Finals - Anthony playing 5c Twaun Stax
We immediately decide to split and shake on an equitable decision involving money, cards, and lovin'.
I keep the Sapphire-my first piece of power. Sigh. It turns out I'm not useless after all.
WHOO!!!
WHOO!!!
On the way home, Justin gets some gentle ribbing, but everyone is excited. We stop at Bob Evans for a sweet, sweet meal of potroast sandwiches, which are tech after an exciting day. Unfortunately, when I told my parents and my Magic playing friends about it, they really didn't understand. My girlfriend was proud though; thanks sweetie! And Justin and Anthony were psyched.
I need to go throw up or pee again, I'm so excited, so I'm gonna go.
WHOO!!!
WHOO!!!
WHOO!!!
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