Subject:      Baltimore Qualifier [Tournament Report]
From:         jshuler@mason2.gmu.edu (Stil)
Date:         1996/08/21

Hello people, it's me, your favorite "mondo-combo!" guy. I went to the
Baltimore Pro-Tour Qualifier on Sunday, and this is my report, written
up now because I work full-time, and haven't gotten around to it yet. I
lost most of my notes at the qualifier, so this will also be rather
fuzzy as I strain to remember details. Here we go:

(Oh, and I will ramble, so this will likely be a *long* post, you were
warned)

If you are looking to read the report of the winner, go somewhere else,
I didn't win it. :(

At 7:45am, I am awakened by a phone call from my friend Chad who lets me
know he's on my way to my house (we are meeting at my house and then
hitting the tournament, which is an hour away, in Odenton, I live 20
minutes west of D.C.). I wake up as well as I can (went to sleep at 5am,
was playing Magic, of course. :) ) and shower, et cetra. We hit the
road, and make it to the tournament site at around 9:15. After a short
registration line, I am assigned #101. The two guys I drove, Chad and
Eli, are both hungry, but we are immediately handed decks to catalouge
after we register, so no food for us. The deck I catalouged was ok,
nothing really great, nothing really bad. The guy next to me had a Cap
in his, and one guy had *2* Stormbinds in his. We eventually turn the
decks in, and wait. After everyone is finished registering (over 200
people, I think it hit 240), we finally get decks back. Chad's new deck
looks strong initially, but he has no real direct damage, and his only
good flier is a swamp mosquito. Eli's is not bad, He has Merie (however
you spell her name) the creature theif. He seems content with his cards.

My cards were as follows:
3 Forest (WHAT THE HELL!?! *3* FORESTS?!!?)
4 Island
4 Plains
6 Mountains (2 snowcovered)
5 Swamps

Multi:
Kjeldoran Frostbeast

Artifact:
Sunstone
Snow Fortress (This card *rocks* in sealed)
Phyrexian Warbeast (so does this one, early on)

Green: (remember, *3* forests)
Earthlore
Freyalise Supplicant
Scaled Wurm
Deadly Insect
Gargantuan Gorilla (sigh..3 forests)
Tarpan
Hail Storm (rocks)
Chub Toad
Juniper Order Druid
Whip Vine
2 Gorilla Berserkers (sigh..3 forests)
Folk of the Pines (sigh..3 forests)
Yavimaya Ancients
Maddening Wind

Black:
Swamp Mosquito
Drift of the Dead (I *always* get this, Avalanche, & Melting. Always)
Legions of Lim-Dul
Flow of Maggots
Soul Burn
Hyalopterous Lemure (rocks)
Contagion
Howl From Beyond
Foul Familiar
Knight of Stromgald

Red:
2 Agent of Stromgald
Varchild's Crusader
Goblin Ski Patrol
Imposing Visage
Avalanche (told ya...)
Stonehands
Guerrilla Tactics
Storm Shaman
Lava Burst
Mountain Goat

White:
Wild Aesthir
Reprisal
2 Kjeldoran Pride
Blessed Wine
Cop: Black
Cop: White
Cooperation
Mercenaries (ok, no melting this time, but mercenaries?)
Unlikely Alliance (rocks)
Kjeldoran Escort

Blue:
Diminishing Returns
Spiny Starfish
Mystic Remora
Ray of Erasure
Force Void
Mistfolk
Portent
Brainstorm
Soldevi Heretic
Krovikan Sorcerer
Zuran Enchanter

----
Looking at the above, I quickly discarded blue from being playable. The
Starfish, the Sorcerer, and the Enchanter were really the only useful
things, and there was no way I'd go blue just for them. White had some
stron spells: Reprisal, Escort, Alliance, Aesthir, and the Cop:black,
but 3 of the 5 require fairly intense white mana, and we all know how
sealed deck is with mana screw. :)

I had no choice, really. My green kicked some serious hiney (*3
Forests!!!*  arghh), except for the fact that I had so much green
intensive spells. I knew I'd play Black & Red, for the Burst, Burn,
Lemure, Shaman, Goat, Tactics, Contagion... Black was *really* strong. I
didn't get many red cards, but the ones I got were good. So.. the
problem of green. I solved it by getting *all* of my 5 optional land as
forests. They had run out of forests, so they gave me islands with
"forest" written on them.

Here was my final deck:
Land:
8 Forest (need 'em)
5 Swamp
5 Mountain

Artifact:
Snow Fortress
Phyrexian War Beast

Green:
Hail Storm
Chub Toad
Juniper Order Druid
Whip Vine
2 Gorilla Berserkers
Folk of the Pines
Yavimaya Ancients
Maddening Wind

Black:
Soul Burn
Hyalopterous Lemure
Contagion
Howl From Beyond
Foul Familiar
Knight of Stromgald

Red:
Agent of Stromgald
Stonehands
Guerrilla Tactics
Storm Shaman
Lava Burst
Mountain Goat
----

A tight, 41 card deck. I had a lot of mana intensive cards, but the
Agent helped out my double black, and I had 8 forests, after spending
all of my slots. I was going for a *very* offensive strategy, and I
thought my deck was pretty decent. Doing it again, I'd not put the Foul
Familiar in there, it didn't do a heck of a lot in the creature stalls,
I would have probably put in Varchild's Crusader, or maybe just gone to
40 cards.

Questions? I know, I know. The scaled wurm. Why didn't I put him in? He
costs too much. Alliances sealed decks tend to speed the game up, and
though I don't know if it was the right decision to not put him in, I
haven't really regreted it yet. After all, 8 land is a lot, even with 18
in the deck. No deadly insect because his defense is too low. He'd be a
great anti-wurm, but I was going offensive, with the exception of the
whip vine. I didn't have enough anti-flyer, and needed it.

I should have had the Earthlore in the main deck, I think. I sideboarded
it in quite a bit. I knew my deck would take some turns to get kicking,
with so many high/medium casting costs (cept for red... but NOTHING in
green cost under 3), and I didn't plan my defense adequately enough, as
you will soon see.

So, on to the actual matches...

I lost my records for all but the 1st & 4th match, so 2/3/5/6 will be
from memory.

We played 6 rounds of swiss, with the top 8 going into finals. You had
to have an insanely good record to get in. I think 3 people swept their
way in, 6-0. There was none of this stupid "better to go 2-1" stuff this
time, the tie-breakers were in the right order.

Match 1: Aaron, playing a R/G/B, just like me. :)

While we were waiting for deck lists to be collected, Aaron & I
exchanged ours for the hell of it, just to see what each other got. We
each got a *lot* of the same cards, except he had a Hordes & a tinder
wall. Uh oh.

Game 1: Aaron brings out an early war beast, and the war beast turns out
to have a fetish for Krovikans, making it a 4/5 monster. This is on turn
4. I am *quite* scared. Next turn he throws a soul kiss on it, and it
eats my mountain goat. The Beast eats my weenies, then on turn 8, he
puts a bestial Fury on it. I end up getting killed by an 11/9 Trampling,
Angry War Beast. I start to get depressed. I know my deck is too slow.

Game 2: He doesn't draw much in the way of good critters initially, and
by the time he does, I have out my snow fortress & folk, so he can't
really get through. I patiently wait for him to drop a mountain, at
which point I drop my mountain goat and stonehands it. He is killed by a
4 damage-a-turn mountain goat with really bad breath. Now he is a little
shaken.

Game 3: Game 2 took a long time, and when we start, the judge announces
that there are only 10 minutes left in the round. We both agree to play
fast, as *someone* should get the points. I get an awesome draw: 2
swamps, Knight, Warbeast, Mountain, Lemure, Forest. I bring out the
Knight on turn 2, with nothing else on the board. Turn 3 sees the war
beast, and turn 4, a Chub toad. He brings out a blocker (folk, I think),
and I drop a Lemure. He's had a lot of damage done to him, but next turn
he drops a Horde. Now I am worried. He kills my Folk with a Feast or
Famine, and attacks with the horde. uh oh.

   *** Mondo Combo Alert ***     *** Mondo Combo Alert ***

I block with my Chub Toad, and tactics the horde for the rest. woo hoo!
At this point, the judge announces that we only have 10 minutes left.
What the hell? He said that 8 minutes ago.. We slow down, but Aaron has
taken too much damage, and dies to the Lemure. We shake, and he tells me
he's staying in, since he does have a really good deck.

Score: 1/0 Match 2/1 Games

Match 2: After a *long* period, we finally get assigned new opponents.
My opponent is Rene (I know this name is wrong, I lost my notes, sue me.
:) ). He is playing Heavy, heavy white, some green, and some red, I
think.

Game 1: He tells me about his 2 wild Aesthirs & Ivory Gargoyle (UH OH!),
but I don't see any of them. I rip him apart with a beserker and a
knight.

Game 2: I am *worried*. During sideboarding, he has told me he has
Cops:Black/Red/Green. *all* of my colors. I get scared and throw into
the main deck 3 plains, my Cop:white, and my Aesthir. Hey, it's worth a
shot, right? My luck is good. Opening hand includes the Cop, and a
plains. When I drop the cop on turn 2, he looks at me suspiciously. I
say "Sideboard card, I am mondo!" and he laughs. His Gargoyle & one
Aesthir soon arrive, but my cop keeps me safe. He pops out his
cop:green, and there is nothing I can do, as those are the only critters
I draw. Finally, I draw *my* Aesthir and cast it. I Soul Burn his
Aesthir and start attack with mine. Initially he blocks with the
Gargoyle, but I start getting too much card advantage that way, and he
has to let it through. He dies a long, painful death, when a mountain
goat hits the table, too.

Game 3: He is mana screwed initially, and I pound with a ley druid (ley
druid? juniper order, whatever) and a chub toad before he can get up a
defense. I end the game with a lava burst.

Record: 2/0 Match, 5/1 Games

At this point, I am starving. There is a long line to report scores, so
after I match up with my opponent, I go to McDonalds. They screw up my
order, and I get back JUST as the round starts, I was lucky, my opponent
waited for me. I let him have some nuggets. :)

Round 3:

I don't remember my opponent's name, but he was pretty cool. He was
playing Red/Green/Blue? (not sure on the blue). He put out a scaled wurn
on the 5th turn with a tinder wall & lumberjack, but I get out the Snow
Fortress next turn, so I'm not too bad off. I manage to nick away with a
mountain goat until he flares it, and we are in a creature stalemate. I
sit and build mana for a lava burst, and burst him for 14 late in the
game.

Game 2: Same thing with the Wurm, except it was turn 7. I draw my
Fortress the next turn. This time, however, he has a trick up his
sleeve. He asks how much I can pump its defense, and I count my lands
out loud, I have 8 untapped, making my snow fortress a possible 0/12. He
attacks with his wurm, and howls it to be a 12/6. I then..

*** Mondo Alert ***            *** Mondo Alert ***

 Untap a land with my Juniper order druid that had gone by unnoticed,
and make the snowfortress a 0/13!!! woo hoo!
His wurm is later killed by group blocking & a suprise contagion, and I
win with critter advantage.

Game 3: I just wallop on him with 2 beserkers, he only has 2 creatures
out, and is hitting me for 3 a turn. He takes 4 a turn, and I win.

Score: 3/0 Match, 8/1 Games

At this point, I am pretty happy, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to start
losing, as I hit the better decks.

Round 4: (hey I have notes!)

My opponent is the Junior National Champion, I don't recall his name, he
was short, and a little chubby. Far too arrogant, calling people "bitch"
and "ho".
He's playing U/W/? with good blue flyers & countering.

Game 1: I put out a Berserker on turn 5, and Stonehands it on turn 6. He
dies. Fast.
Well, he managed to drop 3 critters, then ray of commanded my juniper
order druid to help block when I attacked, but of course, I just
assigned all the trample to one critter. That killed him. mauahahha.
Should have rayed the berserker, to live another turn..

Game 2: I put out a chub toad & Lemure early. He is mana screwed, but by
the time he recovers and throws out a silver erne, I just contagion it,
and kill him with the lemure.

Game 3: I cast a 3rd turn War Beast. He counters it. I cast a 5th turn
Lemure. He counters it. I am not happy. He drops a zuran spellpinger,
and I put out a ley druid & a mountain goat at the same time to keep him
distracted. He pings both of them, but I slip a maddening wind on the
spellpinger, and put out a beserker. The wind & beserker take him down
to 9, and I lava burst him for 8, letting the maddening wind kill him on
his upkeep. MONDO!! :)

Score: Matches 4/0 Games: 11/1

Now, I start to lose. :)

Round 5 was against another 4/0, with 3 game losses. I have no idea how
he lost, he had an INCREDIBLE deck.

This guy has a hordes, the +2/+2 elite guard guy, carrier pigeons,
shield of the ages, false demise, counterspells, and loads of creature
elim.

Game 1: He wastes me with a demised 3/3 carrier pigeon, thanks to its
lessons from the elite guard. I could have won this by soul burning away
the guard, but I was tired and not thinking. My lava burst to the pigeon
was countered.

Game 2: I do the white switch, but add  in reprisal, and a 4th plains. I
pull out the familiar. I manage to reprisal his Hordes, but he kills me
yet again with a 3/3 carrier pigeon, even after I lava burst the elite
guard (he of course, reinforces his Horde & guard). sigh.

Game 3: He pulls an early shield of the ages, and I manage to get iyt a
out a lemure and an Aesthir. I am pounding away, and killing his
creatures, but he is only taking one, due to a LOT of land and the
shield.  He keeps taking one a turn, and I eventually have out 5
creatures to his one (forget what it was.. a wall of some sort), he's
dead in 2 turns, and time is called, so I don't get the points. DAMN

I hate having time called.

Anyway, my record is now: Matches 4/1 Games 11/3
at least that opponent was also undefeated.

Round 6. I've GOT to win if I want the remotest chance at making the
final 8, and i know that a lot of 5/1s won't even make it.

My opponent is Sean, who is playing W/G/U. He is a *great* opponent.
Extremely friendly, which is a nice change from the rest of my
opponents, who were all grumpy or into the game. Before our match, he
says "I have to beat you" I say "I have to beat you". We shake hands,
and start to play. Sean is so friendly that as my friends Eli & Chad
show up a little later (they had dropped out earlier, bad records), they
start rooting for *HIM*, and not me! They are kidding, but it is funny.
Sean is hilarious, and he plays the game like I like to play it, with an
element of fun, and joking around. Even as deadly serious as the game
is, with respect to the fact that only 1 of us can have a chance at the
final 8, we both have a great time playing.

Game 1: I discover that Sean is playing with a life deck. He has a Taste
of Pardise, a Royal Herbalist, a Shield of the Ages, a Zuran Orb, an
Elvish Healer, and something else I forget. Insane, yes? He also has a
War Beast that he brings out very quickly, and throws a Viscerid Armor
on it. He says (before armor):
"My war beast comes over to say hi!" (attacking)
me: "damn it, I don't want him over here saying hi!"
sean: "that's rather rude, he's just coming over for dinner, and you
should treat him like a guest!"
me: "but he always trashes the place whenever he comes over, and he
NEVER makes his bed when he leaves!"

it went on like this for all 3 games, I had a *great* times playing, for
once. Usually it's just win, win, win... but this shows that you can
play to win and still have fun. Sean really energized me, as I was
getting quite tired. I tried to end the game by lava bursting him, but e
he used Scars of the Vetern on himself (that was the other life card)
and lived a little longer, but I eventually finished him off with a
lemure.

Game 2: I am worried about that Scars, it's a nasty card if played
correctly. He once AGAIN puts out the Armored War beast, and I only get
out a regular war beast. My Folk of the pines keep the beast at bay, and
we hit a stalemate, droping creatures, until he puts out an Arjnolt's
Ascent. My reaction:

"Well, that's quite rude, now isn't it?"

Sean grinned and attacked with his flying walking wall and war beast. My
Whip vine tied down his wall (think he forgot about it) but the beast
kept pounding on me. I eventually got out of it (don't remember
how..burned the beast?) and killed him. It took a WHILE, as he just
refused to die with all his life gainers/damage preventers

Game 3: We only have 15 minutes, so I apologize and say I'm going to
play fast. He says he understands and we get it on. I get out a good
quick creature armada, and after a short battle, finish him off.

Final Swiss Record: Matches 5/1 Games 14/3

I don't think I'll make it. At least 3 people swept, and there are a LOT
of 5/1s.
But

I end up being the 8th person called. Woo hoo! Woo Hoo! Mondo!

The guy who beat me in round 5 is in the finals, as is a fellow Pox
strategist who went 6/0, and a friend of mine that I see every so often
at the game parlor. Oh, on a REALLY funny note, the Pox guy got a pox,
and used it during the swiss! :) no joke.

Anyway, we all sit down and open our new packs (final 8 get new ones).

I open the starter first. First card I see: Walking wall. Alright!
Second card I see: Icy Manipulator. YES! I'll have a great deck!
Unfortunately, it goes quite downhill from there. I get a Lava Burst,
and that's about it. Here's my card breakdown (damn it's getting late,
I'll have to wrap this up pretty soon):

Land:
Plains: 3 (uh oh)
Swamps: 3 (UH OH)
Island: 6
Forest: 5
Mountain: 5

Aaarrrghhhh!!! Why can't I just *once* get an even land distribution!?

Artifact:
Staff of the Ages
Sunstone (yes, again, it follows me)
Soldevi Digger
Walking Wall
Barbed Sextant
Icy Manipulator

Multi:
Lim Dul's Vault

Black:
Howl From Beyond
Legions of Lim-Dul
Soldevi Adnate
Kjeldoran Dead
Misinformation
2 Fevered Strength
Seizures
Ashen Ghoul
Stromgald Spy

Blue:
2 Arcane Denial (good)
Power Sink
Phantasmal Mount
Illusionary Wall
Soul Barrier
Errant Minion
Diminishing Returns
Mystic Remora
Portent

Red:
2 Storm Shaman
Flare
Lava Burst (woo hoo!)
Tor Giant
Mountain Goat
Anarchy
Burnout
Panic
Bestial Fury
Total War

White:
Order of the White Shield (yes, now a white pump knight. :) )
Reprisal
2 Kjeldoran Escort
Errant of Duty
Cop: Green (YES! I said many times if I ever got this in AL/IA, I'd put
it in the main deck, with 2 plains if I wasn't playing white. this thing
is GREAT, everyone plays green in AL/IA sealed, right? right?)
Unlikely Alliance
Kelsinko Ranger
Martyrdom
Cooperation (this follows me around, too)
Rally
Prismatic Ward
Blessed Wine
Kjeldoran Guard

Green:
Stampede
Earthlore
Tarpan
Nature's Lore
2 Gift of the Woods (my alliances packs had lotsa dupes)
Wooly Spider
Brown Ouphe
2 Whip Vine

----

sigh... this is the weakest card pool I've ever had to build from in
this sort of environment. My best green creature is a wooly spider?!!?
in AL/IA?!?! What the hell? NO attackers with a power over 3, and only 3
WITH power of 3? I'm dead. Toast. Gone. Bye Bye. I was quite upset.

14 cards & 11 cards in the colors I only got 3 land of? This sucks.
Well, I knew I couldn't NOT take blue, with 3 counterspells, so that was
a definate. I had nothing else to do. :)  Red was a definate, because at
least maybe my 2 Storm Shamans could have a power over 3 (never did),
and because of the lava burst/goat/giant. So, I'm red & blue.. what is
my 3rd color? Green? With only *3* creatures capable of attacking my
opponent? Isn't green the critter color? No green for me. So it's either
White or black. I know I can't have both, as I only have 3 land of each,
and have already picked u/r (well, the land helped me decide that). Do I
want white, which will require massive mana support (3 good critters are
ALL double white, 2 of 3 cost 5 mana, or do I want black, which give me
the ghoul/spy/legion/adnate/dead? The special abilities of the white
critters, and the reprisal, & my COP promise make me pick white.

My final deck:

7 Plains (yep, picked 4 as my basic lands, with a mountain)
5 Mountain
5 Island
1 Swamp

Artifact:
Soldevi Digger
Walking Wall
Barbed Sextant
Icy Manipulator

Multi:
Lim Dul's Vault (find the burst/defense)

Black:
Howl From Beyond (for the goat)

Blue:
2 Arcane Denial (Anti-critter, really)
Power Sink
Phantasmal Mount
Illusionary Wall

Red:
Mountain Goat
Tor Giant
Lava Burst
Flare
2 Storm Shaman

White:
Cop:Green
2 Kjeldoran Escort
Errand of Duty
Reprisal
Order of the White Shield

----

once again, 41 cards, but with a much different strategy. I had no
non-wall fliers, and little creature elim. No Artifact or Enchantment
elim. Oh Well, I'll just lose immediately.

Round of 8:
I'm matched up against my friend. Damn. That's the way the cookie
crumbles, I guess. My deak is weak, and if I have to lose, better to
lose to a friend.

Game 1: He brings out a War Beast (I think, memory fuzzy), and Bestial
Furies it. I manage to reprisal it between blocking and damage dealing,
and I stay alive long enough to lava burst him to death.

Game 2: He brings out an enslaved scout pretty early, and slaps an
errantry on it. That's game. 5 a turn kills me quick.

Game 3: I sideboard in.... (mondo noises, please!) Staff of the ages!
And after he slaps down his scount, I put down the staff. I draw my
mountain goat next turn, of course. :)  My Icy keeps his threats tapped,
and I lava burst him for 13, 2 turns before I would have died to his
rapidly growing threats

well, I made the final 4! At least I'll get a good prize.

Round of 4:
I know my opponent, I've played him before at a sealed deck in
Frederick, MD. He's quite good. His deck is U/R/B. He's got a Phantasmal
Fiend, Moor Fiend, 4/4 cum upkeep flier, a counterspell, pyrokenesis,
and a whole bunch of nasty stuff. He just beat a deck with Stormbind,
and took stormbind boy out of contention. I am scared.

Game 1: I bring out 2 early escorts, somehow, and pound away at him, but
he brings out his 4/4 flier. My reprisal is nowhere in sight, but he
keeps it as a blocker, and stalls for time. I manage to get te lava
burst, and nail him with it. My cop:green has me sucking wind. 2
opponents in a row with NO green? what the hell?

At this point, my friend chad, who is watching, mentions that I am one
game away from being in the Pro Tour. I had not realized this, and it
*really* shakes me up. I'm an ok player, but nothing special. I get
nervous.

Game 2: I sideboard in blessed wine, portent, and Kjeldoran guard. He
rituals out a Moor Fiend on turn 2, and I take a hit before my storm
shaman comes out to play. The game grinds to a halt, nothing happening.
Eventually, he breaks the stalemate by pyrokinesising away my knight,
and some of my critters after I group block a massive attack. He
coordinated it extremely well, and also incinerated an escort. He ended
up killing 4 of my creatures that turn, and leaving me with a mountain
goat. None of his creatures died. He quickly finished me off.
OH, did I mention he mind-warped me for all 4 cards in my hand at one
point? Yes, I lost the lava burst. Just a WRONG game.

Ok, this is it. Now or never, final game.

I start off well with an early escort & shaman, but he puts out a
Phantasmal fiend and a moor fiend. I am starting to notice that he
hasn't cast anything blue in a while, then I see white cards hit the
table. An Aesthir, to take advantage of my flyer weakness. This is a
(an) interesting turn of events.. no blue? Could he have sideboarded out
his blue for white (he did, I later found out)? Sideboarding out his
counterspell, when he KNOWS I have a lava burst? hmmm.. the Aesthir
really pounds the hell out of me, until I manage to flare it the turn
after he plays the second plains to pump it up. The Breaking point of
the game came when he Attacked me with all of his creatures, and after I
declared blocking, he cast Omen Of Fire. I *HATE* this card. I play a
mono-blue T2, and with the invention of Tstasis, people have started
sideboarding this stuff. Anyway, I was toast. 3 of my 4 creatures were
white, and they were about to go. He had a big grin on his face, and I
knew I was toast. I stood up in my chair and yelled to the 20 or so
people left:

"Attention! Attention please! This guy just cast an OMEN OF FIRE against
me in sealed deck! This is cheese! he needs to be disqualified!"

no one listened. :(

But.

but...

**** MONDO ALERT ****              **** MONDO ALERT ****

ready?

After I sat back down, I took a look at his lands. 3 left untapped. I
took a look at my lands. 5 left untapped. I was able to powersink the
Omen for 4, and it didn't happen. He didn't like that. 1 land less for
me, or more for him, and the win would have been his EASILY. I draw my
lava burst and my unlikely alliance, which I had sideboarded in 3rd game
(should have been in the deck all along), and bursted him for 7 when he
was at 6. He died.

I was in finals. More importantly, I was GOING TO THE PRO TOUR, BABY!

Finals:

I'm playing against Biren Amin, a very, very, very, very, very, very
good player, who has made it to the finals of the last 3 qualifiers he's
entered. what's more, he has an INSANELY good deck. Skill+good deck = a
dead me.

first game, I get out both escorts, the giant, and the icy. He's got a
4/1 Hydra, an Abysall Spectre, and a Moor Fiend. I'm going to kill him
next turn, thanks to the icy, but on his turn he essence flares his
spectre, and attacks, doing JUST enough damage to kill me.

second game, he squashes me like a bug hitting a windshield on 95.
Everything I put out gets Incinerated/Blasted/et cetra.. he kills ALL me
my permanents. oh, and did I mention he had out a Viscerid drone? when
he blasted my giant, I said "is that the 'destroy all of opponent's
permanents card?'" and he laughed and said yes, so I gathered up my
permanents, and threw them backwards over my head, and just shook my
head and said "damn, I wish I could get a card like that". I would have
died in a few turns, so why not go out with a bang? :)

Anyway, being a finalist isn't that bad, especially for an unranked DCI
player such as myself. I got 16 packs of Alliances, 4 Japanese 4th
boosters, 4 Italian Legends boosters (got an Abyss & a Pentacle!), and
$100 travel money. I convinced the guy running the tourny (Mahoney) to
sponsor me, and so he gave me $100, and a neat shirt.

that's my story, and I NEED to go to sleep now, I work in the morning.

being mondo,

John Shuler

-/|\-/|\-/|\-/|\-/|\-/|\-/|\-/|\-/|\-/|\-/|\-/|\-/|\-/|\-/|\-/|\-/|\-
The contraction "You're" does not indicate possessive. It indicates a
state of being, or, more commonly, a description of the person being
addressed.
The word "Your" does indicate possesive. It does NOT indicate a state of
being, or a description.
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