Well since one of my extended tournaments fell through this past weekend, I chose to make the trek up to MD to play magic.

From Charlotte that's a 400 mile drive. I must really like this game or something to foot a hotel bill as well as a 7 hour drive.

I did some playtesting on Saturday with "Option C" against Big Blue and Slivers. Two decks that Sligh shouldn't be able to beat. Particularly since the big blue deck ran 3 Powder Kegs and 3 Disks... in the main! We played about 10 games and Option C won every one. With my decent results in Roanoke and the consistency of the deck, the trip was on.

The event was well attended. I don't have exact numbers but I'd estimate somewhere between 80-100 participants. We had 7 rounds of swiss before cutting to T8. I ran Option C with the only mod being dropping Anarchy's in favor of Apocalpse... a jaw dropping reset button.

Round 1: GW Armadillo Cloak Jank 2-0
Game 1, my opponent can't find any creatures.
Game 2, I wasted a Treetop Village and he couldn't find any land. I have 4 entries for his life total... 20, 18, 8, 4.

Round 2: RWU Mage/Finkle/Fire/Verdict kinda like star spangled slaughter but no lightning angels. 2-1
He takes the first game but I get the next two. The last game went down to the wire, but I dropped a fifth land to flashback a firebolt.

Round 3: Monoblack shadow, no hatred. 2-0
Oh my. This is a gift against Sligh.
Game 1: Vandalized his scroll. Burn his zombie tokens and he dies from repeated upkeep on 2 sacromancies.
Game 2: I don't side anything in. I toast his early shadow threats. He casts.... a Negator. I fireblast it to take all his land, then incinerate it next turn to remove it and his land drop.


Round 4: Mono blue with propaganda maindeck 1-2
I took the first game easily enough despite propaganda. The second game I died to a Masticore that I couldn't remove. The final game was to the wire, but I had a hoser up my sleeve. After pyroing key cards, I found myself staring at a Masticore and Propaganda with little chance of dealing with either. With only 2 cards in hand to lose, I cast... Apocalpse . After all, I'm playing a fast red deck, my opponent is at 5 life. I should be able to out topdeck him? My first card is a wasteland. I don't draw any land for the next 10 turns allowing my opponent to build up enough land to cast another Masticore and bash my head in.  BTW, my license plate starts with "MZE".

Round 5: Turboland Oath 1-2
I win the first but lose the next 2 games. The last game went to the wire, but he had too many spike feeders. Ok, so I have 2 losses so I'm out of the top 8, but I'll keep playing and see if I can get the amateur prize.

Round 6: Rock and his Millions 2-0
Oh no. I'm not happy to see this deck as it was the type that destroyed me at the roanoke PTQ. Fortunately, my opponent either isn't playing or never draws Yavimaya Elders. Game 1: my opponents life totals are 20, 14, 11, 5. Game 2: I fireblast a wall and use my fanatic to kill a bird. It takes a few turns but my pups beatdown for the win. My opponent had 4 lands when I took out his bird and he couldn't find a 5th for the Plaguelord and 3 Spiritmongers in his hand.

Round 7: PT Junk 2-1
At this point I'm at 20th place and at the top of the tiebreaks for the folks in my point bracket. I figure if I can win, I can squeek in at 10th. Game 1 I die from too many boas and lynxes. Game 2 I have 2 wasteland in my opening hand and stymie my opponents white sources. Unfortunately I don't find my 3rd source of red mana until late, but i finally start casting the 3 ball lightings and pull out the win with 1 life. Game 3 also had 2 early wastelands and I wittled my opponent down to Price of Progress range.

Well good enough. I finish the day with a 5-2 record. There are prizes for the top 2 amateurs who don't make the top 8. After the scores are tallied, I'm in..... 11th place!?!

But, as it turns out, one of guys in either 9th or 10th has some pro-tour points so I'm entitled to product: a box of Odyssey! Awesome. That makes up for my hotel bill (forget gas... i drive a diesel... the roundtrip just a little over 1 tank of fuel) So, despite not making T8, I'm on cloud nine that I hung in there despite my early second loss.

Pup