I got up bright and early and decided to brave the buses today. Saving $50 seems like a good idea and if the bus was really slow I could just get out and call a cab from the middle of nowhere. I was a little afraid the bus wasn't going to run that early on a Sunday but the worry was unfounded and I made it to the tournament site with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately between watching Dude, Where's My Car? the night before and getting up in time to make sure I caught the bus I didn't get a full night's sleep. This whole staying on site thing seems better ad better...
At any rate, I am currently 5-2. I haven't bothered to look at the standings or crunch any numbers but from overhearing other people it seems like not every 9-3 will make it in. If any 9-3 doesn't make it in it's going to be me since my breakers are terrible, so I guess I need to win out.
Round 8
My opponent is playing black/red beats with some bloodthirst dudes. He gets a pretty fast start in game 1 and I trade a bit. I end up at 16 life with him having a 4/4 and a 5/5 (Al Gore) in play. I have nothing, and it is my 6th turn. I've had inferno titan in my hand all along, but doming him for 3 seems a little weak. I draw for the turn and it's a basilisk. In retrospect the right play here is to play the basilisk. If he has removal that kills the basilisk it also kills the titan. I can block the 4/4 with my 3/5 and even if he has removal for the 1-for-2 I still have titan back and he'd need another removal spell for another 2 for one next turn. And maybe he'll even play some cheap dude I can kill with it.
Instead I just run out the titan for no good reason. My plan apparently is he has nothing at all to back up his dudes. I block the 5/5, he has chandra's outrage for the 1-for-2. I then bust out the basilisk and he has no immediate answer for it. I get out both my crown and my satchel but he beats me down to 4 life. I can either tap his 4/4 or his 1/1 unblockable. I choose the 4/4 (he'd killed the basilisk somehow by this point or maybe I'd attacked with it) and he incinerates me.
In retrospect I almost certainly win if I play my creatures in the right order on turn 6. Or if I'd tapped his unblockable guy I likely have chances. (I have a 1/1 to chump with.)
Now, there is a pretty big downside to drafting on a different day than you play. And it's that if you aren't on the ball you can forget what's in your deck. Like I did this game, with combust, which is terrible against a red/black deck. I didn't draw it but it was still a huge mistake to leave it in.
Game 2 he stalls on 3 land for a long time. I am mana flooded. Unfortunately his deck is full of terrible cheap dudes and the fact he only has 3 lands means he has lots of cheap dudes. I trade as much as I can but eventually lands don't trade with creatures and I get run over.
I am sad, since I now almost certainly can't make top 8, but I made a couple mistakes so it is my own fault. Going home at this point seems silly so I decide to stick it out. Also there are prizes to top 16 (only pro points, but I have to get Hall of Fame eligible somehow, right? Right?).
Round 9
My opponent this round is playing black/green. He has a lot of lifegain in his deck (stupid brindle boar) but it turns out it doesn't matter how many brindle boars you have, they don't block volcanic dragon and I kill him in game 1 without much fuss.
I decide to sideboard something in against him and find the combust. This is when I realize how terrible I was last round. I try to aggro him out but he has brindle boars to stay alive and trollhide on his 3/1 hexproof to bash me to death.
Game 3 he again has trollhide on wolf to make a 5/3 regenerating untargetable. For some reason he doesn't swing it into my 2/2 on turn 4. He didn't have regen mana up, but I couldn't kill it anyway. Except I had naturalize in my hand and totally would have killed it. He doesn't attack and I naturalize anyway. I'm mana flooded but I have a 4/4 trampler and my own trollhide. I decide if he has a removal spell right now I'm probably dead since he'll kill my dude and beat me down so I go for trollhide on my rhino. He doesn't have removal so I have a 6/6 trampling regenerator. I punch him for 6 over and over. He has brindle boars to stem the damage a little and 2 skeletons that he throws in front to absorb damage too.
Eventually he gets a second trollhide and makes his 5/3 regenerator again. I skip an attack for a turn because I'm stupid (just because his creature doesn't die doesn't mean I don't get to trample in). I'm afraid of overrun (I sided in a fog as well since he seemed to be playing the previous games like he had one in his deck) and want the game to end fast but don't really have a way to make that happen. Until I draw inferno titan, anyway. That kills a couple of his dudes and the next turn kills him off as well.
Round 10
Round 9 ended really fast so they decide to just start round 10. My opponent had looked at the clock, saw 16 minutes left in round 9, and went to the bathroom. So I got to wait around with no opponent for awhile, but because they started early she wasn't going to get a game loss for a long time. She eventually shows up, we get extra time, and we start.
She is playing caw-blade, and in game 1 uses a sac land to lose a life and busts out timely reinforcements to go up to 25 with 3 dorks in play. At this point I have 3 1/1 elves. I decide to play an archdruid and bash. She trades 2 tokens with an elf and chumps another. She casts a few powerful spells (wrath, jace, and gideon I think) but also draws a lot of land. She tapped out to wrath away my archdruid and I played a lead the stampede, nabbing 2 Ezuris to go with the 1 in my hand. 3 Ezuris end up being enough to power through her few actual spells and win me the game.
Game 2 is a complete blowout. She has a reasonable mix of lands and powerful spells. I do not. She ends the game having taken 1 damage from a painland (immediately healed up with timely reinforcements). I didn't hit her with any dudes after that, except with my poison guy who got in for 4 poison total.
As we're shuffling for game 3 I flip one of her cards. She doesn't think I need to call a judge but I do anyway since I had seen what it was. I get a warning as a result.
The actual game 3 had me stick a fauna shaman early. I filled my graveyard with vengevines and killed her. I think Ezuri also helped some elves survive a wrath.
Round 11
This round was not very interesting at all. My opponent was playing a pod deck, but he didn't draw a single pod the entire match. I played some elves and killed him easily both games.
Round 12
I get paired down (again) though it doesn't really matter. Even if I win I'll be 9-3 but 10th. My opponent is playing caw-blade and draws multiple wraths each game. Game 1 he actually gets gideon and karn online and uses that to steal my Ezuris before wrathing. Game 2 I have to mulligan twice and decide to risk playing out what little I have left after the first wrath. He has the second wrath. He then kills me with 1/1 flyers as I keep drawing land.
Ultimately I end up 8-4. The 8-4s spanned from 12th place to 25th place. I am, of course, 25th.
I run into Josh and he says at least there will be gaming later. I ask when and he makes a face. He's actually working and the top 8 is important to cover, I think. He says it won't be for a long time and sends me home. I decide there's not really much I'd be doing at home (I consider calling my D&D friends and seeing if they're both all available and willing to pick me up at the airport) and decide to just hang out in the hotel lobby reading my book until Nationals ends. I finish off Clash of Kings and get a good way into Storm of Swords. Eventually Josh is done working and I teach him Roll Through The Ages and Innovation before heading home to sleep before work on Monday.
As I said earlier, I didn't enjoy this Nationals as much as previous years because all the cool chrome was gone. I don't know if that was just this year or if it is a fact of life going forward but I do wish I hadn't bothered with it this year. Probably I won't bother going forward either, if I am even qualified anymore, but we'll see.
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