My name is Abe Corson and I am a computer science student at Virginia Tech. I played in the type 1 side event at Virginia States yesterday. Here’s what happened.

Friday –

My trusty sidekick Egon and I discuss going to VA states this year. Egon isn’t really a type 1 player, but is interested in playing the main event. Jordan can’t go with us, so apparently it is just me and EZ E for the weekend. John walks in at some point and we realize that we should invite him to come with us, as he has a propensity to win drafts. He’s up for it, so that finalizes that.

There are a few problems, however. First of all, Egon has no deck. During the summer, I usually lend him every card he needs for type 2, but we’re home then. Most of my cards are in northern VA and I just have my type 1 stuff with me at school. The other problem is that I have no Odyssey cards except for the 3 packs I got at Richmond Comix two weeks ago, and Egon has only what he has picked up after about 10 Odyssey drafts.

We decide the best way to handle this situation is to go home on Saturday to pick up some cards. I tell Egon that if he can supply all the Odyssey that he needs, I can get literally give him anything he needs from Invasion and 7th, as I have 4 sets of the Invasion block (4 sets of Invasion, 4 of Planeshift, and 4 of Apocolypse) and at least 4 of every good 7th edition card. We make plans to leave around noonish on Saturday. Also, John wants to drive because Egon doesn’t allow smoking in his car.


Saturday –

John and I realize that we need to start a programming project that was assigned a good month ago. Neither of us can figure out a good way to do it for quite some time. I finally finish my project at about 5 pm and John is mostly done at this point, so we’re ready to go. We have to wait forever for Egon to pack and for my phone to charge (forgot to plug it in earlier) and for some other stuff to happen. The preliminary plans are to stop off at Egon and John’s houses in Manassas, then go to mine in Alexandria. We’ll apparently sleep at my house and leave from there on Sunday. We are finally good to go at 7:30.

John has about 5 points on his license more than is necessary for his license to be revoked, so he refuses to speed. Damnit. That means the drive home is going to take us the full 4 hours. On the way we have many interesting games of ghost (Mu is a greek letter. You LOSE, G-H-O boy!!), freestyle rapping contests (My name is Abe and I’m here to say, I can rap like a… uh, I quit) and mathematical-related trivia questions (you don’t want to know).

We finally arrive at Egon’s house and he picks up a few cards, then head over to John’s house, which is 5 minutes away. He suggests that we wait in the car, lest we see his dad come downstairs in his underwear with a shotgun. John gets his cards, some beef jerky, left over Halloween candy, and his top hat. Off to my house we go.

I tried both emailing and calling my dad to tell him that I was coming home, but he keeps forgetting that he has a son, so he doesn’t check his email or answer his phone often enough. Regardless, he’s not there when we finally get in at 1:00 am, which fits well with our sleeping at my house scheme. I do some laundry that I brought with me (beats using campus machines), and then dig up the cards we need. At about 4:00 am, we realize that we need to figure out where this StarCity place actually is, so I commandeer my dad’s powerbook only to discover that he has no isp installed. And I have no idea where to get some macintosh internet software at this time in the morning, so scrap this plan. We head to Egon’s house again where we are guaranteed of a computer with internet access.

We apparently need to leave at 7 am to get there at 9, despite the fact that it’s already 4:30 am. Ugh. I steal Egon’s bed, make Egon and John sleep on the floor and couch respectively, set the alarm on my phone, then get to sleep.

Sunday –

I get up at 7, and John and I take turns showering. Being the dirty man that he is, Egon elects to skip a shower on the basis of saving time (yeah right). We head off to Richmond.

After 2 hours of car-related shenanigans and Halloween candy eating, we find the Holliday Inn with no trouble. Egon registers and we hang out for a bit. I see some people I recognized from Richmond Comix playing type 1, so I go over and watch them. One of the gentlemen turns out to be Mr. Shane Stoots, which I don’t find out until later. He recognizes me and greets me by name, so I feel bad that I don’t know his. I wonder where Darren Di Battista is, but I realize that he probably doesn’t plan to play the main event, and thus he could show up at any time.

I walk around a bit and look at the dealer tables, which were completely StarCity hosted, and I am very disappointed with what I see. There is a stack of about 50 Shadowmage Infiltrators for “sale” at $29 a piece. Needless to say, I didn’t see too many of them sold that day. I also witnessed Call of the Herd and Birds of Paradise on “sale” for $20 each. Jesus! I spent less than that on Japanese black-bordered birds 3 years ago, and the ones StarCity had were ugly 7th edition ones. I feel sorry for all of the kids that actually believed that these were legitimate prices and did indeed buy from these people.

The only saving grace of the dealer table was $2 box. I love these things, and I have some legendary stories about what I have found (and bought) in those kinds of boxes. Digging through boxes like these stirs up so many good memories about cards and that it is worth it to look even if you don’t buy anything. I find all kinds of great things in the box including some wacky Volrath’s Shapeshifter’s and a Lion’s Eye Diamond that I am happy to pay $2 a piece for by virtue of the fact that I don’t have a prayer of finding them anywhere else. I want some foreign Red Blasts that I found in the box, but not enough to pay $2 for them. In fact, I wouldn’t expect to pay more than 50 cents for them. I try to talk to the dealer to see if he will give me a better deal on these, but he will not and he looks at me as if I am crazy for asking. What the hell ever happened to bargaining with dealers? Forgive me for living in the past.

Round one of the main event begins in short order and I watch Egon misplay his round. I see Darren arrive wearing a Superman shirt and I wonder if it’s a reference to his recent Doomsday post on BD in which he called the deck in question “kryptonite.” He disappears after a bit so I walk around some more and see what people are doing. Egon eventually loses his round and comes to me to complain about it. I console him like only a super friend could by pointing at him and laughing. I find Darren and someone else I recognize from Richmond Comix outside the tournament area playing some extended. I go over and watch them play for a while. The gentleman turns out to be Mr. Josh Reynolds, which I found out at the earliest opportunity. I watch Josh play with someone else from the Richmond Comix crowd (forgot to write down the name, I am sorry), to which I am introduced. Josh plays a Skeletal Scrying at some point, which I ask to read. After the game, I asked him what the thinking was behind this card. He tells me he is just testing it for Dec. 1, which is when Fact or Fiction (god willing) will be restricted. Makes sense to me.

We talk a little bit more about this so-called type 1 tournament side even, and apparently Darren is in charge of it. He doesn’t want to start until 16 players show up, and this isn’t likely to happen until after the 4th round of the main event when a number of potential tournament constituents would receive their second match loss and thus drop. I very much enjoy meeting, talking to, and hanging out with the Richmond Comix crowd. They are a very friendly and interesting bunch and have been very welcoming of the recent presence of my friends’ and I in the Richmond type 1 scene.

I wander around a bit more to see what’s going on. Egon loses the third round and complains that his opponent sideboarded in 15 cards against him that match. I “console” at him some more until he storms off. I watch John make some substantially bad trades with some comic store representatives. It really makes me sick to see these people in action, eg. “Before you trade with me, I have to tell you that I am here representing Mox Goat’s Cards and Collectables, so I will only trade for all cards at 1/3rd of their low scrye value and trade all cards at 5 times 1997 Inquest” etc.

This bugs me for two reasons. Fist of all, the fact that people that you trade with are representative of larger establishments changes nothing about the value of a card. It is simply not fair to make these kinds of requirements, especially if the person in question is unwilling to pay to the overhead to set up a dealer’s table. Secondly, what is realistically to stop just anyone from making this kind of claim? Anybody could say they are associated with a reputable establishment and then mandate that they make a 300% profit on all trades, and there is really no way to verify that this is true. I highly suggest that people just do not deal with them.

John and I go get some code red Dew from a nearby drug store before his draft starts. John drafts two Chamber of Manipulations but still manages to lose his first round. I walk around some more and hang out with the Richmond Comix crowd until the end of the fourth round finally rolls around.

The type 1 side event has 16 players and is ready to go. Quite a bit of the Richmond Comix guys have dropped from the main event and still more have shown up with the intent of only playing type 1. There are plenty of old and new faces (I suppose mine qualifies as the latter) so it is likely to be a diverse and interesting event. I am playing Keeper, Darren and Josh are playing similar OSEs, Shane has his Brownstone, to name a little of what I saw. I also saw some aggro decks, a combo deck or two, and a Nether Void-less Nether Void deck (?). The first place prize is a Juzam, second is an English Mana Drain, and 3rd is two unlimited Psi Blasts. It seems reasonable for a $15 entry fee.

Round one:

I am paired against my favorite kind of opponent: the kind of opponent who was already sitting across from me when my pairing was called. He is about 13 or 14 and playing a blue/white Donate/Illusions deck (!?). I don’t know how else to describe this deck without sounding very rude, so I will refrain from further commentary.

Game 1 –

He opens with a Mox Diamond and a Lotus Petal. A couple of turns later he plays Illusions of Grandeur and tries to Donate it immediately without seeing if I had responses to either spell. I have a bunch of lands and Misdirection in hand. I want to Misdirection the Donate to his Mox Diamond but I can’t do this, as Donate requires both the target of a permanent and that of a player. So, I drain the Donate instead, and use the mana next turn for a Morphling. I win a few turns later.

It is ridiculous how much I side in for this guy. I feel really bad doing it because I could probably keep all of my creature removal in my deck and still probably beat him anyway. I sideboarded with the intention of using the infamous stack rule regarding Illusions of Grandeur to kill him immediately.

In: 3 Red Elemental Blast, 2 Aura Fracture
Out: 1 Abyss, 1 Plow, 1 Edict, 1 Balance, 1 Stroke of Genius

Game 2 –
He plays a Diamond and a Petal on his first turn again, and I wonder if he is aware that both of these cards are restricted. I decide not to pursue it and play on. I feel bad as I Drain his Illusions, play a Morphling, and fly over his Rectors for the win.

Round two:

I am paired against Shane Stoots, whom is playing Brownstone as previously mentioned. We talk a little bit about the naming scheme behind the deck and I am surprised when he tells me that it is indeed based upon a Guns ‘n’ Roses song. Guns ‘n’ Roses happens to be my favorite band of all time, and we talk a little bit about their albums and the upcoming Chinese Democracy. Shane is a really cool guy and I enjoy our matchup a lot.

Game 1 –

I think he Wastes/Strips my first couple of lands, but I have more. He plays a Welder when I have no counter in hand. I have to allow it, but I Dismantling Blow his one Mox Jet at the end of his turn, leaving him with no artifacts and only two lands. On my turn, I Twist him somewhat early for 4 with him at 5 cards in hand. I say “I’ll just choose the one you keep” but I turn the card over immediately by force of habit. Er, whoops. It turns out to be a Yawgmoth’s Will, and I choose 3 more for him to discard, one of which is his Twist. A turn or two later he plays a Mox Ruby which I think for a good minute or two about and Counter in order to keep him with 0 artifacts. He mentions after the game that this was critical to the outcome of the game, and I certainly believe him. I squirm around a lot while thinking about some difficult decisions, but I eventually get a Morphling and win.

In: 2 Red Elemental Blast, 1 Tormod’s Crypt
Out: 1 Counterspell, 1 Zuran Orb, 1 Stroke of Genius

Removing the stroke was probably not the best of ideas in that the next game did turn out to be a top-decking race at some point, and the stroke would have helped me. Still, nothing presented itself as being a good candidate for me to sideboard out.

Game 2 –

Shane has a good start, but still does not have a first-turn Welder to wreak havoc. I consider myself very lucky. I stall at only a couple of lands, both of which are Cities. A Shaman from him ate a few of my Moxes and I am taking a bunch of damage from it and my Cities. Eventually, Shane Tinkers for a Mishra’s Helix (later tells me that he sideboarded it in) and I just concede.

Game 3 –

I think I counter his first turn attempt to Ancestral. Again, he has no first-turn Welder, although I could have Countered or Edicted it. The game goes back and forth. Eventually, I have nothing in hand, and only 3 lands, 2 of which are Cities, but he is almost as bad off as I am. My next 2 draws are Morphling and a Land. He Tinkers, and I am getting ready to pick my cards up as I assume he is going to get a Helix because I am at 6life, but to my surprise he gets his Karn. I wonder about this, but don’t question it. I draw an Emerald on my next turn, and tap out down to 4 life to play the Morphling in my hand, much to Shane’s distress. He untaps and draws, then thinks for a good minute or two and attacks with Karn. I shrug and block it, but he has no other effects. I untap and draw Diabolic Edict. Shane untaps and Balances with him with 4 in hand, and 2 lands in play and me with 1 in hand (the Edict) and 4 lands in play. I think he was trying to buy himself some time so I wouldn’t have enough mana to make the Morphling fly and still do 5 each turn (he was at 10 at this point) to kill him. He is done, and during his end step, I tap my Tundra and Underground Sea to edict him, and he almost curses out loud. I draw another Mox, but for some strange reason (possibly the 3 ½ hours of sleep) decide that it would not be a good idea to use it for mana to pump the Morphling, and instead tap both my blue-producing lands for +2/-2. Shane untaps and draws Demonic Tutor, with which he could conceivably get a blast and blast away my Morphling, which he would really deserve to do since I misplayed so badly. Unfortunately, he only has 2 lands, and no more in hand, so that is game. Phew.

Round 3:

I am paired with Darren himself. Hm. I ask him how he feels about 2-0-2 making top 8 and he is unsure, but wants to play anyway regardless.

Game 1 –

He strips away both of my first two lands leaving me with 1 left for the next several turns, leaving me prime for a nasty Mind Twist. He plays a Factory and starts attacking. I Regrow a StP, even though I’m aware that this game is a lost cause at this point. He is ok with that, but Demonic Tutors on his turn. I tell him that I bet he just got his Teferi’s Response but he shrugs my assertion off and we play on. He attacks with his Factory, which I Plow, and he allows. He plays another Factory, which alleviates my confusion. I draw a Wasteland, and try to take out his factory. “Do you have a response?” Yes, he does. I concede very soon after.

In: 3 Red Elemental Blast, 2 Rootwater Thief, I can’t remember the rest.
Out: 1 Zuran Orb, 1 Abyss, I can’t remember the rest.

Game 2 –

Darren starts with a first turn Scrying Glass. Hm. He scries a ridiculous amount of times. I long for 5th edition rules in which he would have to name the number and color when he announces it, instead of when it resolves, which would let me respond to it by casting some spells of the named color in case he is right. At some point he is Scrying AND Librarying each turn. So, I do that thing I do so well: I concede.

After the match I tell Darren that I am reporting a 0-2 game loss to him, since he was the organizer. What a funny guy I am. Mm.

Round 4:

Darren says that if all of the 2-1-0s draw, they will all make it in. My opponent and I are both 2-1-0, so we draw. I find John just after he finishes winning the second draft. He and I are starving at this point, so we go to Burger King and get double whoppers.

Quarter finals:

My opponent is Mr. Chris Lynch who is playing a deck with an interesting history of interaction with me. Apparently, the deck belongs to my second round opponent, Shane Stoots. Shane lent it to David Williams at the Richmond Comix tournaments 2 weeks ago, and David ended up beating me in the semi finals that day, as chroniclized in a previous report of mine. Joy. David is there and sees the humor in the circumstance, so he wishes me good luck.

Game 1 –

I learn something that I was not previously aware of. The deck has main deck Null Rod(s). David plays one early, and I have to Force it. This sets me back enough that I lose the game to some Carnophages, Sarcomancies, and Factories.

In: 1 Moat, 2 Teferi’s Response
Out: 1 Stroke? And, um. Hm. I really should take better notes.

Game 2 –

I went first and drop an Underground Sea, because I have a Tundra and Plow in hand, and expect the Sea to get Wasted or Stripped. Chris plays a Swamp and a ritual. I had the Mystical Tutor in my hand, and I swear if I had a Force in hand, I would force the Ritual with something else to preserve my ability to tutor for and cast Balance. I do not have a Force, and I allow the ritual (not that Chris asked) and he plays only a Hypnotic Specter. I am somewhat relieved, but now wish that I had played the Tundra first turn, even though the Underground Sea was a better play. So, at the end of his turn, I Tutor for my Ancestral Recall. I play the Tundra and am done. He attacks with the Specter, and I plow. He then Rituals, so I respond with the Ancestral. He plays Another Hypnotic Specter. One of the cards I drew from the Ancestral was the Balance, so I shrug it off. On my turn, I untap and cast Balance. A few turns later, I get a Moat into play to face off against his Multiple Factories and hover at 8 life or so. Eventually, I get a Morphling, then I tutor for a very broken Will and he conceed.

Game 3 –

He opens with an early Duress taking a Teferi’s response. I can’t remember what my hand was, but just that it was not fast enough. At some point, he is attacking with a Factory and Carnophage. I Waste his Factory and am sustaining myself with my Zuran Orb. I think both Josh and Darren were watching this game. I make another really stupid mistake that embarrasses me quite a bit in front of them. I read the Teferi’s Response in my hand several times and manage to miss the clause “an opponent controls” each time. I announce that I am using my Wasteland’s ability to target itself. Chris doesn’t seem to think I can do this, so I turn to Darren who backs me up. I am then just about to announce the Teferi’s Response targeting this, but realize that I cannot do this just before I announce it. I drop the card by mistake, and it lands face up so Chris sees it anyway. The net result of this mistake is that I lost 2 life in that I could have Zuran Orbed the Wasteland. Chris also saw that I had Teferi’s response in hand and thus would know not to Sinkhole any more of my lands, but this was the result of me dropping the card, not of making the first mistake. I blame the 3 ½ hours of sleep on Egon’s nasty-smelling bed. Anyway, I die to a Carnophage the turn before I would draw a Moat. But even if I had Zorbed that Wasteland, I still didn’t wouldn’t have had the double-white to play it, so it did not cost me the game.

So, I’m out, and I’m getting a little bit tired of losing to suicide black. I have a few thoughts on that subject. First of all, I think that Teferi’s response is indeed the key to Keeper winning the match. The problem with suicide black is of course all of the disruption rather than the creatures. In the games that I keep losing, it’s not to a horde of weenies, but rather usually to a single Carnophage or Mishra’s factories with me having not enough mana to cast Abyss or having lost my Morphling to a Hymn. Keeper has to let suicide black eat its hand, as there’s really no good way to stop it from doing so. Ivory Mask would be nice if it cost 1W, but as is, it is slow.

But Keeper can do a better job of protecting its lands than it normally does. I believe that using a lot of Teferi’s Responses (3 - 4) can solve at least one of these problems and at the very least make the suicide black player think twice before Sinkholing or Wasting one of Keeper’s lands. Keeper can and often does top deck something that it needs to win, or at least establish control, but this will do no good if Keeper has no lands. And in the cases in which I actually did Teferi’s response a Sinkhole or Wasteland, I have noticed that the game usually swings remarkably in my favor.

Anyway, Chris goes on to win the tournament, beating Josh and then Darren, as neither of them is really prepared for the matchup. Egon and I collect John, then head home.

The deck list:

4 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
4 City of Brass
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Academy
1 Library
5 Mox
1 Lotus
1 Sol Ring
4 Drain
4 FoW
1 Counterspell
1 Misdirection
2 Morphling
4 Fact or Fiction
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Ancestral
1 Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Twist
1 Will
1 Abyss
1 Plow
1 Balance
1 Edict
1 Zuran Orb
1 Regrowth
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Dismantling Blow

Sideboard:
3 Hydroblast
1 Cop: Red
1 Ivory Mask
1 Moat
3 REB
2 Aura Fracture
1 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Rootwater Thief


Epilogue –

When we get back to Tech, we find out that somebody stole John’s computer. It was a dual athlon board with over a gig of memory that he put together at the beginning of the semester for about $2000. And somebody just walked in to the room and took it. John’s computer was set up as the DHCP server in that room, which served a secondary media computer. We checked the media computer’s network logs to see when it was taken off the network, (when the computer was stolen) and it was about 5 minutes after we left on Saturday. This leads us to believe that the person who took his computer is somebody who lives on the hallway and was waiting for us to leave. This sickens me, as we know literally everyone on the hall. So, this incident makes me want to question the friendship I have with everyone I know.

I apologize for most of this report being so ludicrously off topic. Anyway, thanks again to the Richmond Comix crowd and I hope to see everyone again this Saturday.


Katzby