Argothian Treehouse

with Andy Van Zandt

1.29.03 - Grand Prix New Orleans

Toting a further tuned psychatog deck,  I and my friends Chase and Mikey set off for New Orleans for a weekend of... fun.  Starting off the fun was our 10 hour drive,  complete with far more than enough smoke breaks (in my, the only non-smoker in the car's opinion).  Also interesting on the car ride was the roads...  apparently some engineer liked the noise a car makes when it
goes over bridges (thunk, a thunk thunk, a thunk thunk, a thunk thunk, ad nauseum).  So they designed stretches of roads for 50-100 miles with some manner of laying concrete that imitates the sound of bridge ties.  On the other hand I did get suckered into buying a "Falsa Blanket" at a convenience store (only to see them for a dollar less at our next stop).  And while it's
just a single person yarn blanket (I think it's called Falsa because it kinda falls-a-part),  it was highly useful throughout the trip.

After we got there, we headed straight to the tourney site to acquire cards and register (not necessarily in that order).  I and Chase had three byes to mess around with, and I spent that valuable time wishing I had gotten more sleep and nursing my bottle of fruit punch Gatorade.  Hanging out with Robert Moore and Jonathan Pechon (two great guys from our area of Texas) was fun,  as was teasing the guy who was looking frantically for two crimson
acolytes with our single foil one ($15 is a fair price, right?).

So it came time to play finally, so I found my pairings and shuffled off to my table.  The first few matches of the day were interesting, then it went downhill.  I'll make it brief, so it's less painful to both you and I. Reanimator (win for me, I have boomerangs and not smothers).   Oath (a hard
match, slightly in my favor, win the first game by upheaval'ing when he had 4 cards in library and the scrounger in hand. second game almost hits time but I send the tog in for the win in the first or second of the 5 turns). Sligh (very scary,  but to my surprise very few Sligh players at the tourney were running piledrivers,  so the match-up becomes a 50/50, and I used up all my luck pulling it out).  Also to note,  Stephen Gosset, my opponent, was one of the friendliest guys I played all day, and deserves props for that.

So it looks good, i'm 6-0 for the day and I get to play my next couple of  rounds because i'm making day 2 regardless,  going into round 7 in 4th place.  But if you read above, I used up all my luck on that last match.  So... U/G Madness (I lose this match,  I'm playing lapses and boomerangs over leaks and smothers, because they are better in the non-beatdown
matches).  And then next round, U/G Madness (yeah).  So we head off to find the motel 6 down the road that Mikey stayed at last time he was here, and take showers and head to bed.  I snag a few hours of sleep despite the snoring, then we head out, stopping at the convenience store so I can snag another Gatorade.  First round of the day:  U/G Madness.  (yeah, now I'd
have to pretty well to finish decently).  Brad Thies, my opponent this round, was another friendly guy,  which I always appreciate.  I then get to play against a U/B Reanimator (a win, as noted before).  Then I can't remember,  either it was oath the u/g madness or vice versa,  but I lost
both regardless (like I said, Oath is in my favor,  but it's a hard game, and one I didn't win this time around).  And now I'm basically playing for fun.

So I do,  and overall the weekend was fun, despite my complaints (and despite playing against roughly 40% u/g decks).  Especially the inadvertent backroad jaunt in Jonathan's Jeep we took through New Orleans looking for an eatery.  And I learned a couple things:  don't underestimate the popularity of wild mongrel, and prohibit is a good card.  I learned this a little later,  but it was during this tourney that I was considering it.  It simply does what you need it to do in the different match-ups.  It's bar-none better than leak or lapse in every single match except turbo-land,  where
lapse is better just because you need to stop the Moment's peace.  Try it, you'll like it.  I may expound upon this at a later time.  You've been warned.

As usual, if you have any questions, comments,  or just want to call me a scrub, send me an email.

You can reach Andy at: andyvanzandt@hotmail.com