After a pretty fun Friday Night Magic tourney last night, Scott and I woke up this morning and decided we were up for more.  A few people that we met the night before had invited us to a small tourney they hold each Saturday up in Claremont, and since we are new to the area, we figured why not?  A good chance to get to know some local players and observe the local metagame.

Larry Tetton, whom we had met at the Wizard's store tourney, was judging and admin'ing the Type 2 tournament.  I used a deck called BlastoGeddon, created and well used by Brian Kibler at Pro Tour Chicago.  I felt the deck was fairly straight-forward and so would be usable by me at my level of play.  

The first tournament I had used this deck at was an invitational qualifier in Houston, TX.  It was a really disappointing experience, and I just didn't seem able to get the deck out of the chute.  But I decided to give it another go last night, and did very well, basically going 2-0-1, plus a loss counted for a concession to my boyfriend, Scott, after we were unluckily paired in the 3rd round.  We both agreed that he had the best chance in the field at that point, and facts were that he usually smashed me with his Blue/White angel deck anyhow.  So we decided to go get something to eat for that round.  Anyhow, the point is that the deck seemed to work well for me, and I had a great time playing it which is all important for me.

So today I again went with Brian's deck, as follows:  

Main Deck:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Llanowar Elves
4 River Boa
4 Chimeric Idol
4 Blastoderm
4 Ancient Hydra
3 Jade Leech
2 Rith, the Awakener

4 Armageddon
3 Wax/Wane

8 Forest
4 City of Brass
4 Brushland
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Rishadan Port

Sideboard:
4 Armadillo Cloak
3 Tsabo's Decree
3 Kavu Chameleon
2 Flashfires
2 Simoon
1 Obliterate

Round 1 vs Scott Godfrey
     Scott was a really nice guy, and since it was the first time I had met him, I had no idea what to expect.  I lost the toss and Scott elected to play first. I get a few creatures out, and Scott, who turns out was playing U/B Control, manages to get an Evil Eye of Orms by Gore out (god, WHERE did they come up with that NAME?!?), but I'm still throwing creatures at him right and left for him to counter... I finally get a few through and take game one.  Game 2 was similar, but this time Scott got out 2 Evil Eyes. I push through a Blasty and River Boa and get ahead of him.  And then Rith, aka Mama, comes down, and Scott scoops. 
Game Record: 2-0    Match Record 1-0-0  

Round 2 vs Jonathan Jiang
    My opening hand has several lands, though no Birds or Elves, but of course I keep it and hope for some good draws.  Jon was playing a Fires Deck and turn 1 plays a Forest and Elves.  I'm thinking, Great, he's going to jump out in front fast. But 2nd turn he doesn't lay a land(!) and in the next 6 turns manages to draw none.  Meanwhile, I lay a couple creatures, and Armageddon his single land away. Quick game and a win, and on to game 2.  He gets a fast jump this time.  I get out a Boa, and he drops Blastoderm turn 3.  Boa takes the heat and regenerates, and I hold my own 'Derm until his drops from the board, as he seems to be drawing into little else except a River Boa. By the time I'm ready, I have a Hydra which I drop to blow up his Boa, Elves and Bird while he's tapped out.  My 'Derm comes down, and that's that.
Game Record 2-0    Match Record 2-0-0

Round 3 vs Ian Ferrel
     Ian is playing Blue Skies, no splashes.  For some reason, he just can't get it off and meanwhile, I get a great draw and get Chimeric Idol down.  The only creature he sees is a Rishadan Airship, which I use a Hydra to kill, and I take him down pretty quickly.  Game 2 Ian quickly gets a Spiketail Hatchling down, and along with Thwarts and Foils, he manages to put me off for a while.  Luckily, I keep drawing into Boas, Blastoderms and Jade Leeches, and finally push one through, then another, while he just can't seem to get anything down. 
Game Record 2-0    Match Record 3-0-0

Round 4 vs Jeremiah Bostwick
     Jeremiah is running a deck called Headless Machine, which was designed to metagame all the major decks being run in the higher level tourneys.  Basically, it's a R/B/U deck with Glacial Walls (grrr), Pyre Zombie and Evil Eye.  Game one I only am able to drop Pain Lands, and it WAS painful.  I take myself down 8 life casting and recasting creatures that he would recoil, etc.  Meanwhile, he manages to get 2 Evil Eyes down, and I never recover.  Game 2, I have 2 Boas and draw a 3rd right away.  I play Forest, Bird, the next turn Brushland, River Boa.  Next turn attack draws a Submerge from him, so Boa goes back on my library. I play a 2nd and 3rd Boa, one which he Recoils and the other he Submerges next turn.  I play another which he submerges again (!) Argh!  Fine! Now that you've used all your Submerges, how about a Rith? Yup, Rith does the trick, has a couple babies (which he Earthquakes away, along with my Elves next turn.  Fine.  He's down to 8, Rith attacks and he takes it, and I Wax Rith for the win. Our 3rd game goes off with little time left, and we trade blows back and forth.  I had him down to 4 when he Perished... and time is called.  I get Blasty down, but he has 2 Glacial Walls and an Evil Eye.  No way I'm pushing thru the last 4 damage, and I'm at 10 on my last of the 5 turns.  I 'Geddon to eliminate his chances of burning me out during his last turn to finish me off.  We take a draw. 
Game Record 1-1    Match Record 3-0-1

We break into the top 4 at this point.  I have top seed, followed by Jeremiah, Ian and Scott Gerhardt, which means I have to play Scott in the semis.  Scott and I talk about each of our chances.  Neither of us seem to have a clear cut advantage, and as I am having a much better day than he is, we decide to just play it out.

Semi Finals vs. Scott Gerhardt
     Scott is running U/W Control, Blinding Angel.  Ugh! I hate that deck!  If I don't have a great draw, I usually lose this one.  Ahh, but I do get a great draw, and open with Forest, Bird. Next turn Forest, Elves. Third turn Blastoderm, next turn Jade Leech... bada-bing, bada-boom, he can't seem to counter anything and I take game one.  Game 2 had a similar start, and a quick Boa, Jade Leech, Hydra... geez, I *thought* it was a counter deck... but Scott is major mana screwed (has only 3 down), and after the Hydra taps 2 to lay a Tsabo's Web just to use the card draw.  He then main phase Opts, again hoping to draw land to use the Wrath in his hand next turn.  Nope.  He's tapped out, I Armageddon, and he scoops.  It was just my day and definitely not his... sorry, babe. 
Game Record 2-0    Match Record 4-0-1

Finals vs. Ian Ferrel
     Here we go again, and the games are similar to our previous match.  I go off and he just can't due to mana problems game 1.  Game 2 I get a nice hand, and start laying creatures, each time looking at Ian and waiting for the inevitable counter... it never comes, except a single Thwart to a 2nd Blastoderm I played, returning his only 3 Islands to his hand. Yup. Game, Match, Tournament.
Game Record 2-0    Match Record 5-0-1

Evaluation of the Deck -
     I really had fun running BlastoGeddon.  It tends to be very quick and efficient when it goes off.  Of course, if you get Birds and Elves in your opening draw, it is just amazing, and ultimately Rith would come down turn 4.  Doesn't usually happen with Rith, but turn 2 Boa and turn 3 Blastoderm or Jade Leech is not uncommon.  If you can get a nice creature or 2 down and Armageddon successfully, you pretty much can take the game.  The 12 painlands in the deck were occasionally very painful, but only contributed to a loss once.  The ports were semi-useful today, more so last night.   My biggest dilemma came while sideboarding... it was difficult to decide what to eliminate, as the main deck is almost all useful in most situations.  Chameleons, Decrees, Simoon and Obliterate were the choices I used most from the board, for various reasons.  Never drew the Simoons or the Obliterate, but the Decree was useful once, and Chameleons were great against counter decks, of course.  I just wish it were easier to decide what to eliminate from the main deck while siding. =)  Hopefully that will come with time and experience.

Props and Slops:

Props to Larry Tetton for Administering the tournament... Great job, Larry!  I won 10 packs of Nemesis.

Props to Scott Godfrey, Jonathan, Ian, and Jeremiah... they were a crazy and a super nice bunch of guys, and Scott (b/f) and I really enjoyed hanging with them.  All were great sports.  This is the kind of group that we would love to go back and play tournaments with regularly.  

Props to Scott Gerhardt for choosing the local tourney over a bigger one in Costa Mesa that day... next week we hit Costa Mesa Women's Club for a PTQ, but I really enjoyed doing the local thing so we can find some people to hang with here in California.

Props to Brian Kibler for a really cool deck.

No Slops =) It was a great day for me.

Christine Amaral