Bridges of Madison County

Another day another tournament. I met up with Jon Knapp and did some testing the night before against Deathcloud. It was a lot easier to win when he did not have darkblast in the main. We discussed the amount of Faeries we thought were going to be there and he decided to run the darkblast main. I on the other hand was running the Wizards again. I believe this deck is still very strong and I know all of my matchups and sideboarding plans. Midway through the night Jon's cousin Hans comes to get cards for his deck. He decided to opt for Chapins 4 color control from Berlin instead of the Zoo he had been playing. We both thought he was an idiot to play a deck with no experience, but to each their own. 6am rolled around fairly quick and I was running on about 30 minutes of sleep on top of being sick. Hans, Jon, and myself drive from the city to the burbs to pick up Jerret on the way. 2 hours later we arrived at Misty Mountain. On a sidenote, I did not know they still made cars without power anything. Hans indeed had a car like this. I also dont think he knew how to use the defrost. The windows were thick with frost and it was cold as hell. Anyways we get there about an hour early and register our decks and look around. Seemed like there was a lot of Faeries and Affinity. I felt fairly confidant against both decks.

Round 1: Chad with TEPS
I was on the play while Chad had to mulligan twice. We both started off with Polluted Delta to goto 19 while he went to 17 to ponder on his turn. He hit his 3rd land drop and I Cliqued him when he cast seething song. I ripped his Desire and he passed turn. Vendilion Clique got in there for the rest of the damage. I sideboard in Negates and Thoughtseizes. We both keep our opening 7 and he is on the play. He leads off with steam vents into ponder. He gets a lotus bloom and suspends. I went land pass. He fetches and island with his flooded strand and I stifle the land. My hand was gas with 2 mana leaks another stifle and a negate plus land. I ripped a Clique the following turn and knew I was on my way. Bloom came into play and I Clique him in response. He lets it resolve and I see Rite of Flame x2, Pact of Negation, Brainfreeze, and gigadrowse. I let him keep the hand. I get in with some Clique beats and he has a full grip as I do also. He attempts to go off. I let the first rite resolve, I mana leak the 2nd rite, he pact of negations the leak, he then attempts to cast desperate ritual which I spell snared. He plays a third rite of flame into a manamorphose, which goes into another manamorphose in hand with only gigadrowse in hand, I negate the manamorphose and he scoops. (2-0) overall (1-0)

Round 2: Josh with AIR
Josh won the roll and had to mulligan. I put him on TEPS or some sort of combo, since it was the first PTQ after the GP. He leads with mountain go. I figure he is burn or AIR. I went Island go. He plays a mountain and tries desperate ritual which I spell snare. My hand is fairly weak at this point if he has something the next turn. I have a Jitte, Clique, and lands. He misses a land drop and passes. I play my 3rd land and pass. I Clique him during his draw and see he drew a mountain, seething songx2, deus, magus of the moon, and demigod. I take his demigod and he looks confused. He plays out the Deus and passes. I play Jitte equip and start the race and finish. I side in negates and thoughtseizes. He keeps while I mulligan to 6. He gets a first turn Deus and I scoop it up. I have no answer to this and kind of sit there for a minute. Game 3 as very lopsided again. He resolves a first turn Demigod of Revenge and applies the early pressure. Along with Magus of the Moon I get shut down quick. I know this deck isnt a good matchup based on luck, I just hoped to not run into it since it is a weak choice. (1-2) overall(1-1)

Round 3: Sam Black with ELVES!
The round before Jerret was playing against Sam so I knew what he was playing. While I was shuffling a stifle was revealed so he had a perfect idea of what I was playing. This should be a very favorable matchup for me. We both get in some early beats and I Sowered a Wirewood Symbiote. And Played another Archmage with mana open. Sam has 2 cards in hand and he attempts to Summoners Pact. I counter it with the tapped Archmage. He then goes off at 3 life with the last card in hand being Weird Harvest. Game 2 I had to mulligan to 5 which makes it very favorable for him. He gets a turn 2 Jagged Scarred Archers. He builds up some elves, and I explosives for 1. I attempt to Sower his Archers and he kills them. I really had no options. I messed up sideboarding by not siding out my spell snares, since they board out all their converted mana cost 2 spells. I scoop it up. (0-2) overall (1-2)

Round 4: Aaron with Bubble Hulk
I mainly stayed in because Jerret and Jon were still playing and noone wanted to cube draft yet. My opponent sits down and looks pretty terrible, you can get that sense sometimes. He leads off with a flooded strand into a watery grave. Then ponders. I play a land and pass. He plays a shivan reef and attempts to desperate ritual which is met with a spell snare. I play a land and pass. I attempt to Clique at the end of his turn, in reponse he cast seething song into through the breach and puts down Protean Hulk. I say ok and let him keep his hand. The through the breach trigger wouldnt activate until the end of my turn. I had a sower in hand and could care less. I untap cast sower and sad days are ahead for him. I board in thoughtseizes. Game 2 had little action from him. He took a lot of pain from his lands digging to find his combo. I bashed with mutavaults with counter backup and get there. (2-0) overall (2-2)

Round 5: Kevin with Burn
He opens with mogg fanatic and passes. Fanatic gets in twice. I spellstutter a magma jet and he sacs the fanatic. He incinerates me to put me at 12. I have Clique with jitte active and hitting him for 5 a turn. He shrap blast me to 7 and then incinerates me with no cards left. He draws 2 lands and thats game. We go to sideboard and he pulls out a sheet of paper. I ask him what that is for and he said it is to tell him how to sideboard. I immediately call a judge and inform him of the infraction. The judge goes over to the head judge and he offers a match loss because of outside information. (2-0) overall (3-2)

Round 6: David with Affinity
There werent many notes this game. I seemed to have a spell snare at all the right times. And Sowers his Master both times. (2-0) overall (4-2)

Round 7: Steve with Tezzerator
Game 1 went fairly quick with attacks with mutavaults and he took 6 points of life off his lands. He resolved Tezzeret game 1 but I was able to keep him off the table to get to dangerous. I sideboard in negates. His first turn was pretty sick. He had double chrome mox land thirst, but didnt hit an artifact. His next turn he thirst again, and didnt hit an artifact. I lay a land and pass. He plays another land and tries to play tezzeret which I negate. He hits land land and is frustrated and scoops it up. This matchup seems really bad for me and I got lucky off of his bad draws. (2-0) overall (5-2)

Round 8: Josh with Affinity
I didnt take good enough notes to remember this round. He never damaged me game 1. I sideboard in 3 damnations. Game 2 he gets me 2 5, I resolved 2 visions this game and draw into damnation. Sweep the board and clique and activate jitte and the rest is history. (2-0) overall (6-2)

I finished in 15 out of 160. I was dissapointed with my earlier losses in the day, but there are other PTQ's. Cryptic command was insane everytime I drew it. Owen played 2 that day and he ended up winning the PTQ. The next PTQ is in STL and I should be there. There are Conflux prereleases and release parties to attend the next 2 weeks.