This was my first year at a National tournament and it really was amazing seeing all of these big personalities come together, in more or less my back yard, to beat each other up with paper and foil. I myself wanted nothing more than to get to the top 8 upon which I would be ejected for diversity. This fleeting hope was actually made possible this time around thru a combination of minimal play errors, a crap ton of multiples, and Mountain Dew. I went all 6 rounds of swiss with Chun-Li, without sideboarding into my Tag Alongs or SoCs (or at ALL really), without Makai High Noble (opted for Return to Southtown instead), without Ira Spinta, and WITH Chun-Li's asset.
My only real loss for the day came about to Paul Bittner (much love) who managed to run the field with three SoCs, and Evil Doer Destroyer (much hate) which found my Multiples as impotent as Bob Dole. Props also to Simon, my first round opponent who probably has the strongest Ninon I've ever seen, who gave me the hardest job all day of squeeking out a win. Allen will more than likely never read this, so thank you for our combined 10 minutes of play time in the third round so that I could get a little more practice before the real opponents (half j/k). I played Garrisson in game 4, and as much fun as I had fighting his amazingly crafted Sakura, a field full of Controller of Souls was sadly not enough for him to avoid getting Feline Spiked. Martha in game 5 made me sweat a lot too. Hanzo is pretty scary, no matter the gender of the person playing him. I was just lucky enough to have a mid block and a Hoyoku Sen in my hand (plus two momentum) in that final turn of hers. Finally Magnus, I hand you the keys to the top 8 and you come out of it with no character card of your own? That's it man, you're dead to me!! (totally joking dude, you can come by and feed me +0 high blocks all day long; it'll be great) When all was said and done, it was an honor to get bounced out of the top 8. I main boarded Chun-li knowing full well that this was the most probable outcome, but this was also going to be the last chance I had to run Chester's and LotM (I don't give a crap about Olcadan's) which meant that she would almost never be that powerful again. All in all, I think it was a great dash to the finish at the end of the race, and even though my Chunners didn't cross the line, at least a Chunners did (gratz Mike).
On a separate note, some simple news updates: Spiral Arrow banned, Nats will be in FFG headquarters next year, Scott Gains is squeezably soft, and Chubbs does NOT make a good nudist. More on these stories as they develop (not really). Thanks again to everyone for a fantastic play environment and I hope to see everyone again at worlds in August. Good night and have a pleasent tomorrow.
