Ok, instead of having one massive report that includes everything re: my weekend there will be 3 reports I submit to the UFS community.

1. This one, everything happening non-related to actual gaming. In General Discussion

2. The deck I ran in singles and teams, what went wrong/right about it etc. In Deckbuilding

3. The matches. In Tourney Reports

I apologize in advance if my memory leaves you out of any of these reports, anyone that knows me will agree I have a good memory, but it isn't perfect, and there are no purposeful omissions on my part - ever.

This is a chronological account of my Gencon 2009.

Wednesday:

It all started out Wednesday morning, Mark (by Canadian beer hat wearing buddy) and I arrived at the airport ready to take on the World! Of note was that Calgary airport security took my dice (20 sider) out of my pocket when crossing inspection and started rolling it, apparantly the girl had never seen a D20 before. She rolled a 17, a 19, and a 20... I told her I was going to take her with me so she could roll the dice for me over the weekend, although tempted she declined, afraid of Mark's hat.

We arrived in Indy at 730 or so and booted it to the con, intent on grabbing badges and whatever else we could so that we didn't have to stand in line before teams the next day. We found a lot of UFS players just hanging out around the lines and introductions were made All we got was the badge.

Nick (our host, room-booky, etc.) arrived shortly therafter and him, his wife Stephanie, myself, Mark, Ryan (Havoc), and Ryan's buddy Zack all headed for our hotel room. At this point we were missing two from our room - Matt from Columbus, I was to arrange for him to find us, and Scuba from wherever, Nick was supposed to help find him.

We all wanted to eat, but we new better to wait for Scuba, esp. since he wanted to be picked up from the airport. Here is where things start to get hairy!!! Nick, being the craziest nice guy ever decides to pick Scuba up from the port but a) has no idea where it is, and b) is dead tired from driving 13+ hours already that day. Nick's wife and I decide to go with to help him find Scuba, myself just coming from the port via Taxi and wanting to talk teams with Nick.

Following the GPS we arrived at a ghost airport. Nick begins to freak, thinking it is exactly like the place out of the resident evil movie and after carefully getting out of the car Stephanie assumes the driver role. We finally find our way out of purgatory (my nickname for the abandoned airport) and after some wrong turns we do manage to pick up a disgruntled Scuba (he had to wait a while I guess).

Again following the GPS we couldn't find a place to eat - what is Friday's anyways (I knew it didn't exist)?!? We finally found our way to the Hard Rock, only **** place open, and met up with the Orange Card Blue Card Godfather and Matt from Columbus. Much fun was had over dinner... Of note:

- Ryan harrassed the waitress for not giving him beer, Scuba thought said waitress wanted his babies until we found out she was married.

- Ryan called Mark Anorexic becuase all he ordered was two baskets of fries and then didn't eat them... This later evolved into Mark being called the Canorexic, Scuba getting the fries on his bill and blowing a gasket, and me having much laughs at this outcome. 1) Scuba wouldn't pay for Mark's fries and 2) Scuba hogged one of two beds at the hotel = worst date ever.

- Scott alluded to the banned card rap that he was going to pursue, funny stuff

Thursday:

Teams happen, only thing to note is I find out what/who Shinji is but don't introduce myself at this point. I do sit beside him, Jsomething and Doinwork for a while, interesting conversations were overheard as we all prepared for teams.

After Legacy starts (and teams top 4) I go back to the hotel (we didn't sleep Wednesday night and I was determined to get some in before singles). I slept for 2 hours and Scuba arrived back to kcik me out of bed... I went back to the con alone hoping to find out who won teams and who won legacy. I run into the team winners on the way in to the con, giving my best to UFS house who I had a strong feeling would pull through again.

After phone calls between myself and Vermillion, and god knows how many other people, I meetup at the Ram to find Alex and the Atliens starting to drink (starting at 1130 is never good). We talk it up, Shoemaker is a social god (funny and good with the drink), and UFS House arrives. 10 people in a roundybout bench is fun stuff, and we all ate/drank and were merry, celebrating a team Worlds win and speculating about the singles to come. I find out that Matt/Paul/Jon are stating at the same place as me and we all walk back to get a good nights sleep before singles.

I don't go to sleep until 3am or so, Ryan was wasted on Margaritas after his win against Scott et. al. and insisted on jibber jabbing with me and Mark well into the night. I am apparantly a daywalker, a ginger, and other things, and Ryan is hilarious so I couldn't go to sleep for laughing.

Friday:

I go to the con by myself at 9am, leaving everyone sleeping at the hotel, play some ticket to get my head in the game, and finish building my deck. Right before singles start I find out Magnus is also running Talbain, he insists that he will diversify me and that after he will 'laugh in my face'. He was joking, I didn't think it was all that funny at the time, and I insisted that when I diversify him I will shake his hand thank him for a mini-tournament on the day. The latter comes true.

Having topped 8 again, and this time I was sure 5-1-1 was good enough, I ain't afraid of no SOS, I was invited out to eat with UFS house. We went back to the hotel (I tried to get Paul with my F: traffic but he had too much Oral Dead), changed, unloaded, etc. and Nick, his wife, myself, and UFS house all went out to eat after meeting in the Lobby. We met many others at Houlahans' and began to eat, well I drank, water, pepsi, beer, wine, etc. The wine was the best, although it wasn't what I ordered. Of note:

- Nick was adopted by Jon Herr, ordering chicken fingers he earned the nickname child and by the errant waitress as well. Funny stuff when he ordered something mexican expecting a wrap and received a soup!

- Matt stole Herr's food choice, this restaurant was low on most everything

- Paul absconded from his table to join our 'fancy table' (we had wine) and he elevated our laughter to a whole new level

- The meal ended with Scott's story about the banned card rap, which got the attention of the waitress (who was on good terms with all of the homeless in the city) after which Scott responded with You Will Not Escape, this sounds funny, but it was actually quite awkward.

We headed to the Ram, got the back room - yeah! And proceeded to drink it up. Of note:

- Matt told us the story of the UFS player that ignores the text of cards, ira spinta's enhance is to commit a foundation, and Minotaur has a back story that involves the killing of Astaroth's parents.

- Magnus told Matt that ever he had a gun pointed at him he wouldn't be afraid becuase 'Matt is so nice' and would never shoot him.

- Magnus told us he was going to make $500 on Saturday, Noel told him that there were white people around and that he'd have to do a better job explaining becuase we couldn't possibly know what he was talking about

- A round of drinks for New York (Magnus, Noel, et. al) were on me and we had an excellent time

We went back to the hotel, I gave up on trying to get Paul with traffic (the funny thing was it was never me saying, let's cross, it was always Matt/Nick/someone else trying to get us killed, and Paul just always led the charge lol).

Saturday:

Seeing as how I got to play in top 8 my Kingdom Hearts Standard ticket was useless. I decided to teach Nick how to play and built him a kickass deck. Sadly, we got to the con at 11:45 to find that Hearts started at 10:00 (we are soo good at reading tickets) and Nick only got one game in.

I got to meet Fred (Protoaddict) for the first time, seeing as how I got to play him 4th vs. 5th in top 8. Fred is a really cool guy, a top notch player, and a honorable dude, I just wanted to say how happy I was to get to play and meet him.

My top 4 matches with Paul were not just UFS card games, they were interactions between me and a classy guy, and like the 30+ watching after I double Collecting Data'd in game 2 and followed with the win.

After singles (again we are looking at 5/6pm here) we get fire alarmed out of the building (does this happen often in the states?) and we meetup at the steak and shake. Joe pulls some craziness, and gets us a chance to 'all' eat (I'm talking 35-45 people) at this restaurant that Jeremy Ray and Andrew Olexa properly named the Labyrinth, anyone who was there will agree with me. Of note at the Buca:

- I got to sit at a table with J Ray, Olexa, Omar, Noel, and Archimedes. Much fun has had, and J Ray's spot was taken by Hata, Kohls, Shoemaker, and boatloads of others during the events of the evening.

- ummm... a certain letter made me laugh too much, my insides hurt

- a certain team asset (back of placemat) made me cringe, but obviously laugh

- everything about J Ray getting creamed and then licked/sharing it with Joe is true, I was right across from him while he ignored the white stuff on his face for a good 20 mins lol, then I had the gaul to ask him what happened to it after it was obviously licked off (I could see the slobber marks)

- Olexa, Ray, and me have similar likes/dislikes in food, street fighter characters, tekken characters, and all. These guys are my long-distance counterparts, and I wouldn't want to be as similar as any other 2 people in the world.

- Omar is really cool to talk with, I'm glad he could enjoy some of the wine I ordered, and I hope I will get to play a match against him one day (although after watching him in top 8/4 at US Nats, I know I am in for a tough intellectual battle).

- Archimedes officially needs to get rid of the sideburns, other than that I think he is the top of the top, a classy guy for his age, and fun all around.

We left, and took group pics, and the large majority (25+) went to the Ram. Again we got the back room, we are blessed with persausive people, and more great stuff happened. Of note:

- I got to sit with Hewwit and the brits, Noel ensured I had a seat, this guy rocks in more ways than one. It was really cool getting to talk with Hewwit, he is a really smart and cool guy. The other brits, Kyle and ? were a bit more reserved than Joe, but I could tell despite their reservations to downright losing all pride, they were having a blast!

- We all did shots of energydrink laced items, and repeatedly, drinking to Paul many a times, Gencon, and Hata/Steve/evolution of the game.

- We watched the quarters battle, I do say Paul won this too - although Ben Shoemaker was probably tied with him. I started to play late but this evolved into Paul and me interrogating Shinji, becuase it was just the right thing to do at that point in time. I must give him some credit for being so vehement, even in person, despite the fact that he is a) outnumbered, and b) wrong, wrong, and wrong. He has a strong belief in himself, a good quality to have.

- I got to meet Herr's college buddies who were there for WoW tcg, cool guys

- We (Paul, Matt, and I) lost miserably to Tanner in a chugging contest, well I was really close. Tanner is so much fun, everything is making sense to me why him, Al C, Ray, Olexa, Kirk, etc. are all so fun to be around.

We left to play werewolf, I had no idea what time it was, but I didn't think we were into the early hours of the morning yet, we were. Of note:

- Werewolf is a great game, and I was the most-surviving villager, I died only once and first round of kills (Matt/Omar, how dare you kill me so quickly!!!) when I was the Seer. Good thing the other Seer and me talked so much, i.e. I pointed out all 5 who I thought could/were the werewolf by pats and talk before we landed on Goo's wife during our first Seeing, that interaction between Goo and her was too big of a Herring for other Seer to ignore.

- The funniest statement of the con was made by 'purple-shirt, i.e. nose-tapper' and when he realized we were going to kill him. You'd have to be there to understand this, namely I was getting Shinji killed every game, first/second round, and he was always the villager, ok once he was werewolf lol. So, things would quickly degenerate from Magnus getting pointed at to me yelling - kill Shinji! And for no good reason other than it being Shinji, and pointing at him followed my the vast majority of everyone else. What did 'purple-shirt' say that was so **** funny? He said, in a failing attempt to save himself - 'kill Stingy!!!' I guess he misheard me all those times, or did he... LMAO

Okay, things get hairy again. And not in a 'we are at a zombie airport' type moment, rather a 'I've been robbed again' type moment. As we were leaving Ben asked me, where is your bag? Thank you SO MUCH Ben, you saved my Con. Everyone else was so amazingly helpful as well, I'd like to thank Ivey, Ben, Paul, Matt, Jon, Andrew, and everyone else. Everyone but the lamewad security who, after stealing our brew, and then the Garbage can's bew, barely helped me find my missing bag!!!

So, I was panicing, hopefully I didn't show a side of me I shouldn't show. In my bag was all of my cards worth owning, all the rares, all the prize support, some minor amounts of money, but most importantly - my passport. I had my wallet and phone on my person (yeeha for sports shorts with pockets), so at least I wasn't completely obliterated. After checking a few garbage cans and washrooms and deciding it was equally likely I left everything at the Ram we all went back to the hotel, ready and vigilent to find it tomorrow. We arrived back at 5:30am and no one was up to let me into my room...

Sunday:

I walked back the con, determined to try to find my passport. First I went to the Ram to see if I did leave it there, I was pretty sure I left it against the wall at the Con before sitting down for werewolf, but you never know. I got into the Ram after pushing by cleaning staff... And no luck. I wandered back to the con and ran into a bike riding homeless person (Archimedes tells me his name is Cecil the next day). After an interaction I'd rather not repeat I give him $15 and go towards the Steak and Shake. Cecil follows me and tells me to go to the 'Red Eye Cafe' a place much better than the Steak and Shake... He insists he lead me there (I'm thinking he gets a cut on customers he sends there or something, I have no clue). Upon arriving he insists he spends the $15 I gave him on breakfast with me... I insist I'd pay for breakfast too (this Red Eye had insanely good prices). Over breakfast I tell him my story and he says he'll help find my bag.

Cecil and I head back to the con, I was oddly optimistic that with the help of a bike riding resident I might just find my bag. I told him what I knew from conventions and what security told me, to look for lost items in places items could be stashed and left to dissasociate the thief from his crime - wouldn't want to be caught red handed, and in my case the bag was quite noticable... it was my mom's lol.

I took the upstairs and Cecil took the downstairs, and after searching 3 bathrooms I found my bag behind a toilet seat on the East end of the center. Phewf!!! I didn't even id anything as missing, back at the hotel I realized I lost ~$17 in loose change. I consider myself the luckiest guy in Indy that day, w/o passport Sunday would have been a 'expletive here'.

Half asleep Sunday was awesome, I lost my voice from the events of the day and night, and I won my Kingdom Hearts draft with little to no speech, pointing at things is a lot easier in that game than UFS.

Summary:

That's pretty much it - please read my other reports for more references to greatness and not-so-greatness had at the Con and with respect to the game of UFS.

I can't wait to see you all again soon ^^

- dut

Hey man, it was a pleasure meeting you, you're a really cool guy. That's awesome you found your bag though, I hate to hear about that sort of thing happening, and it seems like it couldn't have turned out better for you

Eithinis said:

Thanks man, same to you of course. See my account of getting to meet you and our game in round 2 of singles in the other report ^^ Thanks for reading.

- dut

Dut man it was a complete blast to meet you. You get added to best canadians and UFS players to meet. I hope to see at some more tournies as hopefully I can get some serious UFS travel in this coming year. Grats on your top cuts, its always rough on the 2nd day.

Loosing your bag, that sucked, but glad you found it. I remember waking up and just asking around if you'd found it. Epic story on Cecil. He actually helped us find scooter when we first arrived. And the dice ya didn't have to but they were much appreciated!

Side Note: Paul cant beat me consistently at quarters when I play seriously and yes thats a challenge. Ask Magnus about that! Great times were had, and hopefully more to come!

Nfxon said:

Quarters mm Ben v Paul?!?!

And was a pleasure to meet ya Dut, I only regret not checking the bathrooms myself (I guess I was happy there was a time I was spending not inside there...). In the end it worked out with no real harm, which is what matters.

dutpotd said:

It's an official rule: Magnus is always villager, and he's always wrong XD.

Man...people take Werewolf SOOOOO fxxking seriously. I kind of wanted to take a crap on purple shirt guy. What a clod.

MarcoPulleaux said:

It's true... I didn't like Purple Shirt guy until he called you Stingy, then I didn't know who to like!

- dut

ps. In all honesty, game and Con wouldn't have been the same without you, glad you made it.

Many thanks, glad to have met everybody.

I love dutpotd.

That is all.

Oh yeah, I was the best villager. I didn't die ONCE, unless we all lost .

Oh and that ragequitter guy and gal...lol.

DaiAndOh said:

Yeah, that guy (with cat ears and face???) who up and quit cuz we killed him (and rightfully so, he was a werewolf). Funny stuff. Then his lady left and we overhear her itching at him about wanting a game with randoms and he got what he deserved lol.

Classic.

And yes, Dai, you and me were the village crusaders, killing wolves all over the place!

- dut

dutpotd said:

I wouldn't say killing, I was more background. I'd like to think I teamed well with Magnus, since he gave me tidbits and behavior patterns to unassumingly check, while he could be a bit less....Magnusy and giving my analysis along with the other stuff I picked up while people would find a reason to vote out Shinji .

haha I completely forgot about Stingy! We always killed purple shirt early, that's what he gets for touching his nose.

mattkohls said:

That guy was so wack. And then he wouldn't tell us what it meant, then his friend started nose touching too!!! I was kind of worried for a bit there, thought I was missing something, like maybe I had some piece of food stuck on my nose and he wanted to let me know about it.

If he wanted to let us know he was on our side, all he had to do was call Shinji Stingy from the start, lol!

Too much fun.

- dut

You are my favorite Canadian and, contrary to what Jeremy Ray thinks, all other Canadians know they are not.

CorruptedFlame82 said:

Thank you Al, all Canadians are pretty high up there on the nice-guy scale, it is hard for us to be rude... That said, I hope you enjoy that Chun-li art print, it looked really great!

- dut

Despite what Dut has said about my sideburns I am 100% convinced that he is an S Tier classy gentleman.

It was a pleasure to meet you, good sir. I look forward to maybe doing it again next year.

Archimedes said:

in all seriosity Arch... those sideburns are ****

Dut, even though this is about the 5th event we've both been at, it was the first time we actually got to hang out together, and i had a great time.
Thanks for the wine at buca, and thanks for being a smiley happy guy - see ya at the next one

Nfxon said:

Team Brooklyn/ 1on1 government for ultra rares/champ cards next year. Real talk. ATL vs. UFS house.

DaiAndOh said:

lololol i was talking about that the other day... "YOU wanted this!! YOU wanted to play a real game!! THIS is what YOU wanted!"

"You guys don't know him at all! if you knew him you'd know he's not that kind of person! *huff and stomps off*"

he was wearing that purple shirt the next day. i laughed

Oh yeah, I saw him briefly too with it.

Man werewolf is a cool game, but ****, people get PISSED about it!

DaiAndOh said:

Well, there IS some strategy involved, both in psychology and process of elimination. When I heard that **** about "oh I've been playing for years", I ROFL'd, because I'm pretty sure the logic they picked up in years I picked up after round 1.

The problem is that our games were being played merely for fun, and while we sometimes attempted to utilize rationality, it's much more fun to blame Shinji or Magnus =D

So I can kinda understand where they'd get pissed, how a serious game to them we played with absolutely no consideration for how it SHOULD be played, but really...

...dude you're at an 80 dollar con playing a game you'd probably never play unless in the waiting room for a hospital awaiting the results of your prostate exam. If you're going to take it as srs bidness, eat a D, and don't come to gaming cons.

*also, in all seriousness, I'm going to have to start bringing my own supply of female genders up to GenCon, because holy crap, there were like...5 females in the whole crowd. You have any idea how many times I've had sex since I got back? Jesus*

MarcoPulleaux said:

I've heard that Jesus was big, but never that he was a big number.

Yes because we all go to Gen Con with the express intentions of getting laid.

Hey guys, I'm Shinji, and I have sex! omgwtfbbq.

I'm way too tired to troll you properly so you'll have to settle for me pointing out the inherent ridiculousness of you bragging about how many times you've gotten laid to an internet forum filled with people who are actually pretty socially competent.