Well, as most of you can guess this is going to be a run down of my epic from Wednesday to Sunday.

DAY 1

Day 1 of my journey starts when Nick (Trips-EX) Picks me up from my house and drives me to Milwaukee. We do some talking in the car ride back and decide we wanna play some DDR and In the groove at a local arcade. MAN that place was baller, we stay there for about 6 hours and come back to Nicks house. We do some mad deck building for Teams and we come up with a promo sankuro deck that James Hata pretty much made for the MWCC a month or two ago. After we build that we work on Nick's Strife build, yeah you read this right, STRIFE. We do some crazy testing and realize that our decks our very solid and have some nice potential. Nick decides he needs some more Addes so we drive to the other side of Milwaukee and catch up with Jack Chang (who made top 8 at nats singles) and have him borrow Nick a couple of addes for teams. At that times its about 3:45 AM and we decide that we were going to White Castle, sadly we figure out that no one brought any money with so it was out of the question. We get back to Nicks house and do some more testing and just decide that we will not be going to sleep, we just wait for Derrick (DoubleD) and Garrison from the Green Bay area to pick us up at about 10:30 AM.......

DAY 2

We finally get the call from Derrick that they will be picking us up soon and we get ready and meet them at Lost World of Wonders; the venue that held the MWCC. We get into Garrisons van and start hearing his GPS device named Tom-Tom yell at him for speeding. It was annoying. We leave from Milwaukee to Madison to pick up Stefan (Anduril1600) and Dani (Shadowdragon) and get to there place and play a few games of King of fighters '06 and leave after that. Basically the whole ride consisted of very bad, dirty jokes and a certain Stefan touching a certain Derrick's ***** and getting made fun of the rest of the trip. Stefan decides he needs to test out his Elena deck and he needs someone to play against. There is plenty of room in Garrison's van. We do about 12 games and they go pretty even between us. Were both pretty confident in our decks. Now this whole ride Derrick has been talking about one of the UFS players from the south named Scott Gaines. Ive talked to Scott a few times on the board about Chester decklists and stuff but I never actually got to know him or anything and Derrick keeps on saying that he things Scott is taking US nats ' 08. It was interesting hearing Derricks reasons for it but I mostly just ignore him and we reach our Hotel in Columbus at about 11:00 PM. This hotel was amazing. THERE WERE PHONES MOUNTED ON THE WALLS IN THE BATHROOM!!!!! Jeremy (Jdub) and Joe (Superrad) are also in our room as we split the price. I test against Derrick's Sophi deck with my promo Sankuro deck, lets just say that once Derrick gets board control theres no stopping him. I lose....badly. Good thing he is on my team for the team event ^^. We pass out about 20 min after our match.

DAY 3

So it's now Friday and Nick, Derrick, and I were totally stoked about the team event and get to the Con at about 7:00 AM. It was a little bit early as we heard the pre reg lines would be huge and take about two hours to get through......there was no one in line. We look around the con and find where our UFS area is. We chill for about 15 minutes and see the one and only J.Ledezma walking towards us. We all shake hands and tell each other that we love you. He says he has to do some UFS stuff for the con like putting up banners and such. So once he leaves we see UFS house and Andrews crew come. OH MAN was it a blast catching up with them. We all go our separate ways until the team event starts.
We fill out deck lists and wait for Vermilion to announce what team we play against. Anyways I go to play against a Promo Adon, a Domination Yang, and a UR lizardman and a few other characters. Id rather just skip this part because my Sankuro deck ended up doing quite badly and getting a few draws. The next day went way smoother for me. So, I talk with a couple people after the tourney and head back to the hotel with my team. Also, Congrats to Andrews team for winning there asset! We get back to the hotel and I realize that Sankuro just cant quite win a match in the current meta. Earlier in the team event I had to play James Hata. I learned so much from our match. Mainly a nifty combo that had won me nearly every game the following day. So I'm taking this part of the story to tell James thank you for teaching me alot of stuff during our match, theres no way I would of done nearly as well as I did the next day if it wasn't for you. Once we head back and I know that Sankuro blows I remember my match against Hata and I know that Death is the way to go. I build a deck within an hour and I didn't even get to play test with it. We soon pass out.

DAY 4

We all wake up and realize we have about twenty minutes to get the con. We end up making it to the con via shuttle bus. I know that the deck I built within an hour has so much tech and anti meta and can stop nearly everything in it's path. Ladies and Gentleman here is my deck that I used in singles.

Promo Nakoruru

Higher Calibur x3
Free Will x2
Saikyo-ryu x3
Roam the world x3
fortune teller x4
Trade your passion for glory x4
oral dead x2
soul power x4
control the present x4
no memories x3
megalomania x3
grim stride x2

KFT x3
Happy Holidays x4

Olcadans Mentoring x3
Kings games x4 (My new favorite card)
Addes x1 (Only had one)

Widow maker x4
Shallow Swipe x3

*Side board*

Broken Leg x2
MAC x2
Greeds influence x2
Pull of the tides x2

Ok, so first and foremost I want to say that I think that Nakoruru off of death is the most viable way to play her. Basically the deck is balls out control. The main combo that won me alot of matches is when I had out Kings Games and control the present and my opponent would play a Shallow Swipe and I would use the response on King's Games to let me have the first enhance than use Control the Present to make it so no more enhances can be played. It's awesome tech. Than besides that there is sooo much control that you just mainly cant stop her because you will be Commited out, have no cards in hand, and will be checking two's thanks to fortune teller. This also eats Olcadans and BRT alive. But back to the story.

Vermilion and Ledezma put up the pairings and I see that I am up against (sorry I forgot your name) a promo Cammy 3. We start up by laying out like 5 foundations each. I play a happy holidays and pretty much get board control. My next turn I get him with a shallow swipe with a soul power attached and I also used a Saikyo Ryu to pitch a broken leg. Game 2 goes a wee bit different as he gets early board control and gets me with a nice shallow swipe. Game 3 goes to me as my kill turn consisted of Widow maker x2, saikyo-ryu, Shallow Swipe, GAME. Grats to you for the sweet cammy deck though, she is amazing anti meta tech.

Round 2

Yay round two pairs me up against MR. Paul Bittner piloting his legendary promo Alex build.
I talk to him before the game starts and tell him that he is most likely going to roll me during our games because he is running his top tier deck and Paul is also no doubt one of the best players in the Nation.
We finally start our game I get some really early board control and realize that my calculations were incorrect and didnt have enough to kill him with a shallow swipe, he gets me next turn. Game two I side in MAC and Broken Leg. Once again I get the uber board control and tap him out. I get Paul with Widow Maker, Saikyo-ryu, Shallow Swipe (no damage pump), Followed by another Shallow Swipe attached with soul power for game. After that there is about 6 minutes left and we know we are going to draw but Paul wants to see if he can get me via any attack with a few hammers, he cant due to time being called, so we take a nice draw. Grats on your top tier deck paul, it's amazing.

Round 3

Man this computer loves me today, pairing up against Olexa right after Bitter, ****. Well, to my surprise the following games with Olexa have been my favorite games in UFS ever. He is so clever that I actually had to do alot of critical thinking and such. He was piloting his awesome Promo Cassy 3.
Game 1 we both get amazing board control, I do some math and think of a couple different scenario's and realize that I have game 1 due to me commiting most of his board and using Saikyo-ryu and a Widow Maker and a Soul Powered Shallow Swipe for game. Game 2 we set up a little slow and both play a few Happy Holidays, I am pretty sure that I have Olexa because with all the damage I have it's enough to kill him. I think he realized the same and decided to block the Widow maker leaving my Shallow swipe about 1 point of damage short. He gets me on his turn via Widow Maker, Cassy's ablility, Saikyo-ryu, Shallow Swipe, cassy's ability leaving me with no cards in hand and a 16 damage Shallow Swipe for game. Theres about 10 minutes left so we just decide to draw. Andrew, these were my favorite games ever, your an amazing player and can effectively run a Shallow Swipe deck.

Round 4

Round 4 pairs me up against a Mai deck that does nothing but Stall out, same with it's pilot. Man i'm not even gonna talk about this game because it was soooo boring, but I didnt lose =]

Round 5

Round 5 pairs me up against one of Team Foxhounds members piloting a life promo Xianghua. Man this game gets annoying due to her readying everything and using Revenants calling. I get some crazy board control and stop one of his big attacks with Kings game + control the present. I play Happy holidays the next two turns and eventually do some quick basic math and realize that it's impossible for him to get since I commit him out and use Widow maker, Saikyo-ryu, Widow maker, Shallow Swipe for game. Game 2 I side in Broken Leg, Greeds, and Pull of the tides. He scoops after about 6 minutes after playing saying that he cant focus and is too tired. Cool another win for me ^^

Round 6

Man the next game I play against another Team Foxhound member. This one is piloting Promo Nagasse 2 off of all. Game 1 goes to him as he gets something crazy like Power bomb x2 and another attack hitting me for like 21 damage. Game 2 I get him fairly quick do to commiting him out and discarding his hand and playing a Shallow Swipe for game. Game 3 he nearly gets me but my board control and kings games and control the present help me once again leaving him wide open next turn. I start out with Widow maker and Saikyo-ryu. He takes the 3 damage from Widow Maker. From what I saw in his hand all he had with a block was a KFT with a +1 mid block. I use Fortune teller and stack two 2 checks on the top of his deck. Now from what I can see, Shallow Swipe has a 3 speed. His entire board is commited out. He has a plus 1 block in his hand. Let's do some math. He has those two 2 checks on the top of his deck so that's what he is checking. A +1 block added on to the 3 speed of Shallow Swipe means he needs to check a 4. He is commited out and he is for sure checking a two and I realize that it's impossible for him to block it, So I take game 3. Yay <3

Round 7

Man round 7 pairs me up against Archimedes. This was his first big Tourney and it was really nice getting to meet him. He was piloting promo Ukyo. All I can say about Game 1 and Game 2 is that I get Geri looped and Stamped. Archimedes hands me my first lost of the day. Arch, your deck is sick, you deserved that top 8 spot. Man I am about 1 point short of making top 8. Better luck next time I guess.

AFTER TOP 8 IS ANNOUNCED

Well, I didn't make top 8 but it was my first really big event and I'm pretty glad to say that I only lost once at Nationals and didn't go 0-7 as planned. Scuba comes up to me and I guess he has heard about my deck and asks for couple of games that I couldn't refuse. Chris is a great player and I'm sorry that he didn't make top 8, he was really really close. After a while I say goodbye to everyone and head back to the hotel. We get a call saying that Omar just won nats beating Jon Herr in finals, ZOMG OMAR IS DRIVING NATIONALS!!!! We fall asleep after talking about how awesome Derrick and I did at US nationals.

DAY 5

The last day of my Journey starts out with us waking up and heading back to the con to hang out with Omar, James, Goo, Scott, Deana, etc.. one last time. James ends up selling half of his collection at the coolstuffinc booth just so he can get like 3 boxes of the new Darkstalkers set. I get in some more awesome trades and get some time to talk to MR. Scott gaines about the current meta and how it is going to change with the new sets and about how awesome his secret Ukyo tech is. Man Scott, it was great meeting you, you really are a top tier player and care alot about the game. We all leave after a bit and we have to drop James off at the Air Port. After that the whole ride from Columbus Ohio to Wisconsin was just straight Nationals talk. It was a much smoother ride back than it was getting there. I get back to Wisconsin at like 10:30 pm. Nationals was amazing, I am looking forward to Worlds and seeing everyone again.

Props and Slops

PROPS

*Vermilion and Ledezma running sweet events.
*Getting to see everyone again, I love you guys!
*James showing me his awesome Tech, seriously James, I owe you alot, I learned alot from you during our games!
*Andrew being such an awesome guy and buying me food since I had to borrow the rest of my money to Nick so he could play in singles, your an awesome guy Andrew!
*Stefan touching Derrick.
*laughing so much from DoubleD, Nick, and Joe, and the awesome Jokes from Jdub.
*Dani for letting me borrow alot of stuff for singles (I owe you alot also!)
*Not going 0-7 as planned (Sorry Nick)
*Garrison's mom for making us awesome food for the way there and back.
*Omar winning singles! (Grats man, you really deserved it!)
*Getting a play set of Zhao Daiyu.
*Meeting new people. (Scott, Archimedes, Deana, Vermilion, Chubbs, Shaneth,you are all great people)
*Finally getting time to actually talk to Derrick and getting to see the real DoubleD!
*Jeremy Ray loving fat kids!
*JOE WARNER MAKING TOP 8 WITHOUT WINNING A SINGLE GAME!!
SLOPS

*The Prize support.
*Stall out Mai.
*Being Broke for most of Nats.
*The 15 hour drive to Origins.
*Justin Smith sleeping in and not waking up for Nats! (Lul)
*The uber loud Poke-mon players.
*Dani not playing in singles.
*Vik not being there!

I want to thank everyone who was at the event (except for the guy running Stall-out Mai), you are all awesome people and I really hope I get to see everyone again.

An inside Joke for Nats

Bus trip to Origins $120 Dollars, Origins weekend pass $70 Dollars, Justin Smith sleeping in and missing US Nationals singles...PRICELESS.