All right, let's crank this out! I'll tell this as a big story as it happened and everything, with each event being its own post. Hooray sextuple posting!

It starts out Friday morning at noon for me. Everyone shows up at our place (Brian and I are roommates) pretty much ready to go; I have to wake up, finish the last minute-packing, and I get in a test game for my promo Alex deck. We pile into the van, go and pick up Robert, and we're off!

Along we way we talk lots of UFS (obviously), video games (we came to the consensus that Chrono Trigger was awesome), and random other crap. Stopping only for gas and the bathroom (beware gas stations that have animal heads on the walls, and quicksand under overpasses), we make it to Lafayette a little before ten PM. We take a wrong turn before we hit the hotel, so by the time we make it to Thai's store, it's about 10:15 and he's closed. We meet up with half the Lousiana crew, as well as Jon Herr (hereafter referred to as Jon), and we head to Hooter's. We have a great time (the waitress didn't offer to let us talk to the manager or anything!), watch some TV (random women competing in random race, plus pole vaulting), talk UFS, and I get crap because I'm texting the girl back home. I make off with my usual spoils of war, and we head back to the hotel for last-minute deck changing stuff and sleep.

At this point, I'd planned on playing Air/Chaos Olexa...but due to a Spike shortage, I made a deal with Jacob from our group: if he decided to play Defender loop in his Seong-Mina, I'd play the Spikes in Olexa, and if he decided not to, he'd play the Spikes and I'd switch to Yoshitora or Kyoshiro. He ended up using the Spikes, so I made my Kyoshiro deck in the car, and there you have it. I couldn't think of anything great for the sideboard (I'm stupid and forgot Fatal Disruptor/graceful Kabuki for the anti-multiple ability!), so I just pu in 4 Experienced Combatant (to handle Reventant's Calling) and 4 Program Malfunction (to handle Amy's Assistance).

After about three hours of sleep (for me, anyway), we get ready and show up at the shop just before it opens on Saturday. We get all registered and everything. Turns out day 1 is Singles and Drunken Master.

*begin singles report*

The GCC had a turnout of 23 people for Singles, with five characters fighting for diversity - Alex, Chun-Li, Ibuki, Kyoshiro, and Hanzo. The exact characters and numbers are a little fuzzy (I need to get the exact info from Thai, but it looked someting like this:

1 Donovan
3 Chun-Li
1 Seong-Mina
1 Sogetsu
2 Kyoshiro
1 Hugo
1 Dhalsim (promo)
3 Alex (2 promo, 1 rare)
2 Ibuki
1 Elena
3 Hanzo
1 Lilith
1 Felicia (rare)

I want to say one of the two I don't remember was rare Rock Howard, but I'm not sure =/

The other Kyoshiro is Tim (Cetonis) running Tiger Fury and Sardine's for the kill. I'm running Defender loop, because it's very consistant and will likely do pretty well. I could feel some part of my soul dying as I looped people.

Round One - Robert (Good Lilith)
A member of our group right off the bat. O joy. Because he's in our group, I know pretty well what he's playing without ever having seen it - Lilith off Good, running cheap attacks to use with her ability, plus Darkness Blade and the general Good tech pieces. However, I manage to set my loop by the end of turn 2, and Kyoshiro draw into the second Mega Spike. Robert is now cursing himself for forgetting to put his Air Bases into his deck.

Game two was roughly the same, though it took a little bit longer. I had to use Forethought to hack a few checks, and ate a few beats, getting put down to about 12. He ends up playing a Darkness Blade, then Fight or Flighting it, meaning I absolutely have to block a 7L20 or I die. I manage to partial thanks to my used-up Kyoshiro and 2 ready Destiny, and then Tira's the damage away. I loop him about two turns later for the win.

1-0 (matches), 2-0 (games)

Round two - Jacob (Tenessee group; Air Felicia)
This is one of those times where I'm in my hurry-up mode: I know he's bound to be running Spike, so my job is to set my loop up as quickly as possible to prevent multi-Spike from happening. Game 1 I manage to get a fantastic setup - Tira's, Lord of the Makai, Destiny, Olcadan's, and double Forethought turn 1. He passes a foundation (can't remember what), and then fails the next check without me hacking it. I start building like crazy, and due to me getting out even more Forethoughts, he can't really pass much of anything. he scoops before I even get Defender into my hand.

Game 2 took a little longer. He was passing every check because I couldnt' get a Forethought...which was okay, because I managed to get out other important stuf (Red Lotus, Oral Dead, Tira's, Destiny, etc). I finally got him to fail a check with the recheck ability on Destiny, then drew into double Tag Along and a Mega Spike, when I had a Defender and another Mega Spike in the discard. I TA the Defender back, play it and a couple of foundations, and then end. He plays an iSpin, and I negate the enhance with Red Lotus, but the damage is done. He has a momentum and about...four ready foundations, plus Felicia. He Felicia's the iSpin into momentum, and goes to play Spike. I hack with the only Forethought I have, and he still passes the Spike. Thank Jeebus I have a Seal out to negate the Multiple. I block with Mega Spike and Tira's the damage away. I draw a Negative Strain in my new hand, then Tag Along the Mega Spike into my hand. Then I play Mega Spike, Defender the Tag Along back into my hand, and then Spike/Strain loop him to death. Phew.

2-0 (matches), 4-0 (games)

Round Three - The only person I played whose name I forgot (sorry!) (Death/Earth Hugo)
Well, Defender's certainly going to earn its pay this time around. Game is is almost a carbon-copy of game 1 against Jacob - I get double Forethought and start failing his checks turn 1. I set my loop up very early this time, though, and loop him out around turn 3 or 4.

Game 2 was...frustrating to say the least. This time, I see none of my combo pieces or Forethoughts, except as checks. But I do see every draw and counter-control piece I have, and unfortunately, I've seen him check a Sardine's. Of course, by the time I have Defender and Lord up, I've got about...25 cards in my staging area? So now the hunt for throw begins. I FINALLY draw into a Mega Spike after cycling, and by playing about two more foundations, I check the Strain, and have a Tag Along. Unfortunately, he has TWO Sardine's in hand, plus Revenant's Calling. I somehow manage to get him to almost tap out for the Sardine's and Tira's the damage away (I only had ONE, so thank Jeebus he couldn't pass the other!). I TA the Strain and loop him out the next turn (thanks to Lesser of Many Evils for that one). However, being a smart player, he makes me play it out...and I almost tap out because I start checking my other attacks and Seal >_<

3-0 (matches), 6-0 (games)

Well, at this point, a top 8 spot is almost guaranteed; just depends on who I'm paired against as to whether or not a win will get me.

Round 4 - Jon Herr (Order Donovan)
$#&*! Of all the...

Well, Jon soundly thrashes me with little resistance on my part. He manages to iSpin me about five times PLUS all his Olcadan's and Experienced Combatants. Meanwhile, I'm checking all my Red Lotus and all I have is Oral Dead...which keeps getting hit with Combatant. He controls my face off, then kills me with Spike in one game, and iSpin in the other (I was down to 2). Good player is REALLY good. He's not the CanNats champ for nothin'!

3-1 (matches), 6-2 (games)

Thankfully, Jon is the Swiss champ, so I float right in to a third place singles finish. Wheee!

Diversity affected Chun-Li (surprise!); Hanzo was also affected, I think, with Ben L. from ATL taking a top 8 spot. The Alex situation was very interesting. At the end of round 4, one of the Alex players was at table 5. He had just lost. Table 6 was the other two Alexes, Ivey and DFW's own Shelby. However, in the middle of their match, Ivey won a game...but then they couldn't remember how many games they'd played! So they decided to say it was game 2, and that Shelby had taken game 1. Time was called in game 3, making it a draw. However, Shelby gave the win to Ivey, so Ivey managed to make her way into top 8. Hooray!

And so the top eight starts with:

Donovan v. Seong-Mina (Jacob from our group!)
Kyoshiro v. Sogetsu (Robert from Lafayette)
Alex v. Chun-Li (Marco from ATL)
Hanzo v. Ibuki (Ryan/Havoc from FL)

Jon's Donovan managed to take out Seong-Mina game one, though apparently Jacob managed to shake Jon game 2 and only lost due to a misplay when Jon played iSpin (Jacob picked something OTHER than Defender to add to the momentum). Jon wins this one 2-0.

Ivey takes the win over Hanzo with her very good Alex deck (what's a handsize?), and Chun-Li wins over Ibuki due to...something. I think it was time being called on the turn Ibuki would have won game 2? Dunno. I had my hands full with Sogetsu...

Top 8: Robert (tri-symbol Sogetsu)
I love playing against Robert. I met him at Worlds (apparentlt he was already know to the rest of the group), and we ended up playing against each other in Singles in an epic match (**Mai** v. *Donovan*, with me having to fail FOUR Rejections in a row on the Great Gerdenheim that took game 1 as time was called). So this one was bound to be great!

Game one is another where the quick and major hax take the win for me, ultimately. I managed to fail his attacks and the REALLY important stuff. Unfortunately, he has about...12 foundations on his board when I go to loop him, one of those being Cutting Edge. He doesn't have a way to stop my loop, but I'm very, VERY close to decking out, so those Cutting Edge are KILLING me. I start stuffing my hand into my momentum with Lord of the Makai, and after he exhausts his foundation base with Cutting Edge, I'm about to cycle, and he STILL has about 23 health! I cycle, and we check my cards left. I have exactly enough cards to finish him and leave ONE card left in the deck. OMIGAWD this sucked.

Game 2 was ridiculous in a different way. It's kinda similar with the hax, as I get him to almost tap out for attacks, negate Multiple with Seal, that whole thing. The problem is...I have my board set up (including LESSER OF MANY EVILS for those Cutting Edge!), but where are my attacks? I've checked ALL of them, and have no Tag Along! I then proceed to cycle out all but TWO of my attacks! So I spend the next three turns digging, and FINALLY manage to check a Negative Strain on something when I have a Tag Along in hand! So I fail the check, screw up his turn (good times, Robert!), and then open up with my last Mega Spike. I Lesser of Many Evils, and then loop him out with no trouble from those pesky Cutting Edge.

4-1 (matches), 8-2 (games)

Top 4...Jon Herr >_<
By this time I'm totally drained from lack of sleep. I open the round with "please Jon, just put me out of my misery!".

Yeah...he totally does. This time, though, I come SO CLOSE to winning game 2. I copy his Defender with Lynette's, and have Lord of the Makai set up, along with Tag Along and a Mega Spike. I haven't checked any attacks, though. Anyway, he gets me with a very clever Defender loop that I finally put a stop to, only to play Lord of the Makai, clear the pool, and tap out to Spike me...when I have nothing but low blocks left. WELL PLAYED, SIR!

I pitch a card and then check to see what I would have draw, given another turn...Mega Spike. NOOOOOOOOOO

Final finish: 4-2 (matches), 8-4 (games), third place

The finals is Jon v. Marco (D v. Chunners). Marco takes game one about three or four turns in from what I could see, and then Jon won game two after a good 7-8 turns. Game three took a little bit longer, but Jon managed to pull off a very clever Defender loop (looping his last card in hand, Feline Spike, as a partial block against Hoyoko-Sen), surviving to Spike Marco the next turn.

The vitality counters and other prizes are given out based on overall standings, meaning Jon takes first place, Marco second, I rank third, Ivey is fourth, Ryan is fifth, and I think Robert or Ben was sixth.

There's a good, long break, during which people start registering for Drunken Master, and I back out of match requests in order to go sleep in the corner formed by table one, waking up to grab something to eat just before Drunken Master begins (I'm the DD, so I'm an observer)...

TO BE CONTINUED...

That be a good report. Don't forget that there were two Donovans (I faced the other one first game). But yeah, for being relatively new (and running iSpin for the first time ever), Jacob did awesome against Jon.

Congrats to the champ, and I hope that we run into each other soon, as I'd like to get in a match or two.

Correction to earlier statement - Top 8 was Chun-Li v. Hanzo, and Ibuki v. Alex.

PART TWO - DRUNKEN MASTER

Drunken Master was a sealed event. Everyone got 7 (I think) packs, each player getting the same number of boosters from the same sets (Realm of Midnight, Extreme Rivals, Soul Arena, Blades of Fury, Higher Calibur, dunno about other sets). There were about 8 participants (there had to have been 8, since there would have been 4 left at the end of round 1), but I can't remember everyone (sigh). Six of the players were...

Shelby
Robert
Jacob
Brian
Ben
Ivey

Pack opening was quite something. Shelby pulls rare Yun-Seong, as well as a godpack from Extreme Rivals, giving him both Criminal Uppercut and Final Destruction (we all laughed about that, since he plays *Cody*), Jacob manages a godpack from something (don't remember what), and Brian rips a FELINE FRIGGIN' SPIKE...but fittingly pulled a SR Yun-Seong to make up for that mojo. Ben pulls the most ridiculous combo ever, that being gather the Soul, 100 Years of Humiliation, and REANIMATED. Everyone downs a shot before deck building, and another before round 1.

Round 1 pitted Shelby against Ivey and Jacob against Robert. Ivey was running **Anakaris**, whose five handsize was a major detriment against an opponent who was tossing Criminal Uppercuts and the like. Yun-Seong takes the match. Jacob defeats Robert with his character choice (drawing a blank here), and Ben and Brian both win their matches.

The winners all take their third shot. At this point, Shelby goes to the bathroom. While doing so, he coughs, and it causes him to throw up; he's pretty annoyed about that more than anything else the entire trip, because if there's one thing Shelby is amazing at, it's holding his liquor (and drinking huge beers in the blink of an eye). And so Ben gets a bye, while Jacob and Brian throw down, all three remaining players consuming a shot (and I think Ben has to take another for the bye).

Round 2 sees Yun-Seong's momentum discard ability pushing checks for attacks through, making things significantly easier when it comes to passing that Spike. Brian takes the win, taking another shot.

The finals roll around. The air is tense, but with excitement - everyone's enjoying themselves, partially because people have been throwing back shots and beers since Singles ended, and partially because everyone was pretty **** cool. In addition to all the participants and Thai, there's at least 8 other people there, and we're all crowded around the table to see the final match - ::Felicia:: v. Yun-Seong. The rules this time are different, though - shots are also taken every 15 minutes, meaning that each needs to eke out a quick win before they take so many they can't stand any more.

The two combatants cheers, down their drinks, and then it was on! Game one is taken by Brian with a quick momentum generation via Gather the Soul, Ben doing the same; however, Brian's was to generate momentum for Yun-Seong to pass the check for Feline Spike. Game 2 drags out a bit, though, forcing each player to take two shots in the duration.

Meanwhile, the crowd is getting even more excited - everyone's laughing and joking and having a good time; Marco and I pick up Ivey and put her in the trash can, Brian's dancing like he's doing a Micheal Jackson impersonator audition, Ben's tossing cards down without even looking at his checks (and passing them!), and Jacob's at the point where he's just drunk enough not to realize it, which is always hilarious.

And then comes the last turn of game two - Brian has out all three of his obnoxious combo pieces, being Shotokan, Whereabouts, and Getting and Education. And so he starts looping Hyper Dynamite Slam with GaE, getting Ben's vitality down to about 10. At this point, they take ANOTHER shot, and Brian attacks with Kickboxing Discipline, then Ninjutsu, before Hyper Dynamite looping Ben to "graduation day".

And so Brian was crowned the Drunken Master! And now EVERYONE started doing shots and getting crazy, and we all start to pack it in for the night. The plan now is for us to meet up with the ATL crew to do MORE drinking (good Lord, can these guys drink!). So we're in the parking lot making plans, and Ben hops in the van to talk to Brian, which quickly turns into drunken rambling and Ben slapping me upside the head while trying to pull me out of the car (which is also hilarious). I manage to lock the door, but the window's down! NOOOOOOOO!

Anyway, we all pile into our vehicles, plans are made. So we start to follow the ATL crew back to their hotel, but on the way, this...DRIVER...in an Altima cuts in front of me and behind them, then STOPS at a green light to turn left when there's NO TRAFFIC AT ALL! I lose sight of them, but didn't see any turns, so I just keep driving until I see a car that I thought was them turn. Apparently I'm part bloodhound, because we catch up to them in no time. Unfortunately, Brian's about to get sick, so I pull over so he can do his thing.

...except he's so drunk he can't get out of the van, so we have to drag him out onto the grass

We're stopped in front of a gas station, so we head in to hit the bathroom, then come back outside, where Brian's just kinda rolling around and tossing back and forth on thr ground mumbling and laughing. We manage to drag him back into the van, then head back to our hotel to get him taken care of. We have to drag him up the stairs because he's no longer coherent. And the whole time, he has this huge smile on his face, like he fins it all funny. I'm the point man, getting ahead to open up the door and get stuff out of the way so we can put him in the tub. The others get him to the top of the stairs as I come back out, but they have to put him down. Being drunk, he hits his head on the concrete, with the only effect being an "ow" and a "**** it". We start to pick him up, but we don't have enough room for the four of us to get him, so he ends up hitting his head AGAIN xD

Anyway, we drag him to the tub, and he passes out, drooling all over himself and...you know. If I'd had my way, while he was passed out, I would have used my marker to draw a mustache on him and the word "PRANKSTER'D" upside down, so when he woke up, he'd know what happened. Sigh.

Anyway, we all hit the sack. I still get practically no sleep. And then Brian wakes up, semi-coherent, talking about how he felt like he could sleep normally now. Which makes it MY turn to lose my mind, as I lapse into an uncontrollable fit of hysterical laughter, punctuated by "I hate you so much, Brian" when I can draw breath. This lasts about ten minutes, until it wakes up Shelby, at which point it immediately ceases, and I get another three hours of sleep. Boo!

TO BE CONTINUED...

this is an amazingly epic tournament report.

also congrats to everyone who participated

The other two participants were Jon Herr and Louisiana local Robert Finch (Piloting Jedah and J. Talbain respectively).

I remember my first round being against Jon, and my reaction being of dismay (thinking my luck's been countered by getting Mr. Multi-Champion while he's still coherent enough to make smart plays). I was lucky enough to draw into Investigations and Whereabouts first turn so I could actually get it to my staging area without fear of Jedah slapping them to my momentum.

Luck held out for me as I drew into my Overhead Throw and Feline Spike next turn, used Whereabouts to get some momentum, and Overhead's E to discard a card. Then it was Spike and recursion via Investigations to finish it next turn. I lucked out yet again, this time getting Gather the Soul and some fuel foundations. Drew into some attacks and Spike a couple of turns later and that wrapped it up.

I remember walking around and watching part of Ben and Finch's match as Ben just played out three attacks before using Felicia to scoop to momentum... to play out more attacks! It looked like he drew into Reanimated early on and either played that and one (or two) foundations, or dropped them in when Finch played. Either way, Ben found yet another janksauce Sealed combo.

I checked out Jacob and Robert's match, where Jacob was running shop with SR Xianghua's dirt cheap E. Robert was piloting rare Cassandra, but I don't think Jacob had much to do with his momentum in the first place. And that's all that I can think of that's been overlooked.

The whole thing was a blast, and I was one lucky sonuva all night, from my pulls to my hand draws to my not checking my Spike once to ignoring that urge to throw up after the 4th shot (Seeing Shelby exit early freaked me out). Overall, Ben and I took at least 8 shots during the event, not counting the beer before the event, or the celebration after the event. So yeah, next day we were a little rough (Ben had it harder though, with his 10 hour drive up to the shop on Saturday =S).

I hope that I get to meet the ATL crew again real soon, so we can all have some quality matches when we're 100%. Same goes out to Jon Herr, who would've probably spanked me if he was allowed to play the Kubi Ori he managed to pull. But yeah, I really wanted to test my Dhalsim against his Donovan build. I just might have to take a trip...

But yeah, it's times like these when you realize just how good you have it, 'cause I don't even want to know how things would've played out if my crew wasn't there to (literally) haul me up the stairs. After all of that, I owe just about each and every one of them huge, but especially April for keeping tabs on me through the night. Major props all around.

We counted them off at the hotel - 12 shots total, plus the beers.

Knew there was something I was forgetting - I remember seeing Jon slapping down the Jedah, but it slipped my mind entirely.

Two comments from my side. My match against Jon was my mistake on my own I-spin. Game one I was having ahard time passing anything, to the point that I was focused on getting rid of those **** experienced combatants and forethought. So when I played my i-spin and passed it, I didn't even think of how he had used the defender already to loop rejection against me, and just trashed his control pieces. Game two I was so disheartened, that I'm not even sure I was really even giving it the full fighting chance anymore, and got a quick beat down with looped Kitty Strikes.

For the drunken master tourney, I was running every cheapo cheapo attack I pulled with the Xianghua with the progressively free damage enhance. Worked well-ish against those **** 20 vitality characters till I bit a Kitty Strike from Brian.

more pictures right here:

http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e75/GraveLord/GCC%202009/?action=organize

Hope that link works.

I remember doing the finals and Thai asking us if we could dip into the winner's bottle. And how dumb it was for both of us to say yes. The fact that what 8 people being chopped in half every round killed an entire magnum bottle of goose is scary now that I think about it.

But yea my deck mostly consisted of Felicia to gain momentum, 100 years of humiliation to mitigate damage coupled with reanimated. Twas funny b/c once it was down I really couldn't die . Too bad you rocked the big meow meow attack though!

And your link doesn't work thai.

Dude. It was beyond rediculous. I lost to Marco in the top 4 which landed me in 4th place, but sweet top four!

Now. My recount of the OTHER drunken master.

As far as i can understand, both drunkards blacked out everything the second they finished their game. So let's include this. Ben got in teh car to go to the bar with Geese and co., and Jon started harrassing him for being a loser. (it was funny.) Ben, however, in his drunken state decided to b*tch slap Mr. Herr across the face as hard as he could. Jon's head bounced backwards from the force. So, that being done, we start to head out. Unfortunately, the bumpy car ride finally made the alcohol (enough to kill a small child, might i add) catch up with ben, so the plan is to take him back to the hotel, and then maybe still meet up with peeps.

Not so much. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) Brian was sick too, so we didn't let anyone down by not going back out. Once we reach the hotel, Ben gets out of the passenger side and crawls into the back seat, assuming the fetal position and telling us to 'just leave him.' After a bit of a struggle we got him into the room and on the bed where he announces he will be sick. we put the trashcan in front of him, but Ben ignores it and spits on the ground, then on my foot. We decide it's bathroom time.

OMFG.

Ben is positioned over the toilet for maximum puking ability, but decides to ditch it in favor of falling sideways into the tub. He hit at least his head onthe way in. I quickly go in for the removal of clothing before the sick comes, and i get his pants.. but not the shirt. sigh. finally we've got a Ben in the tub, really sick, and really really agitated. There's some thrashing about, and a lot of "Just let me die!" and "I'm cold!" followed by me turning on the shower of hot water and then its "why are you turning on the water! stop it!" I attempt to get Ben to drink water, but before i even give him the cup he yells at me "I'M TRYING!" in reference to drinking the water. the water that was still in my hand. (i threw it in his face after that)Jon said you could hear us throught the walls, complete with me yelling "GET ON YOUR SIDE!" and "Get it all out!" and calling Ben by his full name in my mom voice.

Eventually, Ben wore himself out and allowed himself to be carried to bed where he promptly passed the eff out. We stayed awake a little longer to ensure no more pukage.

Ben definentely got alcohol poisoning. Brian may have, too. Next year, maybe not so big of shots? orrr maybe beers instead? Either way, Ben is STILL a little iffy. We probably should have taken him to the hospital, but we made him play in teams instead. which is funny b/c he didn't lose a single game, and jon and i both did. i blamed it on the fact that we got no sleep trying to watch for ben's life.

as for my drunken master game; i didn't even try! it's totally not fair to Shelby, but i just blatantly cheated and yelled about how yellow the table was. it was BRIGHT! I actually helped him once or twice, too, by readying his foundations and commiting his momentum instead. it was the most fun i'd had in a while Oh, that and our new super awesome way of playing a game off of the same deck. Both players have the same character, and both use the same deck. It's soo much fun.

Anyway, it was a great time (aside from ben almost dying) and i can't wait to do it again! Thanks Thai for the awesomeness! oh, and i picked a Death counter for my prize. were we telling which one we picked? who knows!~

<3 Ivey

We totally should have covered the eyes.

ok.. try this link then.. just go under GCC 2009.

http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e75/GraveLord/

it's weird looking at the pictures and realizing how many people I met/played over the course of GenCon last year that live over half a day's drive away

Good job MegaGeese, thats pretty sweet.

catspider said:

as for my drunken master game; i didn't even try! it's totally not fair to Shelby, but i just blatantly cheated and yelled about how yellow the table was. it was BRIGHT! I actually helped him once or twice, too, by readying his foundations and commiting his momentum instead. it was the most fun i'd had in a while Oh, that and our new super awesome way of playing a game off of the same deck. Both players have the same character, and both use the same deck. It's soo much fun.

Your match with Shelby was hilarious. I think I saw a picture of Thai's with your just kinda laying across the table, which is TOTALLY insanely VERY BRIGHT yellow.

I'll do the Teams thing when I get home from work. The quest to embarass Brian must continue!

yeah it was awesome. when i first got to the table i was whiney. "why's the table so BRIGGHHTT? it hurrrts my eyyes!!"

haha.. I was gonna paint all those tables black but didn't get to it. The store isn't 100% done yet and already the floor I worked so hard and painted is scratched...

Next year I will make "Drunken Master Wannabe" character and life-counter cards to use in the sealed DM event. Might look something like

Drunken Master Wannabe
6HS, 30VT
(no symbols)
R take a shot: After a response or enhance is played, cancel it's effects. Your opponent may take a shot to cancel this ability. Playable while committed.

E take a shot: Your attack gets +1 speed or dmg. Playable while committed.

Static ability is "If you throw up, then you lose the match and are eliminated from the event."

Additional rule:

*Brian, Drunken Master* is banned from tournament play.

It's like what Shelby wrote on the bottle: "I'm not carrying your drunk ass up the stairs again."

who was the tn group that was there??

good job on topping mega geese.

Why thankies! I almost, ALMOST ran the Promo TB at the last minute, but couldn't think of the right symbol to run it off of =/

Tennessee group was from Memphis, I think. Tim (Obidon) is the only one of them I know.

PART THREE - TEAMS

We all wake up and get ready, some of us in a higher state of soberness than others. Those of us who remember the night before laugh at those who don't, and everyone gets showered, and we pack up. We lose one of the room keys, but we leave anyway. We head over to the shop, where we're desperately awaiting the opening of the smoothie place, because we all want smoothies, and Brian's buying =(

Everyone's there, and so we start trading Drunken Aftermath war stories. I still have this mental image of Ben flopping around the back seat of their car like a fish screaming "JUST LET ME DIE!". Dunno if that's how it happened; it's just how it appears to my mind's eye. The seeming favorite anecdote is Brian's "mumble mumble m'effer", which becomes our unofficial Drunken master slogan.

We get suited up, deckists done and everything. The setup is Shelby, April, and myself forming "Team On the Right" ("What street do I turn on?" haha), fronting Jivatma, Chun-Li, and promo Alex, respectively. Jacob, Robert, and Brian form Team Dodge Step ("WTF is Dodge Step?!" LOL), sporting Seong-Mina, Chun-Li, and SEAN (UGH, SEAN!).

Round 1: Team Toofis
HAHAHA! Right off the bat we get to take a crack at the ATL crew! This is Ben, Ivey, and Yonherr, playing their same characters from the day before (Hanzo, Alex, and D). We win the die roll, and I end up having to choose. I don't really care who I play, but Ivey owes me a debt of VENGEANCE, so I take her. April takes Yonherr, and Shelby gets Hanzo.

Ivey wins the roll in our match, so we're off to the races! This is actually very amusing as well, since I know seeing her play from the day before that we're running almost the exact same deck: promo Alex based on All. The difference comes from the tech - she's running Hugo draw support, as well as Blinding Rage/Makai High Noble for Olcadan's protection, as well as the hilarious Unorthodox Training. I'm running straight All to keep things speedy, but am running a more control oriented deck, with a number of committal effects, including the one and only PRANKSTER. We're both running the same kill - Lord of the Makai backing a Love Tap (Shin Shoryuken). So it's a race against time and control, to see who will get their board set up best the quickest and push their fatal attack through.

Due to Ivey being a total hoss, and me just being a pain in her ass, we only get in one game. I drop an early (lol, turn 3 or 4) Shin Shoryuken pumped by Fight or Flight; having stripped the Rejection from her hand with Saikyo-ryu, I Bert her block and connect for 16. Unfortunately, I don't have the ability to drop another, since I've not seen my other Love Taps. So we both spend the next 25 minutes building and such. I finally get a Shin Shoryuken, and go to drop it for the kill...but forgot to use Olcadan's to clear those two Criminal Past of hers from the board. Boo.

But! About four turns later, I open my turn with Prankster on the board and a plan for getting damage through. Unfortunately, I cycle out two of my Shin Shoryuken as I draw my hand. Fortunately, I was paying attention to Ivey's deck the day before, and made certain to add Divination to my deck...which I happened to draw. I Prankster, attempting to hit her Criminal Past. This is ultimately where the game was decided, as Ivey, still very tired from last night (can you blame her?) makes a small misplay by letting the Prankster go through when she could negate with Chester's. I commit her Criminal Past, and she commits my BRT (I think). I grab my Love Taps with Divination, then drop the first one, using Trapped in a Nightmare to commit those **** Tira's of hers that stopped my last bid for game. I Saikyo both her Rejections away as well, and send the attack through. Don't remember if it was blocked or not; it didn't matter, since the second Shin Shoryuken was pumped and ready to take all 28 of Alex's vitality (and she was only at about 7).

Wakeen gets his revenge, making me an' Ivey 1-1 overall. Shelby and April lose their matches, so it's a loss overall. We kept playing even after time was called because we wanted to finish it. Ivey's fun to play =D

Round 2 - Team Biscuit
We win the roll again, so we face Biscuit with Jivatma v. Hugo, Chunners v. Soiree (what a twist!), and Alex v. Hanzo. I'm playing against Tim (Obidon, sorry for continually confusing you with Cetonis!).

Hanzokick...grr. Game one is quite frustrating. He's in "look, I'm just gonna play all of my **** good foundations, and you're gonna sit there and enjoy it" mode. I'm in "okay, sir, just please, not the face" mode. In other words, it's entirely one-sided. Three Olcadan's vs. my two Lynette's copying his Red Lotus, plus his two Chester's, two Revenant's, three BRT, and Charismatic. Fortunately, I have Trapped in a Nightmare (this card is so great!) and two Psycho Style ready to go. He goes in for the kick, and I start tapping down stuff with Nightmare, and manage to block the attack. I start my turn, Olcadan'sing as I go, and drop a Shin Shoryuken, Fight or Flight it, and Saikyo his only block. I follow it up with another a couple of turns later, getting rid of his only mid block, letting me take game 1.

Game two was another mind-eff. Long, long game that took the rest of the round, going to time on my turn. A back-and-forth cat and mouse game, mostly, with him getting the superior stuff (Red Lotus on it's own trumps Alex's card draw in this matchup, imo), and me just getting MORE stuff. Nobody really takes any damage, and so the game draaaaags on to time on my turn, just as I drop a Shin Shoryuken. I don't have another, and the other two games have been lost for our side, so I take the win here, 1-0.

Round 3 - bye
This is about the time the food from Cane's hits the scene, so I devour chicken strips, toast, and suchlike while drinking a smoothie and we talk to Ben, Ivey, and Jon, reminiscing about old MTG decks and suchlike. Jon reveals the nastiness that his character is going to have (HAHAHA, and such symbols!), aaaaand...yeah. We just kinda sit about.

Unfortunately, there's only 7 teams, so the cut is to top 4. We don't make the cut, and neither does Dodge Step, and we didn't get to play against each other, either. Boo.

The finals end up being Team AGC (Thai's team) v. Team Biscuit, with Biscuit taking the win. I recall Biscuit squaring off against Dodge Step, with Soiree going against Sean, which make me laugh very hard. Seong-Mina defeats Hugo (*shakes fist at Jacob*), but it's too late, as Hanzo manages to loop Chun-Li. What's amazing about this is...Hanzo loops Chun-Li with about 8 foundations out...WHILE CHUN-LI HAS AIRBASE ON THE BOARD.

Please explain to me how in the hell that happened.

Cane's was pretty good. Somebody started ranting about BJ's (...), and I began seriously pondering heading to the nearest Walgreen's for Ivey's pot genie, because I'm miserably sick-ish (I seriously think I have a Kleenex allergy; they just made me sneeze more). I grab another smootie (immune booster, ha), talking to Ivey and Jon while in the line (I did NOT envy their drive), down my vitamin C and multivitamin, and make out my decklist for Talbain (awoooo!).

People start to leave; Shelby and I start prepping for the utter monstrosity that will be Double Dragon. I start to get some games in with Talbain, my first time ever actually using the wolfman. I figure that about an hour before showtime is plenty of time to learn how to play him...I was right. I get my ass handed to me by Cody (no surprise there!), and then take on Robert Finch (aka Lafayette Robert) and his **Mai** deck (the Legacy version of the one I face at Worlds! =O). This was a good way for me to get my feet wet and take off the training wheels. Man, Mysterious Stance and BRT are so brutal together =/

TO BE CONTINUED...

MegaGeese said:

Fixed for accuracy.

Sean is my mortal enemy; if I was a SFIV character, he'd be my rival battle. MAN I HATE SEAN!

Anyway. This is for you, Shelby!

PART FOUR - DOUBLE DRAGON
By now, everyone should know the general rules for Double Dragon format, so I'll say this - it's a two-on-two tag-team style match, where four players are all playing at the same time in the same game. There is only one round.

As soon as I heard about this back in, like, November, I knew I wanted to team up with Shelby. Shelby's a pretty cool guy, and loads of fun to play with. At the time, he was using Talbain. After checking with Thai, I learned that Talbain's already busted static was even MORE busted - he was to played literally as he was printed; as such, if ONE player plays a foundation, BOTH of the opposing players were able to drop a foundation. So the plan was for him to play Talbain, and I would play ***Victor***, using Ira-Spinta to add their foundations to their momentum, and then Demonic Drubbing to make them redraw them every turn.

But then we learned the event would be Legacy, and our team immediately changed to Shelby's classic Air Cody and my *Donovan*. But as I began to think about the deck, I became convinced the best way to go was to find someone who would play very well with Cody's ability to...y'know, never need foundations. And so *I* settled on Talbain, using only a handful of block 1/2 cards (2 Unorthodox Style, 1 Basket of Tricks, and 4 The Curse Broken) and adding them to my current block 3 build.

And so we were prepared to throw down with at least four other teams. Sadly, DD attendance was low as almost everyone had left for home by that time, leaving only four teams. On the other hand, there was enough prize support left to give the top three teams the life counters and all that jazz...

Team Lightning Round (Brian and DFW Robert) - Evil/Fire Zi Mei + Death Nakoruru
Team Animal Poachers (Finch [aka Lafayette Robert] and Nick/OtakuV) - Chaos 8HS Vega + new Chunners (Air, I think?)
Team Awesome Go Awesome (April and Jacob from our group) - Water Ibuki + new Seong-Mina (tri-symbol)
Team Micheal Bay (Shelby and myself) - Air *Cody* + The Artist Formerly Known as Talbain

Round One - Team Animal Poachers
Well, our gameplan is pretty simple. Cody never really needs foundations. If he draws into a Hop and any throw (which is Chain Throw/Strike Heads/Overhand Throw) in the opening hand, he's set for the entire game. He's a vicious quick-killing monstrosity. Since he doesn't need foundations, I leech off the opponent's need for foundations to pass blocks on the Criminal Uppercuts and Final Destructions he also throws their way, and then go to town with Talbain's broken stupidity.

So we sit down and they reveal their characters. I'd never played against eight-hand Vega before, but I already know one thing - Chun-Li is going to be a very big nuisance. So Shelby looks at me, I point at Chun-Li, and say something stupid like "him first". Anyway. The turn order is Vega, Talbain, Chunners, Cody (the team that wins the die roll chooses which team goes first, and each team chooses who goes first on their team; Cody needs to be ready turn 1, so I ALWAYS go first for our team). Finch plays a few foundations, so we each drop some (I think I drop three and Shelby drops two; he also uses a Hop). I play out a few assets, and Nick goes for a Hoyoko-Sen and passes it. Their strategy is to focus on me, so I eat the 5 damage (what do I care? I just dropped a Battle prowess). Nick goes now, and on his second card, checks a 6. Shelby responds with Resolution Through Force and drops a Strike Heads on him, enhancing with Cody to gain more momentum.

Nothing much happens for a turn for each player, until Shelby opens his next turn with Chain Throw, Chain Throw, Overhand Throw, and two more Strike Heads, finishing Chun-Li's 20 vitality with ease. But now the heat is on, because Vega's set up Vega's Mask and a ton of momentum. Like...14 momentum. I honestly don't even remember HOW. And, worse, Shelby has about 20 momentum of his own...but he's drawing nothing but foundations. No attacks. None. So Finch starts laying into me, and I mostly take the damage, partial blocking some of the throws with assets (I was forced to block with a foundation at this point, too). Play finally comes back to me...and I open with two Ichi no Tachi and a Feline Spike. So I play out the Tachis and then attempt Spike. Finch lays out his ENTIRE stock of 15 momentum into Vega's Mask to attempt an auto-fail...but then Shelby responds after I check a printed 5 (-10), giving my check +23 (so now it's a 13). Spike passes, and Vega dies a horrible, horrible death. Hooray!

Lightning Round defeats Awesome Go Awesome, and so we move to Round TWO (dun dun dun)...

Round Two - Team Lightning Round
I'm not going to lie...I wanted this matchup. And I won't lie...I wanted it so I could show Robert just how overpowered Talbain was, while at the same time taking out the legendary Death Naks. They win the roll, so I go first, then Robert. I can already tell that Zi Mei is the first person on the hit list, since Nak's eight handsize is actually a liability for Robert in this matchup (plus I can easily fail Timmy's); on the other hand, Zi Mei's innate damage pump and ability to commit important stuff is a real problem. And, most importantly for this matchup (SERIOUSLY), she can play Absursd Strength.

I draw a hand that, turn two, would have been INCREDIBLE. But turn one, it's crap, since it's two Feline Spikes, three foundations, and a Yoga Adept. So I mulligan the hand away (Shelby's is nothing but foundations, so we lucked out there), and draw into, like, four assets and a couple of foundations. much better. I play out most of my hand, then pass it to Robert. He tosses out two A Dark End and a Friends and Rivals, allowing me to drop Chester's, BRT, and Red Lotus. Great start for me. Shelby tosses some attacks, Brian takes a little damage. Unfortunately, they have the right idea with their focus - they're aiming for Cody first, because I can only hand on so long before I die a horrible death at the hands of Spin Knuckle/Should Rush/Timmy or Zi Mei attack spam. Unfortunately, it means I'm going to have to start taking some hits for the team by partialing those attacks...

So Shelby lays into Zi Mei with everything he has. We manage to kill Zi Mei by a stroke of luck - it's a Strike Heads, Zi Mei has about 7 vitality left. Shelby has enhanced with Cody, so his momentum count will hit 8. I decide to Saikyo the last card out of his hand...and luck out, as it's an Absurd Strength! This play literally saves our asses, as it lets us kill Zi Mei before she gets a third turn or the chance to dop that **** Absurd (THANK THE LORD). But now we're stalled, as Robert has a pretty decent board set up (my deck decides to stop giving me foundations to drop to curb this). But thankfully, I have two Owlface out, as well as a Lord of the Makai and two Mysterious Stance - we're not dying anytime soon. The problem becomes how to kill Naks quickly, before ZI Mei revives. Shelby is back to not drawing attacks again, too. Shelby eats a hit so I don't have to block with the King's Games I get in my hand, allowing me to drop it so he can gain some vitality back.

So we do a little back and forth for a while. Robert gets enough momentum that, were it possible, he could wipe both of us out simultaneously with a single Timmy (and I'm at max vitality). Eventually, though, Owlface putting mroe Yoga Mastery into his staging area wins us the game, as I just commit Naks with The Curse Broken, keeping Cody ready. I hack the important attack checks, and Naks' second turn alone ends. We need to take him out NOW. I manage to draw into Double Feline Spike, so I know we've got the game won. I drop the first one, and Saikyo Robert's hand to reveal...FOUR COPIES OF CHIEF HOLD. SONUVA...

Well, I knock one out, and manage to fail two more with my Berts. But the last goes through unopposed. We ultimately win the game, though, as I simply drop the last Spike, Shelby responds with Cody to auto-pass the check, and Robert now only has a single card in hand, and it doesn't have a block. KAPOW!

So Cody and the wolfman take first place, with Lightning Round taking second, Animal Poacher placing third, and Awesome Go Awesome making fourth. We pick up more promos and vitality counters (Robert takes the Death counter, lulz), and start packing up. Everyone who's still there signs the giant bottle of Grey Goose that was the Drunken Master prize (see photo thread for this), and I go into a mad Donovan frenzy, snapping up six copies of Donovan in trades. The idea was for the ATL to sign them...but most of them have left. I get Ben and Ivey to sign (I didn't ask Jon, simply because I have a signed copy of **Ibuki** from him), and they take the rest to send me later. We finally leave around ten.

The trip back is fairly uneventful. We trade war stories, talk about things we could have done better (DON'T COMMIT CUTTING EDGE WITH CHINESE BOXING, JACOB), and the future of our decks. Jacob decides to build a Yi Shan deck, and I start to try to talk him into playing Starter Sakura, too. Shelby and April pass out in the back (I'm rahter jealous of Shelby's ability to fall asleep at any time), and then Jacob and Brian start mapping out a Yi Shan dekc. I'm trying to fall asleep, so I don't say anything, and just make hand gestures to correct stuff when they talk (they're bad at UFS charades, btw; Revenant's Calling, LOL). I finally get to sleep...but then wake up an hour later as I have to pee, and we're running out of gas. NOOOOOOO!

So we stop at a gas station that's at least four miles off the highway, and since it's closed, I go walk around to the back to do my business, hoping that this isn't the part in the movie where the axe murderer shows up. We saddle up and leave, and eventually stop to get food. But it's about 1 am, and the inside of McDonald's and Whataburger are both closed. We get drinks and crap at the gas station, get food at the Whataburger drive thru, where one of the employees looks like Chris Rock from CB4 (I start singing We Will Rock you as "WE DID, WE DID, ROCK YO M'F'IN' FACE YEAH" at the top of my lungs; I'm hysterical from lack of sleep again), and then I pass out until we hit DFW. But now it's raining like crazy, to where visibility is really, REALLY bad. We drop off Robert, and decide to just head back to our place. April and Shelby crash on the couch, and I sack out until about noon.

I'll make another post later with props and slops. I want to goplay Ninja Gaiden II NOW...or at least watch Brian get killed by stuff in Fallout 3.

TO BE CONCLUDED...

Oh fun fun!

I cant wait for the Texas Throwdown for Team Awesome Go Awesome to be revived! Woot !

Shelby's cody was friggin grossss!
I saw it in action a few times. What was funny was the Hye you checked a 6? HERE EAT THIS STRIKE HEADS NoM NOM NOM NOM.

Congrats on Double Dragon. I would have prepared a deck had I brought stuff / had more time before hand to plan it out, but the relative drop of hat leaving killed that. And you know the fact I was teetering on death all day = I needed to sleep.