Let's start off by thanking Dan Ach and Rob Kopp for driving me to NYC (and convincing me to go at all) and apologizing to Kyle for keeping you on the edge about whether or not I was coming (and thus chipping in for hotel) until the day before the tourney ( Kyle, if you are going to Black Friday I promise to be just as annoying if not more with committing to those hotel arrangements 
). Also thanks to Kyle for eating the majority of the hotel costs. I'd also like to apologize to New Jersey for drowning you in urine on the way up. Personally I think the 7/11 clerk should take the blame for this for not letting us use the restroom, thus leaving us no other option. You didn't seem to mind it though, just laid there and took it, maybe you even liked it, weirdo. But I digress…..
The trip started off with a bit of drama as I got into a fender bender with my wife and daughter in the car on my way to being dropped off at Dan's place for the drive to NY. No injuries, but it did cause a slight delay in the trip. Thanks to Dan for picking me up at the scene of the crime and whisking me away while I left my wife to deal with the cops (aren't i classy?).
The rest of the drive to NY was relatively uneventful other than the previously mentioned Stately Golden Shower. We made it to the hotel around midnight, and discovered that we had booked the only hotel that I have ever seen that has hardwood floors. Why does this matter you ask? Well I'm cheap, so I decided to take the 'sleep on the floor' option in Kyle and Robb's room for a reduced fee rather than paying for my own room/bed. Luckily there was a worn 2x6 runner rug to use as a 'mattress' I ended up pretty a pretty thick blanket in the closet and got an additional blanket from the front desk, so when all was said and done the night sleep wasn't too bad. Having 6 hours of uninterupted sleep on the floor was actually more restful than sleeping in a bed at home and getting up every 2 hours to change a diaper and feed my baby daughter so I awoke on tourney day quite refreshed.
The trip from hotel to CITI atrium was alot of fun for me. Hadn't been to NYC in a decade and I had never used their subway before, so it was neat to learn. We took the subway from hotel and arrived in about 30mins. Walking through chinatown and smelling the wonderful seafood delights for sale, including the live eels in a cardboard box, was a nice bonus.
I wouldn't say that I am new to aGoT (started playing seriously October 2011) but this was to be just my 2nd tournament so I was quite nervous. I was playing a Stark Winter deck that I had been playing non-stop for 6+ weeks though, so I was comfortable that I'd know how to play against any situation.
(note: not sure of the order these game took place in)
Game 1 vs Nikki (Stark Wildlings; all 3 agendas):
Very nervous for game one. I recall having a pretty strong flop. She wasn't able to marshal much and after I got a No Quarter off on her Cavalry Flank turn 1 and realized she wasn't running valar, it was a pretty quick game. I was able to flood the board with weenies and overwhelm her. Bonus points for stealing her duped Mance w/ Reek. Nikki if you are reading this, I forgot to get your email addr to add you to the DCMeta Google Group. PM me if you still want in (dennisDOTharrisonDOTjrATgmailDOTcom).
Victory (1-0)
I think I was the first one to finish my game so I got to walk around and scope the competition. I saw tons of stark and greyjoy and wasn't sure whether or not to be excited or scared.
Game 2 vs Jerrin from PA Meta (Greyjoy winter):
With the jitters out I was able to relax and play my game. This game started with a Fury vs Fury plot. Always fun! I don't recall many details from this match other than the most important one. He marshalled Wendy and an iron mines round one, but with winning a mill challenge, using my plot kill, and a No Quarter, I was able to assassinate him in Round 1. After that it was downhill for him. I don't think this game lasted more than 4 or 5 rounds either.
Victory (2-0)
Two opponents, two quick wins. I'm starting to gain confidence and get a little cocky. Maybe I can win this thing! I try not to get my hopes up because I know I got really lucky to have good flops and greats draws in the first two games, but secretly I really happy. My hope going into swiss was to get at least 2 wins because I knew the competition at the tourney was going to be stiff. Two wins would have made the trip to NY a success for me in my mind.
Game 3 vs Anthony (FATMOUSE) (Greyjoy Winter):
Here we go again, Greyjoy Winter 2x in a row. I had played Anthony online in the OCTGN tourney so I knew that he was a higher caliber player. I don't want to give away his deck as it is early in the season, so I will just say that with both of us running Winter Agenda, this game came down to both of us sitting at around 10 power, top decking, to see who would draw a char or two to push through to victory. I think this game went to 8 or 9 plots. I had Kyle Condon out to keep eating claim and he lasted about two or three turns, but on the last turn, his agenda sniped poor Kyle from me, and he pulled Asha from his deck to get 2x UO Renown chals off for the victory. I think this game could have gone either way but he got the W in a very fun game.
Defeat (2-1)
So now my head is back out of the clouds. Perhaps my two wins were flukes. I am not sure that I can make top 8 with 2 losses so next game will be very important.
Game 4 vs Robb (Greyjoy Winter):
Sigh, another Greyjoy winter….This game also game down to topdecking with agenda vs agenda. It went to 8 or 9 plots also I think but this time I was lucky that I drew the right chars. Robb is from DC Meta as well and we had played these decks against eachother before and split most matches so I knew it would be down to whether or not he could get his choke out early. Luckily he didnt so I was able to squeak out the W. Should be a fun ride home with him
Victory (3-1)
Game 5 vs Dan Ach(Stark Winter):
Yay, another carpool mate game. If you are keeping track you will see that all 5 swiss rounds were against Stark/GJ and all but 1 were Winter. I think this ended up helping me a ton because in my deck, winter is more of a nice-to-have than a necessity, I didn't have to rush to make it winter, but I could benefit if my opponent made it winter. This is a game that I think I would have lost if there was no time limit. It went back and forth as we traded valars and reeks and meeras, but just as Dan started to take control of the match again, time ran out and I happened to be up 12-8. Most of my key uniques were dead at this point and he had definite board position, but the clock shows no mercy. Dan if you read this, I think this is the main argument to try and make your game decisions faster. I think you would agree that you are a very deliberate player, considering all options before acting, but that extra time you took I think cost you the W here.
Victory (4-1)
At 4-1 I knew I'd make top eight, now it was just a matter of seeding. I waited anxiously as the rest of the matches finished. In the end I got #3 seed and pulled Jim as my first top8 match.
Quarterfinals vs Jim (Martell KotHH):
In the spirit of being completely and brutally honest, I have to say that after the flop, Jim had zero chance to win this game. In my initial draw I had Street of Silk/Sisters/Steel/Great Keep/Flea Bottom/Narrow Sea/No Quarter. I flopped 6 cards @ 0 total gold and redrew an allstar team of characters. After a first turn retaliation where I was able to discard his orphan with varys and wipe the rest of his board with 2c mill challenge and No Quarter, it was pretty much over. We went through 2 or 3 more rounds of him only having the scourge on the table but I had plenty of discard fodder to get my icons back. I don't think any deck could have competed with the draw I got in this game let alone one with no setup. Sorry Jim, truly unlucky for you there. I have never had a flop/redraw like that before and doubt I ever will again. A perfect storm of Stark.
Victory, on to the Semis
Semifinals vs Derek/Duck (Stark Siege):
I was so disheartened to draw Derek in the Semi's. We play pretty regularly on OCTGN and without exaggeration I can say that he beats be 90% of the time. Adding to that we had played these decks against each other three times in a row two days earlier and he beat me all three times very easily. He knew I'd drop First Snow as my opening plot and I knew he'd (probably) drop FoW. It would all come down to if he could setup any 3cost chars. Turns out luck was with me and he could only put out 2cost or less chars in setup and my First Snow + RBD dropped 6 or 7 cards out of his hand on Turn2. After that it was pretty much just clean up for me. He hung around for a little while but I think even he would admit that I had control from then on. We have now played in person twice (once at NYC and once at DC tourney in Feb), and I think those are pretty much the only times that I have beaten him. Sorry Duck! Come to DC Regional and I'm sure karma will match us up again.
Victory, on to the Finals
Finals vs Anthony (FATMOUSE) (Greyjoy Winter):
The rocky story was really coming together! I now had my chance to redeem my one and only loss in swiss and claim my title! Cut to 4 plots later and I was thoroughly outplayed and defeated. Not much to say about this match. We had a pretty even flop. Because of this I never in a million years thought he would risk a Fear of Winter even though I knew it was in his deck. I played Fury and he played FoW. It was really over at that point. I lost board position and my only 5g plot. I decided to gamble and use my one card to frozen solid his scouting vessel which caused his fishwhiskers to kneel, but left me with only 2 chars on board. He was able to get a mill chall through and wiped my board and I couldn't recover. No excuses on this match. He just whooped me.
I am beyond thrilled to take #2 in a field of very tough players though. It is well beyond what I ever thought I would do and gives me tons of confidence going into the DC and (maybe) NJ regionals.
Or, at least, it certainly looked like 2 Lannister decks playing against each other in the first round. That said, I never played either of them, so no clue who they were, if they even existed and were not simply hallucinations.