Alright so its been taking me so long to get a report together from this event because of CPU troubles. Here it is finally!
So after nearly 10 hours of driving, lunch at a shady chinese/korean/japanese resteraunt, and dinner at a checkers we finally arrived at GCC on saturday for singles. In advance thanks to Tai for being and awesome host.
Alright away we go:
Round 1 vs Ben Shoemaker's Hanzo
So right of the bat i take on ATL's best player and a deck that i was hoping not to encounter the whole weekend. The Hanzo match was always iffy as i could never form a definitive strategy when it came to beating. As we sat down and began the match i was already racking my brain for ideas before my opening hand was drawn. Both games were pretty fast paced ( i dont think either went past turn 8). Ben's deck was not working to the best of its abilities and mine just seem to click when i needed it to. My kill turns in both games involved good ole' rush down multiple attacks. I take the match 2-0
Record 2-0 (1-0)
Round 2 vs Jon Herr's Donovan
My day is seeming to go from bad to worse. I have to take on Ben in round 1 and now i get a national champion in round 2. In all senses of the word this was a horrible match for me. Against order, water and air have very little defense and because of Ira Spinta i rarely got use out of most of my good foundations. This match was all Jon as quite frankly i got taken to school. Not much to say after that; Jon takes the match 2-0
Record 2-2 (1-1)
Round 3 vs ?'s Mignon
I apologize for not being able to recall this young ladies name, i believe she was from Mississippi. Anyway i had never seen a Mignon deck before so i was stepping in to uncharted territory. However i was able to get cards like chester's and inhuman perception early (which kept her from spiking me). Game one goes to me after a lunar slash and game two is won by me as well through the use of a twelve damage plasma beam. I win 2-0
Record 4-2 (2-1)
So after this round myself and Nick, the other chunners player, had the same record and our only lose had come against Jon Herr. Drama People
Round 4 vs Ian Alexander's Hugo
By i show of hands who here can consistantly hack through 40 vitality without succumbing to insanity! This match was a nightmare as Hugo draw power and massive life made him nearly impossible to get through. I took game one thanks to clean freak, which allowed me to shove about ten cards in Ian's momentum, leading to him scooping. Game two he sides into flying power bomb, which worried because i needed a lot of setup time to take out Hugo. Hoyoku-sens galore and a good bit of luck help me survive this marathon and i win the match 2-0. Sadly this took away any chance of Ian making top 8, sorry man.
So after this round we would cut to top 8. Again nick and i had the same record so it was in fate's hands who would advance to top 8. By a margin of 1 point in strength of schedule i edge out nick and make it in. Yeah my first top 8!
Top 8 vs Ben Lambright's Hanzo
Okay this is nuts! Not only do i have to play another hanzo match but its against another member of team ATLionstance. Ben L's deck didnt feature quite as many evil tools as mr. shoemaker's but it was still impressive. Once again clutch draws allow me to fend of the ninja menace and the power of kicks-a-lot leads me to victory and a trip to top 4.
Top 4 vs Ivey Willis's Alex
This makes the fourth member of team ATLionstance i would face this day and possibly the roughest match up of all. The draw power of Promo Alex coupled with the access to All and Fire's best foundations made this deck an extreme challenge. I managed to survive Ivey's RSS in game one by the skin of my teeth and am able to chip my way to a win. Game 2 i dont think Ivey ever saw her kill condition and i was able to just quicken the pace enough to bring the Alex train to a hault. After what seemed like 2 hours of game time i win the match 2-0 and advance to the finals!
Hurray my first UFS finals, and guess what i get to face the wrecking machine, Jon Herr, one more time
Final Round vs Jon Herr
After nervously pacing for about ten minutes i finally took my seat to face Jon. Now im not gonna lie i was easily psyched out by the fact that Jon had destroyed me earlier in the day. Game one took me by complete surprise. Somehow im able to out pace Donovan and draw into my kill turn by the fourth turn. My confidence was raised alittle but i would soon be brought back down to earth. Jon steam-rolled me in game two, constantly shutting me down with Spinta until he spiked me for the win. Game 3 was tighter than the first two and i thought i had the man beat. He has one card in hand and i have double hoyoku-sen and i think a beam. Bad news for me is he is able to loop his only block, which was a feline spike, with defender to live through both hoyoku-sens and i end up failing the check for plasma beam. So close yet so far. I was completely tapped out i was hoping for a miracle that never came. Jon simply lays down his spike and i hang my head in defeat. Jon becomes the Gulf Coast regional champion.
So i have alot of mixed emotions at this point. My opponent snatches victory from out of seemingly nowhere and puts my hopes of a first place finish to rest. However i really couldnt have lost a to a nicer guy. I dont know Jon very well but he is a class act when it comes to gamesmenship. Also i had a great showing and sorta got my name out there in the UFS world. So now on to the finish:
Props:
- 3 members of team ATLionstance make top 8
- i gottz me a super cool water symbol life counter
- in my promo pack i got heel snipe, blanka, and temujin, and that attack with Zas on it..........the name escapes me.
- I got all the way to the finals for the first time and top 8'd for the first time
- did i mention the life counter?
- putting a drunk ivey in a trash can with GEESE!
Slops:
- Having to beat four of my teammates to get as far as i did.
- Totally scrubbing out in teams the next day
- Not making any really HUGE trades the whole weekend
one last thing.........i've always wanted to do this............CURSE YOU JON HERR!!!!!
peace guys
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