After losing the Joust Worlds in November to Greg Atkinson in the Top 8 Match with my Stark Winter, many people played varying versions of my deck in casual play and subsequent tournaments. It was great to be considered a good player, but even cooler to be considered a decent deck architect and have people compliment a deck that I built without netdecking. I’ve always felt more confident in my actual game play than I did in my deck design, but the fun part of losing Worlds to a great player like Greg, was losing with cards that people forgot about, seldom use or in general, just think are terrible. I always say “It’s not the car, it’s the driver” and I like to validate that statement as often as I can. After Worlds, I trained and trained and trained with people like three time world champion Erick Butzlaff and a two time world champion. People (like Chad Baumgardt) challenged me to do something different. I told people that I would play no agenda, something that no one could ever do and win a major tournament. Since the general belief that no one can win a major tournament without an agenda--as cited by the venerable John Bruno in a recent regional season FFG article, and no agenda sucks as an Agenda, it seemed like the perfect combination to try for my first competition of Regional season.
CaryCon (CC) is an amazing little convention that has been growing in Cary, North Carolina for the last year. Last year, CC tied for the largest Regional on the east coast. NO F***ING WAY. A few days before the Regional, I was asked my opinion on the mathematics of The Long Voyage Agenda and whether or not it was a good card. Even though I am a math teacher, I never look at the mathematics of a deck. I will almost always play decks that are exactly 60 cards, even though I know that svelte players play decks that are 63 or so (like Greg Atkinson). I was excited to try out No Agenda and see what only 60 cards for a deck could do. Could I put the right percentages of resources, characters, etc. into my deck? Which unique Characters should I put a second or a third copy of in the deck? Would the deck flop well (who knows)? What was the right number of Events and Attachments to add to the deck? Was the benefit of an extra card each round worth the increased deck size?
And the final question, COULD I ACTUALLY WIN WITH THIS DECK?
There were 15 players for the Regional. We would have run 4 rounds of Swiss then a cut to a Top 4. There were a lot of players in the field who I consider to be some of the best in NC and DC, if not the game.
SWISS: Round 1,2,3,4: I had some tough matchups. 1 matchup was against former three time world champion Erick Butzlaff. I played 1 copy of lethal counterattack—a card that everyone forgot about. I drew it at the right time and sent Erick packing. I also played against some excellent Cary, NC people. They were so nice, I really like them and can't wait to play against them again. The only loss in the swiss I had was against a former two time world champion—you know, that guy who designed house of dreams. His deck, lanni, housed me, but I would see him in the finals.
Top 4: Me, Steve Simoni, (stark No agenda, a deck that no one really plays) against Dusty Cox (greyjoy black sails). I felt very bad about this game afterwards and I hate that this comment is going to sound like a jerk, but if you blinked, you would’ve missed the game. At the end of turn 1, Dusty got Reeked on his victarion and that is all she wrote ladies and gentlemen. Dusty was a stand up guy and I can't wait to meet him again.
Final Game: Me vs. a Former World Champ who Likes to play cards that People have Forgotten (playing Lanni): I flopped 7. GG, no first snow (which is a great design, I have no idea how to make a card like that).
Thank so much to all the Cary, NC guys. They had a great venue and I can't wait to play them again and bounce deck ideas off them again.