Show and Tell, you are in time-out

Ryan F vs Paul L

 Got back to the weekly at Level Up. Killer crowd. Just stone cold players. 

I decided I didn't want to think too much, so I threw out g/u OmniTell.

Round 1 vs r/u aggro

Game 1, typical back and forth, counter somethings, I finally stuck the big nasty combo of S&T into Omni into Emurkul. Game set and match.

Game 2, He mulligaed to 5 cards. Not great, but he tried. I just powered out what I needed and stuck a Griselbrand. That was all she wrote. 

I had false sense of "this might work!" after that match. The downside was- he never had a DRC out, which is what makes that engine hum. I felt ok-ish.

Round 2 vs 8-cast (Jordan Berenhaus)

Game 1, I kept a bit of a sketchy hand and he stuck an early Chalice on 1. Pretty much shut me down as he did 8-cast things.

Game 2, I thought I had a chance when he mulligan'd down to 5 and realized one of the cards was wrong. I still lost due to my inability to find the combo or defense. He won off the back of a single Sai that I couldn't remove. It happens folks.

 

Round 3 vs Maverick (TK)

Game 1, I kept what I thought could be a good hand until I found no filtering and died with a hand consisting of 3 S+T and 2 Cunning Wish. Yeah.... ugh.

Game 2, Even worse than game 1. I don't want to talk about it.

After these results, I am putting Show and Tell based decks on hold. (actually, deconstructing my current build so I am not tempted) Just not good right now... Gonna focus on my other stable of decks.

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 Got a couple decent trades recently to fill out some corners of my collection for deck ideas. Nothing substantial to be honest.

 I did a spec of the latest Karn based on this one little tidbit of knowledge someone pointed out- The Karn generated Powerstone tokens only appear in the new set. Not the set it came out with. Huh.

I picked up 3 of the Foil Boarderless versions for $9 a piece. The new set is super artifact heavy, so this should be fun to watch.

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I have a theory about breaking the Reserve List...

With the next set, Brothers War, Wizards is introducing the idea of limited edition versions of cards- x/500. These are special foiling, and only so many made. Only found in collectors packs.

I have a theory that they are paving the way for re-introducing RL cards at WAY higher rarity as to allow three things: 

1) max out profit
2) keep the guise of protecting investments of old RL
3) soft breaking of RL, with real playable cards 

Think- SL printings of x/500 special foil editions of dual lands. No power... just Legacy/EDH stuff. I believe this is the next step after the 30th Anniversary debacle.

The only other bellwether will be Mark Rosewater retiring. That will likely be the big signpost saying- here it comes.

Legacy Pit tourament II

 I made it to Richmond, hurricane Ian be damned. Traffic was fantastic, but most of Friday was wet. Went down with my buddies Andy and Dan. From my house to the lunch spot in Richmond, it was a little over 2 hours of driving. INSANITY!

It turned out we were staying at the same hotel as the Legacy Pit crew, ran into them on the elevator from parking garage. Guess I made the correct call on where to stay.

We were testing (read screwing around) some Friday night and made a new friend from Argentina of all places, who went by Chuck because it was easier to pronounce. He was working in DC, but still. He was running Doomsday, and was trying to be a U/R Aggro killer.

Had an absolutely BANGER of a dinner at Cafe Rustika. The wait was a bit much, but everything else was perfect about it.

Disappointed with only having 1 of things- 1 vendor who wasn't even setup by around 1. 1 artist- RK Post. I am sure they aren't cheap or whatever, but ugh.

No clue how the stream came across, but in the big venue it was nearly IMPOSSIBLE to hear announcements. The PA was AWFUL.

    My only goal was to have a better record than the two other I went with. 

There was some confusion from a mid-night email about if masks were to be require but we brought them just in case. Turned out- still needed them. The other guys didn't get the same email I got- weird. 

Round 1 vs Goblins lost die roll

    Ugh. I got wasted out game 1. 

    Game 2 I managed to Fury away his threats and clock him. Everything was clicking

    Game 3 Just did goblin things, and made a a HUGE mistake by bottoming a Dead//Gone on my mulligan to see a turn 1 Lackey which was pretty much the game for me. That was the only Lackey I saw and entirely forgot about. Crap.

Round 2 vs U/R aggro won die roll

    Game 1 He didnt do much, but I roll him up with a Chalice on 1. 

    Game 2 He was VERY frustrated and it showed. He got me down to 6, but I nuked his board and kept control. Felt good.

Round 3 vs U/R aggro lost die roll

    Game 1 Got Murktide'd even though I controlled the board until that point. Guess it doesn't matter does it?

    Game 2 All I have written down is UGH. Looks like another huge Murktide.

 Round 4 vs U/R aggro lost die roll

This last match killed my soul. Up a game, after losing the the die roll, and all I had to do was find a mana source and I could finish him off in game 2. Yet, my deck just shat the bed. Turn after turn. I wound up finding two more Leylines and spells I couldn't cast.  My opening Leyline held him off for SO long, but I couldn't get there. It was so depressing I dropped and walked back to the hotel. Wound up napping a bit. It was awful. Just sucked monkey butt. 

Things I learned:

#1 This was my first big constructed tournament ever. Seriously. 

#2 Not sure big tournaments are really my thing. Sure I knew people there, had a pretty good time outside of the event... the reason for being there is not exactly my jam at this point in my life.

#3 Every match was fairly run over by the die roll. How suckie is that? I know it isn't completely true, but can't argue with the result I saw. 

#4 I should have kept playing for the fun of it, but at the moment... good god. Three straight rounds of R/U aggro was not what I wanted from life.