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Matt Townsend and I arrived at the OH State tournament around 9:30 PM Friday night (6/12/15).  Teams was going to be at 11, so we worked on our T1 decks for Saturday and chatted with some of the other players.  I didn't catch last names during introductions at the tournament, so I'll apologize in advance for that   

Teams game 1:  Stephen/Jedidiah, 5-4

It was great meeting both of these players for the first time.  Matt and I face the best defense out there for part of this game...  Soul drought.  Mayhem, plus attacking with Hur several turns in a row (Matt was banding to my Hur via Aaron) still only pulled out 2 NT-only LS, and we hadn't drawn either of our FBTN LS.  Our defense leaked a couple rescues too, but solidified when Matt got Nergalsharezar in play with Swift Horses equipped.  My Belshazzar was able to band to his Nerg a few times, including a key block against Joseph that discarded him CBN with Drawn Sword (while Swift Horses had Joseph's protection interrupted).  Finally some souls were drawn, and our offense got back to work.  I did pull off the Hypocrisy/Hur combo against Jedidiah late in the game to shuffle away his heroes.  We played Son of God and New Jerusalem for the win, but not until Stephen played his as well to bring their total to 4.  Final score:  5-4

Teams game 2:  Rod Stewart/Jonathan Pequinot (sp?), 5-0

Another set of opponents that I was meeting for the first time.  Both Rod and Jonathan had a joyous energy about them; it was truly a good experience playing them.  Jonathan had a 77 card defense-heavy deck, and Rod was playing a balanced 56 or so card deck.  I tried to attack on my first turn with Samuel, but Rod (via Jezebel) removed him from the game.  All I had to support him was Eli's Sound Advice, and we didn't have Aaron or Eli in play yet, so I couldn't negate Jezebel.  But their offense hid early on, and Matt and I had answers for Rod's attacks, while Matt was able to attack basically every turn.  In one of Matt's attacks with Ezekiel, I chose to discard Jonathan's Gates of Hell with Shipwreck right after Matt played Drawn Sword to CBN discard the lone blocker.  It wasn't long into the game when I drew Gates of Jerusalem and played it when I already had King Rehoboam and Hur in territory with an occupied Nazareth in our land of bondage.  That caused at least one 9-card draw on defense (1 for Matt and I from GoJ, 7 to Matt from Hur).  A few turns later, when Rod finally drew Jair and attacked to draw some cards, I had Foreign Wives in hand.  Rod played a few enhancements for some territory destruction, giving me initiative to play Head of Gold and capture 5 of Rod's evil characters.  That's how this game went; Matt and I had what we needed, when we needed it.  Their Gates of Samarias never appeared until one was played late in the game, and it was discarded via Forest Fire a turn later.  Final score:  5-0

Teams game 3:  Travis Brown/Brian Jones, 5-0

Another new set of opponents, two more individuals that I got to meet for the first time.  Matt and I would now be facing one of the 154-card decks we saw at other tables earlier, piloted by Travis.  Brian's deck was a more reasonable size    Brian drew Burial Shroud early on, using it to stop everyone except Travis from attacking.  Matt played DoN on Burial Shroud right before it would expire and discard itself; I told him "You better win this attack", and he did.  Brian and Travis were passing Disciples back and forth through Fishing Boat and attacked from time to time, but I was able to hold them off with Crimson's EEs (Disagreement Over Mark, Dissension in Antioch, and Scattered).  Travis had quite the defense early on, but as the game went on, Matt and I were able to wear his blocks down.  On one battle, my Sam/Armorbearer band was bounced with Gomer/Goliath.  I presented Aaron and played Drawn Sword to discard Goliath, which was enough to win the battle.  We were able to get to 5 before Travis and Brian's offense could get rolling.  Final score:  5-0

I won't even mention how late I stayed up into the night fiddling with my T1 deck 

T1 game 5, top cut game 1:  Travis Brown, 5-2

This was an epic game, if for no other reason than I got to witness Travis' 63-card version of "The Deck", which we later nicknamed "The Travisty"    I could name off every card I remember him playing, and it still wouldn't spoil his deck, as he had so much going on.  I mulliganed 2 cards, drew DtT again when I already had a 3/3 Bab in hand.  Travis had like 5 LS in territory already, so he went first and  attacked with King Amaziah solo.  I blocked with Chaldeans, played DtT, searched his deck and found...  No SoG.  It was in his starting hand!  I settled for AotL instead.  Then, forgetting I had CM in hand, I let Chaldeans die and surrendered a soul.  On my turn, I used Seraph w/ LC to discard an EC and search deck for either Live Coal or Isaiah's Call (can't remember).  Banded to Isaiah.  Got a freebie.  On turn 2, Travis again attacked with Amaziah.  This time I blocked Astrologers to activate his ability.  I revealed top card, it was Damsel, and added her to hand; Travis still had no other cards in territory, so Astrologers' discard was wasted.  I play CM.  On Travis' next turn, he rescues Sam + David for the D2.  I block with Damsel, see 4 good brigades, draw 4.  My initiative, I play 2kh, draw 2 more, and play Scattered.  That jumpstarted my deck.  I just attacked with Isaiah Angel/Isaiah with Call every turn until I walked in for 5.  Travis also used his SoG without NJ to rescue my Punisher LS (because it would shut down his entire offense  ).  That let me abuse my Liner and DoU.  I also forgot that I had Darius Decree active, and let Travis get away with playing 2 different GEs preblock.  It ended up not mattering.  Final score:  5-2

T1 game 6, top cut game 2:  Brian Jones, 5-0

This game was similar to my first with Brian; he always had an answer to whatever I did.  I felt I drew better in this one, so I was surprised when I had 0 at game end.  Still, it was a good game, and his deck was better than mine.  Final score:  5-0