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Here's my first shot at a tournament report.  I know that the Creation Open isn't a big thing (just a local), but I sure had fun.  I don't remember everyone's name, sorry.  Everyone I beat (up until the semifinals) told me to go win so that was their excuse for losing.

Round 1: Bye.  Funny, I heard a nasty rumor that they were seeding the open based on how well a player did in all the other tournaments.  With a whopping four points, I thought that I'd get seeded low, and play an RLK for some sweet differential.  Turns out that John had already seeded me third, we were playing single elimination (instead of Swiss) and the top four seeds had first round byes.  Woo.  Went shopping.

Round 2: Czepp 5-1 Me
This was a hugely entertaining game.  The plays weren't advanced (He never got his key card out) and I managed to play pretty textbook.  He did have a nice site-stall going, but that died eventually as he drew more lost souls.  We joked around and had loads of fun the whole game.

Round 3: Unsure.  He had some pretty sweet sleeves.  5-1 Me
This will go down in history as the most second most embarrassing loss I have seen.  My opening draw was three EC's and five artifacts.  I may have forgotten to shuffle.  Having nothing better to do, I Grailed my 1/3 Sadd, and proceeded to walk in for two.  Third round, he kills me off handily with KoT.  Still having not drawn a single hero, I grail another EC to purple so I can set him aside with Pentecost.  On return, I draw SoG/NJ, making the game 4-0, and I STILL hadn't drawn a hero.  My defense was scary enough that he used Burial Shroud twice, allowing me to draw some heroes and AotL.  I decided not to embarrass him further, went in with an actual hero to AotL.  He SoG so he doesn't go down 5-0 and concedes.

Round 4: Ben M.  5-4 Me
And you thought the last round was bad.  He's up 3-1, makes a rescue attempt using my TGT to ignore everything.  I had FA, but he had Guardian.  I then fall away my own soul to block, and remove his hero from the game.  After that one, I thought I didn't have any hope of a victory, but by then his defense was shot.  Some quick counters and a timely SoG/NJ pushed me ahead to win, 5-4.

It turns out Irish_Luck (AKA Bret Niford) had won his game, putting us in the championship round.  Both players from the Roberts playgroup had emerged victorious for the final grudge match.  We were both sweating, and decided to take a break before the final round.  I went to Brian Welch, and discovered that flipflops were a bad idea for a mosh pit.  It then poured, and I went to the final round soaking wet.

Round 5: Bret N.  5-1 Me
John M. (the host) makes a big announcement, and lots of new players came to watch.  Unfortunately, the game's only point was that usually, the faster deck wins.  Bret couldn't get his defense out (strange, seeing as how he's such a defensive player) and I drew twice as fast as him.  Simple win, SoG/NJing the tapped 3-liner to win.

SK, your third round opponent was Jim S.  I is smart, I took a pic of the bracket 

might as well piggy-back my own report here, keep the clutter down in this highly active portion of the board.  I managed to do well enough throughout the week to grab the eighth and final seed.

Round One: vs. Kevin M.

Kevin was helping John M. out with running the booth and tourneys all week, and we had played a game earlier in the week, so I knew he was a capable player.  He had beaten me 5-4 in our previous match, but I was using a different deck in the Open.  He was never able to break my defense, and I rather easily pulled out the W.  Result: W 5-2

Round Two (Sweet Sixteen): vs. Jake H.

This guy hadn't played in a while, and it showed in his deck-building choices.  Basically, he built to the deckout rule that exists in other CCG's, but not Redemption.  I was able to handle his defense fairly easily despite it's size, and his offense posed no threat whatsoever.  Result: W 5-0

Round Three (Elite Eight): vs. Chris E. (Chronic Apathy)

I had played Chris at NE Regionals, losing fairly easily there.  While I was running a different deck at the Open, I had no real reason to expect a much different result.  A first turn Mayhem goes a long way towards setting up the reversal of lowered expectations, however.  I was able to walk in for three free lost souls, one AotL victory, and finally SoG to finish off the upset of the tournament.  Result: W 5-1

At this point, I had to wait for two games to finish before I knew who my opponent in the Final Four would be, so I took the opportunity to get back to my campsite and grab some food.

Round Four (Final Four): vs. Bret N. (Irish_Luck)

Gotta admit, Bret was the opponent I wanted in the semi-finals.  He beat Jason Dailey, who was running a deck that was very similar to Chris', and I figured I had used up all my luck against Chris.  I managed to pull out to a 4-2 lead, and if GoYS had come out early I would have won.  However, Bret's defense was able to do just enough to keep me from regaining that last soul, and he SoG/NJ a tapped 2-liner plus one for the win.  I did make a few mistakes with my AotL and Grapes, but congrats to Bret for hanging tough and pulling out the victory.  A well deserved trip to the championship match!  Result: L 4-5

Round Five (Consolation Game): vs. Ben M.

At stake were a medal and 15 bucks worth of prizes.  Ben had rolled me 5-0 the previous day on the strength of a first turn Mayhem.  No such luck for either of us this time.  We had a good old fashioned slugfest, trading blows until I was finally able to emerge victorious.  Result: W 5-4

Final Placing: 3rd (out of 28)

My thanks to John M. for putting this whole event together, as well as to everyone who came up and partook in the fun and fellowship!

My son and daughter played in a couple of Novice events at Creation and had a blast. we are hoping to get in more tournaments down the road. Thank you to all who was there and helped out  teaching my kids. They hope to do it again next year. 

Next year I do plan on winning both.

Only because I'll be moving to a more advisory role.