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Doing well in T1 2P was the benchmark that I set for myself.  I didn't think I would win Nationals (especially after going 0-7 in the week leading up to it), but I thought making Top Cut was a feasible goal.

My Deck: Once I knew that I was going to Nationals, I had to narrow down my Offensive and Defensive choices. I really wanted to try out heretics and a friend told me that Clay was the best pairing.  I knew nothing about clay, so I was at a loss.  I got permission to borrow their idea of a Clay offense to pair with my defense.  Thus, I played with one deck (odd for me) of Clay Colosse heroes & Crimson Heretic defense.

Round 1:  W 5-3 against Roberto.
   Roberto's unfamiliarity with his deck (built the night before) and my unfamiliarity with the rules almost timed us out.  I started giving lost souls away at the end just so that we could finish within time.  I was able to snag #5 in the nick of time.  Also, I took note that I needed to speed my play up or I would struggle with the time constraints.

Round 2:  L 4-5 against Nathan Voight (the Hobbit)
   Nathan is a pleasure to play.  I didn't manage my defense well, and he began walking in for free lost souls toward the end of the game.  A card or 2 different here and there and the game might have ended differently.  The score reflected how tight this game was.

Round 3: W 5-1 against Daniel (eragorn5)
   A week later I don't remember much of this game other than that everything clicked well for me and not so much for Daniel.

Round 4: T 4-4 Jay (Red)
   Again the score displays how close this game was. I'm not sure how long either of our defenses could have held out.  To Jay's credit, he figured out how to get around my "Serpent's" paralyzing effects so that he could play his dominants.

Round 5: W 5-3 against Ty
   I don't remember much of this game now that a week has gone by.  I do remember my shoulder started to hurt because of the stress of the event and the possibility of making Top Cut.

Round 6:  W 5-0 against Drew
   I received a good early draw and was able to snag a big win.

Round 7: Time out  L 2-3 against Luke
   I found out later that if I got a minimum of a tie, then I would have made Top Cut. So I missed Top Cut by 1 Lost Soul....1.
One play stood out in this game...in fact one card....Mayhem. My deck and hand were just starting to set up when Luke dumped all his cards and played Mayhem.  It changed all momentum towards him.  He wiped my D and got some defense of his own.  He took away my offensive options as he got more. Mayhem still wins games.  Unfortunately, this time the win wasn't meant to be had by me.  Luke played well, and I did what I could to recover from the devastating play.  However, his lead was too great for me to overcome. We timed out with Luke having the lead. 

There were like 7 people tied for 5th, so I was bumped to 12th by .5 points.  I enjoyed my day and return to Redemption even though I fell short of my goal.  Maybe next time.

Round 1:  Me, Ray, Jason, Jeremy
    Lots of lost souls hit the table and it becomes quickly apparent that there were 4 similar offenses (Samuel).  Jeremy takes a quick early lead. I had no early blockers but I did get outpost out, but not before giving up a lost soul to Jeremy.  However, on Jason's turn, he recognized all the Samuel offenses and activated Hezzy's Ring. I would bemoan this fact because I would bleed souls, but it turns out that everyone (but Ray) did too.  So the game came down to a race of dominants: Falling Aways, Guardians, and SoG.  I narrowly won the race.
   Me-5, Jason-4, Jeremy-4, Ray-3

Round 2: Me, Jedidiah, Jeremy, Stephen
   This game was tough because Jedidiah punished me with Confusion after I hit him with The Serpent because he was in the lead.  I thought Jeremy would run away with the win, but Stephen made a solid block which gave us all another turn. In fact, had Jeremy attacked me while we were at 3..he would have won because I drew no EEs for my ECs. Stephen snuck to a quiet win because the 3 leaders Jeremy, Jed, & I were stopping each other from winning when we were all at 4 & Stephen at 2. My biggest mistake in this game was signalling that I had Mayhem by discarding all my cards but 1, but not immediately playing after Stephen drew. He drew SoG & NJ together taking him from 2 to 4 and then rescued on that turn for 5. My rationale was to help the blocker get more cards when they got into trouble. Plus, Stephen's deck was still large so I thought the odds were slim. I still used Mayhem the way I had planned, but Jed did not draw any backups to his EC.  No Grapes for anyone...nothing.
   Me -4, Stephen-5, Jeremy-4, Jedidiah-4

Round 3: Me, Jason, Drew, Stephen
   I don't remember a lot of this game other than it was another race for dominants that (according to my phone) I lost to Jason.
 Me-4, Jason-5, Drew-1, Stephen-1

Round 4: Me, Patrick, Jed, Jason
   Patrick started out to a quick & strong lead.  Jed & Patrick's D looked identical, so I feared 2 Confusions and Patrick got Jerusalem Tower and Guardian out early. I got my Guardian too which helped, but Confusion was so devastating earlier in the Tourney that I feared any attacks against them. Did I forget to mention: the early Confusion was played on me when I was not the attacker.  Yeah, I'm not happy with that card and its unbelievable reach. I thought Patrick was going to win about halfway through, but everybody's D came out early so Lost Souls were hard to come by.  Next thing I know, time is winding down...this was coming to the wire.  I was confident that I could get through my next turn, but SoG was still hiding on me (once I looked at the end of the game, it was 2nd or 3rd from bottom of the deck). On Jed's last turn, he was going for the 2nd half of the 3-liner for 4 lost souls and he still hadn't played SoG, so Patrick plays Falling Away.  Turns out Jed did have the Second Coming or SoG, so he gets back to 4.  On Jason's last turn he rescues 4, but Jed plays Falling Away on him to drop him back to 3. Frustrated, Jason drops his Falling Away back on Jed dropping him to 3 as well. On my last turn (which would end the game), I rescue against Patrick (who has not stopped Jed or Jason in back to back rescues) with You Will Remain active to avoid a CM.  He hands the Lost soul over for my 4th.
   Timeout win: Me-4, Patrick-3, Jed-3, Jason-3

Upon reflection, I am pretty sure that Jed's "Falling Away" on Jason gave me 1st place because had he not played it: Jason & I would have tied for a TO win which would have dropped my point total and put Drew in 1st. There is no way Jed could have known that, but it shows that T1 Multi is a precarious category that friends shouldn't let each other play. 

Plus, it reminded me that this was a Championship that easily could have never have happened.