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Friday--T1 2P (Yes, that's right I played T1 instead of T2...there were a few reasons, but I'm just gonna stick to game reports.)

Round 1 vs. Ken Locklin
Kind of a frustrating game. Ken was using a 154 card deck. In the first few turns (when big decks are typically vulnerable to early rescues), he drew 2 of his Burial Shrouds. This gave him enough time to set up some defense before I could attack. The deciding battle occurred when I attacked with a 2 Hero band. He blocked low for initiative. I had AotL in hand, but I also had an interrupt so I hoped to make him waste an enhancement. However, he played Pagan Sacrifices. At that point, I was worried about what else he might place before I would get initiative so I then used AotL to get a LS. However, the damage was done...on my very next turn Pagan Sacrifices top deck discarded SoG. At that point, I knew there was no way I was getting 4 successful rescue attempts against his massive defense, so I just hoped to get a time out win. However, he drew SoG and used it and neither of us made a successful rescue for the rest of the game. Final score 1-1.

Round 2 vs. Ezra Lentine
This was a fortunate game for me. It appeared he was using a defense-lite Site deck and I drew my access pretty quick. He did get SoG/NJ for 2. Final score 5-2.

Round 3 vs. Sam Gilbaugh
I had seen Sam time-out tie with Tim Maly in Round 2 so I knew this would be a tough match. Indeed it was a very close game. I was very disappointed that Sam was able to draw and use both Falling Away and Burial before I drew Lampstand, and that ended up being the difference as I was only able to get to 4. Fortunately my defense held off his offense and we timed out. I believe we figured out after the game that if I had one more turn, I could have gotten to 5. Final score 4-3.

Round 4 vs. John Nesfeder
The opponents weren't getting any easier at this point... This game was another close one but this time I was on the short end. I made an early mistake by not activating Lampstand after rescuing my first LS and of course John had Falling Away next turn. We ended up timing out with him ahead, but again we examined what cards were left after the game, and it's very possible I could have gotten through in another 2 turns (as well as stalling him for the turn in between). Final score 3-4.

Round 5 vs. Jonathan De La Rosa
I had a very favorable draw in this game as I seemed to have all the right cards on defense for his attacks. His sites stalled me a bit early in the game, but I eventually broke through. I am pretty sure he did not draw SoG otherwise it would have been much closer. Final score 5-2.

Round 6 vs. Tim Maly
This was one of those "Looks really bad on paper, but was actually extremely close" games. Due to some unfortunate timing with the Exchanger and Negate LS, Tim ended up with 2 copies of Lost Souls on his side. I held  him off, and even forced him to play SoG/NJ defensively. His Falling Away beat my Lampstand so I lost one there, and I never drew my Golgotha to stop him from ignoring. 2 of his successful rescue attempts were ignore freebies and the other was a block I didn't want to make but was forced to because the ECs I wanted to use were ignored. All that being said, had I still had my copy of Lost Souls that would have been the one turn I needed to stall. As it turned out, I ended the game with 2 copies of Lost Souls half-rescued, NJ in hand and SoG in my next draw. Final score 1-5.

Round 7 vs. Chris Carlson
I decided at this point to change to my back-up deck just to have some fun. Unfortunately the offense is a little bit slower and again losing the Lampstand/Falling Away race ended up being the difference. At one point I had Lost Souls rescued, going for a 3rd LS with SoG/NJ in hand. He stopped me though, used Falling Away on Lost Souls and then I was forced to use SoG/NJ to get Lost Souls back before he used Burial or Shuffler. I had enough defense to stall him though and we tied. Final score 3-3.

Maybe in the future we can print a card that punishes a player for taking too long of a turn...

Would the poster of this article mind if I add this article to the August Issue of The Redeemer webzine?

Quote from: The Guardian on August 14, 2011, 02:44:04 AM

Round 2 vs. David Carlson, Matt Brinkman, Jordan Alstad
Crazy close game...but no one could break through before time ran out and Matt, Jordan and I all tied with 6.

The top four finishers in the event met at this one table in round 2. Crazy close was a very good description as I saw little to no separation in play/deck quality betwixt David and the Alstads. In the end the random computer draw afterwards that decided where Justin, I, and Jordan would go in round 3 went a long way in determining the final standings.

That game was fun for 1 reason, I got to play Search. Next time around no one could search,draw,play an enhancement when no evil character was in battle or do evil banding.