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I figured I would come up with my own perspective of the events of the tournament. Not that I did exceptionally well overall, but just because I had a lot of fun and was privy to some crazy games/plays.

T2 Sealed

My draft:
I had the H decks, which I always seem to get and never really like (since the G decks are superior in my experience) however, I think that in T2 Sealed, 2x H is actually better than 2x G. The main reason is the fact that I have 2x Golden Calf and my opponent only has 1 Lying Unto God. Anyway, my draft was okay; the best cards I got were Haman's Plot and My Lord and My God. I also had TONS of good interrupts, which really helped: Burning Bush, Faith as a Mustard Seed, Five Smooth Stones, and a Reach of Desperation in addition to the two from my deck. Not only that, but the 3x Reach and the Prosperity that I drafted made my deck pretty speedy.

I would report on the games, but I don't really remember all of my opponents or the order. The best game was my first round vs. Nathan. The score ended up 7-6 him, and if I had used My Lord and My God to discard Raider's Camp instead of the blocking EC, I would have won. Incredibly close game. The rest of the games, I got exceptional draws, and was able to get my James/John band early most games and use my interrupts to thwart any attacks. My final record was 4-1, with something like +20 differential, which resulted in a first place finish, and I was bestowed a limited edition Que T-shirt for my efforts. I allowed all the fanboys to have their fun, take pictures, etc., however, my real purpose was to ensure that none of them got the prize, and when I got home I promptly threw it away. It is now occupying space in a landfill near Minneapolis, never to be seen again*.

T2 2Player:

Round 1 vs. Pat Wester:

Pat was victimized by my insanely good draw in T2 sealed, when I got all four of my dominants within the first 3-4 turns, and a great defensive setup. However, fortunes seemed to turn his way for the main event. I had a Red Warriors offense, and he had a Phillies/Sadducees Hybrid. At first, I thought my offense would tear through his, since I was packing 2x David's Triumph and 5x A Soldier's Prayer (and no self-respecting Phillies player would use Nazareth of course). However, my offense failed to show up for the first several turns. My Herods defense was shown to have one real weakness, that I knew about and tried to counter, but couldn't: TGT ladies. I planned my deck to face Disciple decks, which I knew would be popular (as I assumed Herods would thrash Disciples) but my only recourse vs. the TGT ladies was 2x Covenant of Abraham. Pat jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead, and I was barely hanging on. Eventually, my offense did show up, and Asahel was able to take care of a TFG and a Garrison or two, and later my Centurions were just walking in for Souls. so I got the game to 6-5 him, and was trying to plan my next block, but I knew he had an answer for everything I could do. So I did my best, but the game ended with Magnificat setting aside HtG and negating his SA, which brought the ladies I returned back to battle. I used an Unknown Nation, but no one would have helped.

Final Score: 7-5, L

Round 2 vs. Glen Wilson:

Glen had what looked like it could be a great deck, but not against mine. He had Z's Temple Priests and Emperors. The thing about Emperors is that they can only get initiative against huge Heroes or with Namaan's C&H. Glen never drew a NC&H but had two of them discarded from his deck with Warrior's Spear. And with 3x Ram's Horn and the Sabbath, if I get initiative, I will win the battle in most cases. So I did. Glen did hold me off for awhile due to soul drought, but I got an early Salome/HAII/Herod's Dungeon set up. So every Z's Temple priest he attacked with (since they mostly happen to be male humans with strength 7 or greater) ended up captured, then on the next turn, I would clear the Dungeon with Salome, negate Z's Temple with Agrippa II, and capture with Dungeon. He eventually got a couple of Phinehas, but one of them I was able to capture with a Herod+Mask of Fear combo, and the other I beheaded in his territory. I even discarded his Son of God with Warrior's Spear to add insult to injury.

Final Score: 7-0, W

T2 Multi:

Round 1 vs. Jayden Alstad, Alan Rice, and Nathan Voigt


This was an interesting game simply because everyone at the table had a Pharisees defense. Which meant that whoever was attacked got a chance to bring everyone's blockers in and draw tons of cards with all of the Proud Pharisees available. And drawing was important, since, on the first turn of the game, Alan used Angel of Warning to search for Nazareth, the first and last search of the game. The game went on for awhile, with quite a few successful blocks, and quite a few successful TSA rescues. My strategy of Bulletproof Samson never really worked out, mostly because I attacked too soon with a vulnerable Samson who got Night Raided and placed in my LoB. I did make some other good offensive plays (ok, by good plays I mean I attacked a Pharisee defense with TSA) and in the last turn of the game (Alan's turn) the score was 5-4-4-4 Jayden. Alan played SoG to get to 5, and I knew Nathan had Son of God in his hand, so I was despondent, thinking I would be the odd one out with 4. But then a miracle occurred: thinking that others may have SoG/Burial in hand to stop his rescue, Alan threw down Mayhem, and everyone had to shuffle and draw 6. In my draw 6, I drew no SoG, but I did draw Mayhem. So when Alan decided not to rescue, I threw down my Mayhem, and the last card I drew was SoG. So the score did end 5-5-5-4, but with Nathan being the odd one out since his SoG got shuffled.

Round 2 vs. Justin Alstad, Andrew Wester and Tim Drown

I got a pretty good draw with an early Urim and Thummim and Eli the Priest, and most importantly an early Guardian. My bulletproof Samson tactic also worked well, for two early resuces, and I was feeling good. But then, I got a few dominant blocks against me, and the score evened out. Justin got Naz early on, which made me wonder if I should have searched for SoG instead of Samson with the one Birth Foretold that worked. But eventually, everyone got to 4, and I attacked again with Samson. Andrew rescued my soul with SoG, preventing me from getting five. Unfortunately, Justin was already packing SoG/NJ, and on his turn, he walked in for the rescue and ended the game.

Round 3 vs Pat Wester and Alex Olijar

I again got a favorable draw with a first turn Guardian and an early Eli+U&T setup, which allowed me to establish an early lead and never let go. Alex's first two Thaddei met their end by CMs from Pat and I, but the third one was doing well. By then however, it was too late, and since no Nazareth's were on the table (finally!) I searched for my SoG with Birth Foretold, looked at Pat's hand and saw nothing that could stop Samson, and walked in for my sixth, with my seventh soon after by SoG.

Overall, much fun was had, much sleep was not, and despite not winning anything but a TShirt with a ridiculous, quite un-redeemable demon on it, it was a good experience. Thanks to all who came, and thanks especially to Mr. Potato Pancakes himself, Bill Voigt, for being the extremely generous guy he is.

Unfortunately, Justin was already packing SoG/NJ, and on his turn, he walked in for the rescue and ended the game.

Actually, I hadn't drawn SoG at that point. I drew it on my final turn before going in for the final rescue.