Are you getting tired of my story yet? Trust me, you reading it and even me taking the time to write it is not nearly as draining or frustrating as actually living it out.

Please read on as we are getting very close to concluding this long tale.

Part Seven

The long day was beginning to take a toll on me. By now it had to be 8:00 p.m. and I had not had dinner. The piece of cardboard pizza that was sold to me sometime earlier in the day was not helping and I was beginning to feel lightheaded. Having been the one to drive to the tournament, I was not able to send anyone to get real food. Also, due to the fact that I had a realistic look at the Top 8, I couldn’t leave for food either. My record at this point was 7-1, which was somewhere I had never been before, and I was not about to take a game loss because I was late for a game. I even thought to look to the vendor again, but I didn’t see a single light, and I knew then that I was really screwed. As if on cue, my stomach rumbled and then I really, really knew I was screwed.

Patrick was in surprisingly good spirits considering his quick departure from the tournament. It was almost like my success was better for him than it was for me, as he always was definitely a theory guy. He thrived on figuring out the mathematical possibilities and probabilities of the upcoming rounds. I don’t think it was even possible to get him away from the score sheet that was taped to the wall. According to his mental calculations, I was sitting around tenth place.

According to the combined logic of Patrick and Tysene, I could lose or draw once and make it to the top eight, as each round half of the zero-losses and one-losses would lose. Then the one-loss guys would become two loss guys, and so forth. So long as I won out or only lost once, I would be fine.

This time around the judges seemed to be taking longer. "I wonder if it is my nerves, fatigue, hunger, or if they are just slowing as they are getting the same symptoms."

“PAIRINGS!”

Patrick and I were on our own at that point. Tysene and Ryan decided to join the last draft flight and Patrick, being loyal to a fault, refused to leave my side. As much of a creep as he could be at times, this was one of those times where I really respected and loved him. I absolutely would never let on that I was scared and nervous, not to mention out of place there, but I think he knew.

Patrick was enjoying bulling himself through the crowd as if leading some famous knight into battle. I could almost hear his thoughts, "Out of the way you peasants!!" After a bit of shoving at the board, we found my name, and there I was: Table nine. It had been a long day, but I finally showed an outward smile. I had made it to the top ten table.

We made our way back to the table where my day had begun. If you don’t remember, my first match was at table six.

There were a lot of players standing around the judge’s table. Patrick walked over to figure out what was going on, and feeling a bit weary, I sat down and began to get ready for my match.

“They are figuring out the draws. A few of them have already drawn and are signing their slips. Have you decided when you will draw?”

“I’m not.”

“Dude, if it gets you to the top…”

“I will slap someone down and take their spot first. I am not drawing. Where the heck is my opponent?” Patrick rolled his eyes and sat down next to me. Finally my opponent arrived. He was a mess of a person. A big ole’ fat guy. Nothing nice about him. He didn’t have a smile, he was an a-hole, he really didn’t like anyone, and simply plopped in to his seat an asked without even looking at me, “Well, do ya wanna draw or not? I think we can both make it.”

“No, I’ll just beat you now and send you home.”

“Suit yourself, I am undefeated, and if you lose, you probably go home.”

“I guess I'd best not lose then, right?” I could feel Patrick getting tense next to me, but I could not sit there and let this sloppy dude talk down to me. If we were doing anything besides playing Magic or eating hot dogs, he would not be even close to my peer, let alone be better than me at anything, yet he felt like he was better than me.

"It’s Go Time!"

Except it wasn’t. I was really feeling tired and drained by then. "Mental Note: Next time pack a lunch or two."

I shuffled up and presented my deck. My opponent did likewise and we began our match.

From the beginning I knew I had something going. My opener was four land destruction (LD) spells and three lands, and upon watching his first land drop, I knew it was going to be a cake walk. He first played a Plains, and then followed with a Mountain. At the end of my second turn, he cycled two cycle lands (lands that I didn’t need to destroy) and then cast a third turn Slide. "How lucky could I be?!"

I blew up his Plains on my third turn, and his face wrinkled as he realized that he now had three lands in the grave. The next two turns resulted in both of his remaining lands falling into the grave and leaving only four Mountains on my side as the only cards—save the Astral Slide—in play. Once my Siege-Gang Commander hit the table, he wisely scooped his cards and gave up.

Having played this match-up three times already, I quickly grabbed the extra two Oblivion Stones from my side and the three Lightning Rifts. I fully expected the same thing I had seen from my other Slide opponents: Sacred Ground and Circle of Protection: Red.

Once again the Fat Man led off, this time with a Mountain. I followed with a Mountain of my own. His second turn netted him a Forgotten Cave, and I followed with another Mountain. On his third turn he played another Mountain. I followed with a Mountain, and beat up one of his with a Molten Rain. He was able to get mana from the Mountain before it died to Plainscycle an Eternal Dragon.

On his next turn, he played yet another Mountain. I started to think it was strange that he hadn’t played any White yet, but I had a backlog of LD spells, and so I pounded another Mountain. His following turn presented a Plains and a Sacred Ground. At this point I noted that I had not seen an Oblivion Stone yet, and unexplainable worry set in. "Had I blindly walked into his trap?"

As if my deck felt the worry, it began to unravel, and so did my chances of winning the game. I kept drawing into LD spells and then lands. Then I drew a Starstorm, but never the Stone that I needed. Once I received my first threat, he already had nine lands in play and had done a considerable amount of cycling. My Firecat was the victim of an Astral Slide, which made it implode at the end of his turn. Then came down the Circle of Protection, and it was curtains for me. An Eternal Dragon made 20 damage look like child’s play.

We both grabbed our cards and shuffled. I was very uncertain as to how the third game would go. If I got the right cards, I should win, however if I got the pockets of crap cards like I did, then I wouldn’t win. It really was that simple as it came down to my deck vs. my deck.

We offered up our cuts and began game number three. My opening hand revealed a decent beginning, as I held two LD spells and a smattering of lands. Upon launching into the game, we traded turns playing a Mountain each and passing, and he put a Rift on the table on turn two with a freshly played Plains. I drew an Oblivion Stone on turn three and tossed a Stone Rain at the Plains. The following turn, another Plains and another Rift landed on the table and I looked down at the Stone in my hand with a mental nod. I then decided to pound the lands while I still could, and hopefully lure out more things to be wiped away by the Stone.

After Demolish crushed his Plains, he played yet another Plains and this time Sacred Ground came out. My following turn resulted in the Stone hitting play and a Mountaincycle while he was tapped out. I have always had the bad habit of looking at what the top card of my library would have been had I not opened it up, and groaned as my Lightning Rift was on top. That would have made things interesting.

Once I finished shuffling, I passed my turn. He put his fourth land into play; not happy about the Oblivion Stone, he simply passed the turn. I put my newly acquired Mountain into play and decided to hold onto my newly established board control and be able to press the issue with the Stone. Upon passing turn, he promptly Plainscycled a Dragon and sent two Rift triggers to my forehead. Rolling my eyes, I popped the Stone to prevent further damage and away went the two Rifts and Sacred Ground.

After all the destruction played out, my opponent untapped and drew his card. Without missing a beat, he tapped and put another Sacred Ground into play along with an Astral Slide. My heart began to beat faster, as I didn’t have another Stone handy, and the Dragon in the grave looked prone to being returned soon.

My next draw phase handed me another Mountain and panic began to set in. I really needed an answer right there or it was going to be getting out of control very quickly. He did as predicted and returned the Dragon during his upkeep, and then passed turn as he had nothing more he could do. My draw phase resulted in yet another land. Looking at my hand resulted in another deep breath and a sigh, as I still held two LD spells.

With his upkeep came a Plainscycle and that was followed by a draw phase. He played a Plains and passed turn once more. My draw phase offered a Starstorm, which was not helping at the moment and I passed turn. Again he returned the Dragon and drew a card. He played his Plains, which gave him the deadly seventh land—the amount needed to return the Dragon and cycle it each turn—which also began the nasty deck thinning process that the Dragon was so wanted for. I knew I had one more draw phase that had any kind of meaning, and that draw needed to be an Oblivion Stone or else I might as well concede.

The draw phase came…

…Stone Rain.

With that I conceded, and took a much needed bathroom break.

…One more, I promise.

cpn

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