Well, well, well. It's been a while since I've let you guys in so it's time to begin! Seeing as Torment is going to be a very dark set I've decided to do a bit of a rough draft and "Torment-Proof" myself. It's still in the rough stages but I'm sure you kids can immagine what this deck's main theme is...

Main:
x4 Birds of Paradise
x4 Wild Mongrel
x4 Llanowar Knight
x4 Mystic Crusader
x4 Mystic Enforcer
x3 Blurred Mongoose
x3 Crimson Acolyte
x2 Crusading Knight
x1 Sabertooth Nishoba
x4 Wax/Wane
x4 Armadillo Cloak
x1 Ground Seal
x2 Sunfrass Prairie
x4 Brushland
x8 Forest
x8 Plains

SB:
x3 Ground Seal
x4 Disenchant
x4 Devoted Caretaker
X4 Tangle


Basically this is an all-around "Say no to Black" deck. I know that Threshold will be a tad bit difficult to achieve but if I start splashing in blue then the entire other theory will come up as to control and bounce and removal. So... I'm attempting to make this as tight of a deck as possible and use only these two colors.

It's heavy creature-oriented, turn 2 drop can be a threat with turn 3 having the cloaks out in play. I know that Call of the Herds would be a massive improvement but who here has a playset of 4 extras available for trade that doesn't want my immortal soul as a throw-in? Spellbane Centaur would have to be another good card since it would make my creatures non-bounceable and in this sort of environment, it's a goood thing.

So... as for the PTQ for Osaka, Japan, it was an interesting ride. Waiting for WhoWouldUseThat (Sean) to come pick Flam Flawless (Eddie) and me up we headed out in his '85 Accord. I think I'll be polite and offer to drive over to Pittsburg for next week's pre-release.

A stretch of I-71 was nothing but a sheet of black ice. Good thing we weren't planning on entering the tournament since there were accidents on both sides of the freeway... cars flipped over, landing into the ditch, morons slamming on their brakes rubbernecking along the way. Afterwards we were doing quite well but Sean was getting the morning munchies. We got off the freeway and made a wrong turn at the ramp. Sean then used his rally racing skills to do a 360 on a snowy driveway and didn't quite make it around considering he was attempting do this going forward in a front wheel drive. Needless to say it failed miserably, thus shoving the right front tire into Mr. Curb. He was hoping that no one was there to watch while the two of us were laughing hysterically.



Sean - Here watch me do this!
*Car refs, car goes forward, car slides, car makes contact head-on with curb*
Ed - Uuh, Sean, that's a curb. Did you forget that front wheel drive's don't do doughnuts by going forward?
Val - Did you break your control arm?
*everyone laughs*



So, we got down there in one or more pieces. There was an approximate 125 players and perhaps 180 total attending. Sean, Ed, and I found a table and set our cards down. I think we had more cards combined than the dealers did. We just sat there until some kids wandered over and started trading. Some kids were easy to trade with, others were complete retards overvaluing their cards and rendering ours next to worthlessness. In any event we did some average to great trades. Going home was a great little trip home however I passed out for a few minutes after the Rt. 57 exit while driving on 76E/224.

Overall it was a great little road trip. Going to a PTQ, checking out what people had to trade, and just the fun of going to an Extended environment and seeing what people valued cards at. It was some good.