Standard:

So Day 1 of the Worlds: Wow! Nice to be here. The
location was spacious and bright and I 
bought 2 last minute persecutes instead of Tsabos
decrees for $6ea. I have decided to go 
Po4 as I do think there will be lots of control and
the deck is relaxing to play in that 
alot of the decision making happens with mulligan
calls as the deck just runs on its own 
or shits on you [mine mainly ran for me]

4 Scuta
4 Spitter
4 Skizzik
2 Flametongue Kavu
2 Pyre Zombie
1 Thunderscape Battlemage

4 Duress
4 Urzas rage
4 Dark Ritual
3 Terminate
2 Seal of Fire
2 Phyrexian Arena

6 Swamps
4 Mountains
4 Rishadan Ports
4 Sulphorous Springs
3 Darigaaz's Caldera
2 Karplusan Forests
1 Urborg Volcano

2 Persecute
3 Saproling Burst
1 Tsabos Decree
3 Addle
3 Pyroclasm
3 something else





Iceland [U/G Opposition]
Game 1: Lovely Spitter with backup from his 5-power
buddies.
Game 2: I duress away one of his 2 lashknife barriers
turn one with another duress 
in hand and lay spitter turn 3.


Nicholas Labarre France [U/b/g Nether Go]
I can't remember if this was 2 or 3 games as they were
all very close...the two I won 
were thanks to early beats and 3 urzas rages in mid
game and the same again except with 
monster pyre zombie recursion...mmmm.


Itkabani Japan [U/G opposition]
At this point Ireland were 2nd in the team competition
behing netherlands on RR. It was 
really cool to see that up on the standings and even
cooler to see different people 
looking at it and commenting. I robbed the sheet as i
suspected it might be the high point.
I think I lost this 2 nil where a complete lack of
early threats in my 
six card hand should have forced me to 5 in game one
and in game 2 he got off the early 
generation for x and I clasmed and he repeated...


Chile [Montrueil-Red]
Game 1: His deck did what it should...land d, burn,
big monsters, u dead!
Game 2: My turn 2...land, dark ritual, persecute 'red'
take 5 red cards: leave 2 
mountains....mmm I think I just came.
Game 3: He gets really unlucky as he mulligans to 6:
stalls on 2 land with stone rains 
in hand which I spot as I persecute 'red' turn 4 and
empty his hand after he shocks me...
mmmmm I KNOW I just came. I was so poxy there...I got
a warm feeling for the rest of the 
tournament when I saw that dude...he was about
16...and I think I saw something glistening 
in his eyes in game 3..


David Comer USA [Tangle Skies]
Game 1: He locks it up with tangle wire and always had
counters for my threats and spirit 
goes all the way...
Game 2: A really long, good game where his waterfront
bouncer comes just in time followed 
by tangle wire which wins it for him.


Noah Boeken Netherlands [Machinehead]
Game 1: I get a better draw and win.
Game 2: He gets a better draw and wins
Game 3: I persecute turn 2 and take away 3 addles and
a scuta...:) Sweet.
Noah was quite good natured about it as he understood
that in this matchup what you draw 
decides who wins, not how you play...


Well 4-2 after day one. I'm delighted as I was nervous
about Po4 as i am not a beatdown 
player by trade...obviously I think it was the right
metagame call with the info I had.
Rob playing his own B/W desolation angel deck was 3-3
after being 3-0. I saw his 4th 
round match against Brian Davis and it was SICKENING
to see the way his deck would have 
wrecked Davis if he had drawn a third land in the
first 10 turns. Dave went 2-2-2 and the 
words 'brosnan' and 'clone' may have been mentioned to
him but I'm not sure.
I met Chris 'Xultimax' during the day and had a good
laugh with him. It was great to meet a 
Team5fu'er I had never met before and he was obviously
honoured to meet 'Dragon-breath' 
even if I stayed sober for [most of] the day.

Rochester:

I went into this day really, really confident: I
learned alot. It's not so bad when you 
lose to what you believe is bad luck...but when you
are not even sure HOW someone beat 
you...maybe they're just a division above you...

1st draft: I go B/r/g and the Swiss guy to my right
goes U/b/w, to his right is Mori, 5cg 
and to my left is Itkabani, 5cg also. Pretty grim. My
deck isn't great, but it does it's 
job fine...fast brutal beatings with removal..the only
problem is that I've seen what 
cards have gone around...

Itkabani Japan [5cg]
I came out slow off 6 cards and he walloped me really
convincingly and repeated game two. 
I told him I didn't want to see him sitting across
from me in extended at all. He just 
smiled politely and made me sign my slip...

Katsu Mori Japan [5cg]
3 really really tight games where a top decked bog
down for him saved his ass in game 3.

Switzerland [U/b/w]
I can't remember this exactly but a vodalian serpent
wrecked me on the point of victory 
twice..I couldn't believe it 0-3 in a draft for the
first time in my life...pretty gutted 
but I guess that's why it's worlds. At least chris is
wrecking ppl with jonny chapmans ibc.

2nd Draft: I went R/G/b with sideboard u for skyfolk,
2/3 flying regen and temporal spring.
Aaron Forsythe to my right went B/G/? and Benny Wong
to his right went B/R/g? and Terry 
Tsang to my left went U/W/? I feel better about this
deck even if Aaron wandered over into 
my colours a bit and Terry hated stuff on me later in
the draft.

Terry Tsang Canada [U/W/?]
Game one he controls from the off and wins easily.
Game 2 I win with early beats and a magma burst to go
to 2 land to kill a coalition guard 
and a random creature to bring him to 3. I have 3 2
power creatures and a 1 power 
creature. He untaps and adds a another coalition
honour guard and a random to his lancer. 
I grin, untap, cast maniacal rage on his guard and
attack for the win.
Game 3: Really, Really tight game where he squeaked it
on 2 or 3 life.

Mexico [?]
I don't really remember this except that he had purple
hair and I scraped it in 3 awfully 
close games and practically wept with relief when he
conceded game 3...

Aaaron Forsythe USA [B/G/?]
I think we shared 1 and 2 and he crucified me game 3
with that crappy b/g mutation thing 
urrgh.

Well now. 1-5. My best day? my ass. mmm. Maybe I need
to re-evaluate what I'm good at? I 
think that I had bad luck all day but that doesn't
really explain doing so badly. I 
genuinely felt that I would be able to draft with the
best but this indicates to me that 
I most definitely did not and therefore cannot. It was
a bitter pill to swallow so I 
washed it down with some beers. Dave went 1-1-4 and
was a bit numb aswell and Rob was 2-4 
after what he was expecting to be his worst day and
was ironic about being 'best of the 
Irish' at draft! - he regards himself as a constructed
player. Well from 1st of the 
Ire/Eng/Scots/Wel contingent to last in one day in the
team event. Grim.

Extended:

4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
3 Miscalculation
3 Impulse
3 Swords
3 Morphling
3 Wall of Blossoms
2 Radiants Dragoons
2 Gaeas Blessing
2 Vindicate
2 Disenchant
2 Wrath of God
2 Dissipate

4 Flood Plain
4 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
4 Tropical Island
3 Treetop Villages
3 Wasteland
2 Savannah
1 Faerie Conclave

1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Sanctimony
2 Hydroblast
2 Seal of Cleansing
3 Perish
1 Wrath of God
3 gainsay
1 other stuff

Even though nobody had a clue what would be around for
extended as there was no real 
metagame I had heard about alot of combo and oath and
stompy running around 
and I knew that sligh would be around so I based my
sideboard on this.

James White New Zealand [Draw-Go]
Grim and Grimmer...even more counterspells than me. I
hate that. James was a really 
nice guy witha cool accent which entertained me no-end
as he kept calling me 'Chief' 
[or 'Chaeeeif' as he pronounced it] Anyway he won one
nil with him about to win game 
2 aswell after 2 very, very close games.

La'as'lar Hungary [Trinity Secret Force]
Hmmm nice one. All I need to do is negate natural
order, verdant force, plough under 
[only early], poacher and the hermits. 14-16 threats
to deal with and 13 cspells, 3 swords,
2 vindicate and 2 wrath of god to wipe him b4 morpheus
did some crushing...and that was 
before the 3 perish and the extra wrath went in..you
guessed it. He smashed me 2-0.
[I would have thought that this was a good match-up
right? - let me know...As I read it 
there is alot of stuff there to counter/kill but I
still think it's a nice match-up???]

Mark Marsden UAE [Sligh w/ duress]
Game one he kept a 2 wasteland hand with 5 one drops
including a scroll. He got mana 
screwed after i wasted his two wasteland and i cast
radiants turn 6 and he offered to 
concede if my hand was good. I had met him at the
tournament with the Scottish lads and 
he was sound so i trusted him and showed him my god
hand and he just shrugged and went to 
shuffle up for game two. 
game two and three sanctimony appeared a turn too late
both games as his threats on the 
table proved enuf backed with lotsa pops with pyro
protection. Sligh just does that. 
Ah well.

Eyal Israel [Sligh]
Turn x. I am on 9 life and he has 7 land...and a seal
on the table. My end step...
..he pays for incinerate...cool 6
life..please-don't-have-2-urzas-rage.. please-don't-
have-2-urzas-rage he pops..i counterspell...he
pops...I miscalculate! Woo hoo!
He untaps: pop, force of will...I win 2 turns
later..phew.
Game 2 and 3 his deck does the sligh thang and i'm 0-4
for 2 days in a row.

Russell UAE [Oath]
Really, really cagey long game one: wasteland and
treetop village and gaeas blessings key 
here as both of us unwilling to cast a
creature..eventually he has me down low and I am 
forced to cast morpheus with his oath on the table. He
grins and activates the oath and 
gets morphling himself he declares his attack and
attcks with the treetop and the conclave 
and the morphling I point at the morphling and tell
him he can't attack with it as it has 
summoning sickness and he weirdly leaves the other two
in tha attack without even asking me 
if he could back out [could he have? I presume so.]
and i kill the treetop. This misplay? 
by him really rattles him and we end up with a longish
stalemate until I balls it with 
another morphling and he offers a draw which I refuse
and he concedes as the 2 morphling is 
death to his deck? Bats. I dunno. [No Hellion?]I'll
take any win at this point especially 
as I have kept the 2 wall of blossoms in my hand for
the game and all he has seen is oath 
stuff...i don't disabuse him of the notion as i mutter
about 'darned mirror sideboard 
decisions' to him.
I take out all creatures but 3 morpheus and bring in
da boys for him. Game 2: I win via his 
slow land draw made slower by my 2 early wastelands
followed by vindicate land he has 2 land 
and plays the trade routes so while he's tapped out I
play another vindicate on his land 
and eventually make a morpheus and kill him.

New Zealand [Draw-Go]
Turn x: he has 1 card in hand and both of us are
tapped out. It is my end step. I have 
just won a counter war to make a morpheus to meet his
ophidian and I have a force of will 
and another morpheus in hand. He untaps, draws a back
to basics and plays it and counters 
my force of will...I lose.
Game 2 he finishes my individual tournament with
another back to basics, this time in a 
game he had control of anyway.

Well, well, well. 1-5 again for a grand total of 6-12.
[or 2-10 for days 2 and 3!]
I was really scared now as I had been convinced that I
was going to 6-0, 5-1 that day and 
so had named the xtd deck 'Blame Dustin TX' and
credited the design to him and DQ as I 
thought he'd like a bit of noteriety and DQ would have
a fit if people thought he had even 
THOUGHT about having built a blue deck!!:) he he.
Thankfully the literary giant that put 
in my deck took it upon himself to take black out of
my deck and call it u/w/g! Never have 
I been more glad of a schmuck's interference!
At this point we look at the standings and I am a
miserable 251th [David Williams has not 
been DQ'd yet. - At least Dave is 252nd!! One place.
he he]

We settle down for something to eat and afterwards go
back for a practice team draft with 
the Scots who reckon that they are going to ride us.
They do but it's good practice for the 
lads and I. Especially for the other two as it's their
first team draft.

Iceland
The draft went reasonably OK I thought with Iceland
messing up some calls but they 
obviously had a strategy against our b/r/g?, u/w/r?,
5cg-g/u/b decks and went b/r/w vs 
daves b/r/g and g/b/u against my u/w/r and u/w/r
against Robs 5cg deck. Fair enough.

Arielson [G/b/u]
I won a very tight game one a turn before he was going
to kill me and he won the other 
2 games after a good natured game got a bit tense when
he wanted 2 life back from a 
vodalian serpent attack from 3 or 4 turns ago as he
had not had islands. he called a judge 
who said no to him but warned me for misrep
[misrepresentation?] anyway we kissed and made 
up after the game and I talked to him quite a bit
during the day and he seems like a nice 
guy. Rob and Dave had also lost close games and we had
been sweeped. [0-3]

Poland 
This draft went OK for me except for the fact that the
polish dudes were complete wankers...
2 of them as arrogant and snide as any I've come
across. Dave looked to be in for a very 
tough matchup but Rob looked good against a slightly
mongloid looking dude being told what 
to draft for his u/w/b/r deck and I felt that i would
beat my cocky little shit. Sorry 
about the language, but they were REALLY annoying. 

Wanker [5cg]
Game 1: I keep 4 land and a jilt and draw 6 more land
as he has his evil way with me.
Game 2: I go to 5 again which has me very suspicious
but I get an ok hand and go first.
This was a really good game that I felt he misplayed
once or twice esp one scenario where 
he used his Lotus Guardian to kick his emblazoned
golem to 6/7 instead of attacking with 
it and making a 5/6. Anyway i top decked a pollen
remedy and brought him to 6 with 2 2/2 
fliers and my disciple pumping for 2 extra damage. He
attacks for the win and I pollen 
remedy to stay at one and he concedes. I can see from
his reaction and the dipshit who has 
just beaten a mana flooded Dave that he fucked up in
some way and grin at him as we go to 
game 3.
I go to 5 again and keep an island, plains, mountain,
silver drake and spirit weaver. 
Saweet. I get out the drake turn 3 and replay the
weaver turn 4 as he is somewhat 
sluggish. He illuminates my drake for 4 and I pump
with the weaver and his teammate 
practically has apoplexy as my guys looks like someone
walking in on his mum and dad going 
at it. Next turn he plays the white battlemage with
the green kicker and I exclude it and 
he looks pretty beaten to me. Especially when he
scoops and informs me that he has just got 
a lesson...you deserved it buddy. Unfortuneatly
Mongloid-boy looks like he plays alot 
better than he looks/or drafts and has beaten Rob in
extra turns. [1-5]

Bye
This was one of the nicest ever as if ever 3 guys were
at a low point moral-wise it was us. 
[And if ever 3 guys needed 36 points in the team
competition it was us also!] [4-5!]

Thailand
Fresh from our 3-0 drubbing of Byeland and into the
last 2 hours of the Worlds the mood 
was upbeat as this draft went pretty much all our way
from the start [except for the 
warning I got for co-ordinating the 'Irish Elbow' that
we did as the final booster was 
opened by Thailand:)] Rob didn't like his deck but we
thought Dave and I would steamroll 
the other two.

'Petch' [U/W/b]
This was a bit of a mismatch as I felt my deck was 100
times better than his and so it 
proved game one and three where game 2 saw my
mana-screw give me a temporary worry.
Dave won his game also and Rob eaked out a draw from
an unwinnable position. [6-1-5]

We ended up 29th out of 54? in the team event which I
was well relieved with considering 
the height of shit we were in with 2 rounds to go..
[Gotta love those byes!]
At least we beat Wales but England beat us by 3
pts..Scotland won by 9? I think.



At this point I would just like to say that i was
absolutely gutted when DQ told me he 
couldn't go. I missed him alot as loud-mouth drunks
were in short supply over there
[besides me and Matt hay] and we had really worked
hard to qualify and he, in particular, 
had worked really hard once he had qualified. Well if
theres any consolation it's that 
now he's ahead of me in the composite rankings as,
oddly enough!, my rating took a bit of 
a hammering and I'm down to 9th in Ireland.



a quick gawk at ibc...

4 FoF
3 Pernicious Deed 
3 Spirit Monger 
4 Undermine 
4 Gaeas Skyfolk 
4 Temporal Spring 
4 Mystic Snake 
4 Lay of the Land 
3 Anavolver 
2 Prohibit 


4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 U/B Tap Land
5 Forest
5 Island
2 Swamp

sb:
4 Jungle Barrier
4 Dodecapods
3 Tranquility-type stuff
2 Lobotomy
2 Repulse

whatchee think?
[note this was typed b4 i saw the mail on the kope gp
winner...i'm in love! forget the pile above!!]

Cormac 'I'm ok now' Smyth.
[I think!]