Sorry folks, but I won't try to write an article about in-depth metagame analysis, and I won't try to remember every detail of all my matches. Instead, I'll talk a little bit more about the trials and tribulations that one faces on his or her way to an event such as the Texas State Championships.

Day One: Friday, November 9th
4:30 PM - I leave work and storm home to pick up my friend Nate. We pack up everything and head out to Corpus Christi to pick up the rest of the gang.

7:00 PM - After plowing through the traffic and arriving at The Dugout, Nate, Geoff, Brian and I climb into my truck and prepare to hit the road. That's when my right headlight burns out. Luckily, there's an O'Reilly Auto Parts store right next door. We buy a stupid little bulb and take off.

7:32 PM - Two minutes later, we stop to gas up and get dinner.

7:44 PM - The drinks of Geoff and Brian spill all over the back seat as I swerve to miss some numbskull who never learned how to use a signal light.

7:48 PM - I pull into Diamond Shamrock and clean up the mess we made. Geoff and Brian buy drinks with tighter lids.

7:53 PM - We leave Diamond Shamrock and are FINALLY on the road.

10:00 PM - The gang and I arrive at Love's Truck Stops. Truck Stops are the best, ya know. They have the best cheap food, and always offer something intersting to do while refueling. This one in particular offered snack cakes called "Bimbos", which prompted laughter a la Beavis and Butt-Head from the four of us. We leave after one huge burly trucker gives Brian a playful pat in the butt.

12:30 AM - After finally making our way through the hell that is Houston, we arrive at the Crowne Plaza, our shelter for the weekend. Instead of going to sleep right off the bat as I had hoped, we ended up playtesting until the wee hours of the night. I finally concluded that I would abandon the R-G and Finkeltron decks which I was leaning toward. Instead, I went with a build that I believed would beat the R-G and Finkeltron decks that I expected to be swarming around the event. The deck is as follows:

//Main Deck
4xDisrupt
4xWax/Wane
4xMeddling Mage
4xGalina's Knight
4xArmadillo Cloak
4xNoble Panther
4xRepulse
4xMystic Snake
4xQuesting Phelddagrif
3xYavimaya Coast
4xCoastal Tower
3xElfhame Palace
2xTreva's Ruins
6xIsland
4xPlains
2xForest
//Sideboard
3xStandard Bearer
3xDisenchant
3xGainsay
1xJuntu Stakes
3xJungle Barrier
2xWorship

I felt way more comfortable with this deck than I ever did with the more conventional R-G and Finkeltron decks. I originally had Eladamri's Calls and monsters like Treva and Sabretooth Nishoba, but I felt this build was more consistant. Anyway, after making this conclusion, it was off to bed for me.

Day Two: Saturday, November 10th

6:57 AM - I beat the alarm and crawl out of bed with only an hour and a half of sleep keeping me going. I make my way to the shower and get revitalized. We're all ready for departure at around 8:15, except for Brian who's convinced that he doesn't need to shower. Ewww.

8:45 AM - We leave the hotel.

9:00 AM - We arrive at Whataburger for breakfast and find to our surprise that our tournament organizer, Tim Weissman, also stopped buy Whataburger for a bite to eat. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure Weissman's a cool guy and all, but everyone's eyes were on his gorgeous wife, Tina. My god, what a work of art.

9:15 AM - With our meals complete, we make the trip across the parking lot to the site of the event, The Strikezone.

9:18 AM - Precise, huh? Anyhow, we make our way into the Strikezone and find some sitting room. As the minutes go buy, more and more players from our Coastal Bend area make their way into the store, including Dimitri and Brady, who both came to Houston overnight on the bus, and the group of Howard, Wayne, Mitch, and Andy. For those of you who remember my Regionals report, you may also recall Howard. He's the guy who cussed out the head judge and proceded to flip him off. Remarkably, he made his way back to this competition with a true metagame choice: the u-g Odyssey pre-constructed deck. The time flew by, and we all registered our decks and prepared for the parings.

10:45 AM - The parings are finally put up, and my friends and I part ways on route to our first round opponents.

Round One
Me vs. Rice Snack
Now here's a matchup I felt comfortable with. The Rick Snack deck can be fairly narrow, as many variants can't win once a Meddling Mage hits the board, but for my opponent, this was not the case. I never got my Meddling Mage. In fact, I never got my fourth land. Instead, my opponent got a blazing start and had an active Legacy Weapon on the board by turn six. The results were inevitable. Game Two started a little slowly for both of us, with him lacking blue mana. I was growing tired of playing the 'I've got more land than you' game, so I cast Mystic Snake during his end step. Much to my dismay, he responded with a Harrow, which allowed him to gain access to much needed blue mana. Once he gained that blue mana, he proceeded to play Fact or Fiction twice. Finally, feeling a lot like a chump, my Mystic Snake resolved. I served for two and added a Galina's Knight to the mix, hoping to put him on more of a clock. During his next turn, he cast Orim's Chant, targeting me. I had five mana open, and feared for the worst. I countered his spell with Mystic Snake, leaving me with a lone Treva's Ruins untapped. He used this opportunity to cast Dromar, the Banisher, with me one mana shy of casting Gainsay. Needless to say, Dromar went the distance and left the table with a first round loss.
I wasn't really too disappointed with this loss until I found out that all my other friends had won their first round matches. Oh well, I'm a late bloomer and in round two, I planned to bloom.

Round Two
Me vs. Billy w/Turbo-Chant
Now, in a field of over 150 competitors why does it always happen that I end up playing one of my friends. Billy no longer lives in our area, but he does stop by whenever he is on breaks from school up in College Station. I wasn't too thrilled about having to play against him, as his rogue designs are usually more off the wall than I can bear. During game one, he drops a Millstone and Ensnaring Bridge, preventing me from attacking. I need to find a way to put cards back in his hand, or prevent them from leaving in the first place, so I go to town and play all four Meddling Mages, naming Orim's Chant, Tangle, Millstone, and that Fog-type card with flashback. I end the game in two swings for sixteen points. Game Two was much of the same, except he never got the chance to establish a lock.

Round Three
Me vs. Brian w/U-W control
Yet again, I play the one of the guys that drove up to Houston with me. He's upset because he got a game loss as a result of a discrepancy between his deck and the decklist he registered. Apparently, he wrote down an extra four Gainsay in his sideboard in the place of the four Hibernation which should have been in. The judge forced him to remove the Hibernation from his sideboard, making Brian's games against green much more difficult. As it went during playtesting, my deck manhandled Brian's, leaving him with little chance of making Top Eight. After our match, Brian and I stepped outside and met up with Howard and Wayne. Howard was commenting on how crowded the venue was and how uncomfortable it was for large people like Mitch. Then, being the devious person he is, Howard decided to contact the local fire marshall to report a violation of the fire code. Things get pretty interesting after that, as the staff of the Strikezone searched through their documents only to find that maximum occupancy for the building was eighty-five, about half of the amount which currently occupying the building. But, true to tradition, Howard's plot failed, as the Strikezone was merely served with a warning. Oh well, we can always try to get Grand Prix: Houston canceled in a couple of months.

Round Four
Me vs. G-W-B control
Ugh, here's a matchup I didn't get to test against. Both games consisted of him removing every threat I could throw his way, while he mopped up the floor with Spiritmonger. Four Vindicates in each game made me suspicious, but I'm the moron who didn't shuffle his deck.
So now I'm standing not so tall at 2-2. My chances at the top are slim, if existant, but why drop so early. Howard and his gang, however, did decide to drop, and left Houston with plenty of daylight to spare.

Round Five
Me vs. Entomb.dec
Yuck, another deck I've never played against. I prayed to get Meddling Mage in my opening hand, and my prayers were answered in consecutive games. Game One, his mana stumbled and I overwhelmed him with my creatures. Game Two saw him get off a turn on entomb, putting Iridescent Angel into his graveyard. Much to his dismay, he didn't see land number two until my mana base was fairly established, and with Meddling Mage holding Death firmly in his grip, my opponents hope to Zombify was shunned by my Disrupt. I'm feeling really good about my chances at Top Sixteen now, as two more wins should at least net me some product prize.

Round Six
Me vs. The New Solution
Here's something I wasn't expecting, a near mirror match. This was without a doubt the most exciting as well as the most fun match of my day. Game One saw him get Worship on the board with Devoted Caretakers to protect it against my Wane. Game Two, I board in my own Worships, and he concedes as he has no way to rid himself of it and has fewer cards in his library than I. So it all came down to game three. I start the game off strong as I watch his dismay in being mana screwed. The big bad Hippotron hits the board, and swings for the win. Now, I'm really confident in my chances of salvaging this tournament. Unfortunately for me, the aforementioned Dimitri and Brady need a ride downtown to the Greyhound Bus Terminal. After pleading and begging, I abandon my chances at the top sixteen and decide to help them out.

5:00 PM - So we leave the Strikezone on route to the bus station. Little did I know that Brady and Dimitri had lost the destination map and had no idea of where to go. Luckiy for them, my sense of direction usually puts me in the right place somehow or another and after an hour of roaming the means ghetto streets of Houston, we stumble upon the bus terminal. Now, Geoff and Nate are a little angry, as they had to experience the whole ordeal in the bed of my truck. After a few threats made toward Dimitri's life, they get back in the truck and we head out again, hoping to find our way back to the hotel.

7:00 PM - Getting lost in big cities sucks!

7:16 PM - Pit stop at Burger King. The new Sourdough Bacon cheeseburger rocks. I highly recommend it. Back to our story, the trek back to the hotel seemed to be nearing an end as I soon found 610 North, the road I needed to be on. But, as luck would have it, I missed the exit and ended up taking 610 East. We traveled that road for a while, then looped and got on 610 West, which eventually merged with 610 North, putting us where we wanted to be.

8:00 PM - As we near the hotel, I ask the guys if they want to go check out some of the "entertainment" establishments in the area and they were more than willing. Geoff ended up buying the epic film "Search for the Snow Leapord", featuring one of my favorites, Asia Carrerra.

8:30 PM - So we're back in the hotel, and we're all kind of bored. We decide to watch Swordfish. Not a bad flick, but the focus should have been more on the lovely Halle Berry.

10:30 PM - After being put to sleep by the movie, i awake to find the rest of the guys are also kind of drifting away. Feeling bored, yet rejuvenated, I ask the guys if they want to go to one of the numerous strip clubs nearby. Brian refuses, Nate turns in his sleep, but Geoff is all for it. We quickly get redressed and head out to the club. I won't mention too much of the details, but I will thank the great ladies at the Gold Cup for a night of amazing entertainment. I will also complain about their outrageous drink prices. Geoff was paying $6.75 a beer, and even my Cokes were $5.25. After tip was given, that didn't leave much for the dancers but we did give them a lot more than some of the stiffs in there.

2:00 AM - We arrive back at the hotel. Geoff is kind of stumbling after his six beers and lap dance. Me, I'm just in a really good mood. Nate, however, is kind of mad that we left without him. What could I say, he was asleep when we left. Anyway, the night was no longer young, and we all soon fell asleep.

Day Three: Sunday, November 11th
Not much went on today, just a lot of driving. Another year, another state tournament, another trip home. Gets repetitive, ya know.

Until GP: Houston,
-blasto