This is a Type 1 tournament was held in Denver, Colorado at Mile High Comics. This was a 64-player Swiss tourney with a Top 8. It ran really smoothly and I had a great time. This was the first tournament I have ever played in. I've been playing Magic for years, but it's mostly just been with my friends; a few drafts here and there, and that's been just about it for competitive Magic. I decided at the beginning that all I wanted to do was to come out with a winning record. For that, I would need to go 4-2.

Please note that my deck list was mostly stolen from www.themanadrain.com. I'd like to thank them for being so nice as to post the best primer I've ever seen on White Weenie. I'm so glad that I listened to them.

As you will see, I do not own cards that are cool. I have no Moxes, nor do I have a Lotus. I just have some White guys that do well in combat.

3 Order of Leitbur
3 Order of the White Shield
4 Savannah Lions
4 Soltari Monk
4 Soltari Priest
3 Phyrexian War Beast

1 Aura Fracture
3 Seal of Cleansing
4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Enlightened Tutor
4 Empyrial Armor
4 Land Tax
1 Zuran Orb

1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
18 Plains

Sideboard:
3 Demystify
1 Balance
3 White Knight
1 Seal of Cleansing
3 Armageddon
4 Null Rod

When I signed up for the tourney, the guy running the store told me to watch out for a bunch of people running suicide black decks. I decided to go with a very anti-black sideboard. This was a terrible, terrible idea. Sligh is awful for this deck. Yeah, my weenies are bigger - but since mine don't come out as fast, Sligh players make me the target of the numerous Lightning Bolts, Chain Lightnings, and Fireblasts. Next time, the Armageddons come out for something simple, like Aegis of Honor.

I know Armageddon is a bad idea, but since very few people were going to play super-powered decks, I added them to deal with unknown players with scary rogue decks.

Match 1 (Miracle Gro)
Yay! The first match of the day and I play against a $1500+ deck! I started to think this was going to be a long day .... This was a very uneventful match. I was way outclassed by her cards and just played for the experience.

Game 1: Serendib Efreets are bad. She counters everything scary and just pounds me to death. I did manage to Swords a Quirion Dryad before it got horrendous, however; I felt proud.

Game 2: It's a race: Two Shadow guys vs. two Serendibs. I win.

Game 3: Wow. In fifteen turns, I drew eleven land, three creatures (all of which were countered), and one Empyrial Armor. She didn't draw a single land until turn 14... And I still lost. I really, really, really hate Force of Will.

Games - 1-2
Matches - 0-1

Match 2 (Some random B/G/W deck)
This is someone's kid. Dad handed him a deck and said,"Go for it." Wow, was it bad.

Game 1: Since I have no idea what's in the deck, I take it really slow and just beat him down with Shadow critters. He played some Treetop Villages, a couple of Bayous, and some other stuff, but I can tell he didn't have a clue how to play it.

Game 2: Now that I know he doesn't have a clue how to play, I beat him down really badly. On turn 2, he dropped an Elvish Lyrist. I dropped a Shadow Priest and passed it back to him. He drops a land and passes it back to me. I Tax for three land, drop the Empyrial Armor, and starting swinging. The poor kid didn't even realize what he had in play and took ten points of damage twice from the Empyrial Armor. I really felt bad about pounding on the kid.

Games - 2-0 (3-2)
Matches - 1-1

Match 3 (Keeper)
Whoo! I get to see a keeper deck! I had been reading about them online since I saw the announcement for this tournament and was very, very scared of them. Turns out, I was right to be scared. It beat the hell out of me.

Game 1: I dump weenie after weenie, and manage to get him down to 3. Meanwhile, he's running The Abyss and Morphling. On one turn, he untapped, and drew a card without paying the one blue to keep Morphling safe from The Abyss. Oops! Bye bye, Morphie! The game continues, and he Yawgmoth's Wills Morphling back to play. After completely tapping out to play Ancestral Recall, Morphling decided to give up fighting and go be a farmer. I love Swords to Plowshares. This put him at six. Things are looking up! I might just win a game against Keeper! Yay!

Then I woke up. After Plowing Morphling, it was Mana Drain, Force of Will, Force of Will, and Morphling #2. D'oh! I Scooped. I was very sad.

Game 2: This game was just stupid. I forgot to sideboard in my Null Rods; stupid Powder Keg! I had some weenies down and he just popped the Keg with two counters. Morphling hit the table and had a pair of Mishra's Factories to back him up. Gross.

Games - 0-2 (3-4)
Matches - 1-2

Match 4 (Sneak Attack)
I felt bad for this kid. All of his friends kept picking on him. They were all winning with Sligh and Suicide Black decks and he got stuck with this deck. It's no wonder he had only won one match to this point - he had a deck built around Sneak Attack as his only win method. Deal with that and you win the game. Simple.

Game 1: We're proceeding as normal, land, weenie, land, weenie... On his fourth turn, he taps out to play Sneak Attack. Ok. Now I know bad things are coming. Bad, bad, bad things. I untap and prepare for the assault. He starts his turn by sneaking two big, bad, black things. I smirk because I've got two Order of Leitburs in play, and they're pro black. After trying to figure out what he's doing, he spends one more red and drops a Serra Avatar. Uh-oh. That's an 18/18 Serra Avatar. He attacks with all three. I block both black things with the Orders, and let the Avatar go. The kid starts to giggle, until I play Swords to Plowshares. He stops laughing. He stares at me and defiantly says ..."Well, at least I'm at 36!" At the end of his turn, I pop Seal of Cleansing on his Sneak Attack and go on offense. A couple more weenies hit the table and I start smacking him around. All the poor kid could do after that is continue to draw land. He drew five land in a row, while I pounded him for eight a turn.

Game 2: This is even worse. The kid doesn't drop anything but two land. I stay at one and Tax the crap out of him. Once I get my hand full, I drop another land and drop a Soltari Priest. He actually drops another land and passes. I tax again, drop a land and play Empyrial Armor. Swing for ten, twice. Very, very mean.

After beating him 2-0, his friends started bashing on him again. Poor kid.

Games - 2-0 (5-4)
Matches - 2-2

Match 5 (Random Suicide Red)
I have no idea what the hell this kid was playing. I thought it was Sligh and I started to worry. Instead I find out he's playing a suicide red deck. It had Urza's Land and Mountains for Fireballs, Disintegrates, Shocks, and other red burn. Massive amounts of mana with very few land. Not a bad idea; it just didn't work out for him.

Game 1: Four turns. Land Tax, Pro-Red Shadow, Empryial Armor. He played Flame Rift twice. I was very confused and just pounded on him.

Game 2: Exactly the same as above, except that it took five turns because he didn't cast Flame Rift.

Games - 2-0 (7-4)
Matches - 3-2

Match 6 (Sligh)
At this point, I'm feeling pretty good. Considering this was my first tournament, I never expected to do this well. I actually have a winning record after the 5^th turn!

Game 1: We start off, and he drops a mountain and a Jackal Pup. Uh-oh. Sligh. This is not good. I start off with a Savannah Lion and pass. We go back and forth for a bit, until I get a pair of pro-red Shadow Priests into play. He manages to Cursed Scroll one of them, but the other one stays around. Eventually, I have an Order of Leitbur, a Savannah Lion, and the Shadow Priest in play. He's got a Gorilla Shaman and a Jackal Pup. At the end of his turn (he's at 1 life), I Swords the Mox Monkey and swing for a minimum of two next turn. (His Pup can stop one guy and he can Cursed Scroll the other, but he still takes two and dies.)

Game 2: I'm so smart. Look at me! I'll sideboard in the Null Rods. Stupid Scrolls. This game goes much like the first one. I drop a Pro-Red guy and start to work. With a turn 2 null rod in play, I smirk thinking I've cut off a major source of damage for him. I was wrong. He goes: Bolt, Chain Bolt, Fireblast (ow). Pass the turn, I drop another weenie and pass. He drops a land, plays Wheel of Fortune, drops another Fireblast (ow), and passes. I make a feeble whining noise and pass. He drops two more Bolts and that's the game.

Game 3: We decide on a draw so we can both go home with winning records. Good thing, too; we played the third game just for fun and I got butchered. Stupid Burn.

Games - 1-1-1 (8-5-1)
Matches - 3-2-1

At the end, I did end up with a winning record. Yay! Maybe I'll keep playing in this format.