Here follows a synopsis of what happened Friday night. Paul O turned thirty-something today. But before that happened, the two of us showed up at the Card Kingdom game shop in Ballard.
It was 6:15pm. We checked our name on the list. We paid our $5. FNM man. FNM.
I brought my "Another Man's Poison" U/B infect deck. Paul brought his mono green ramp Omnath artifact deck.
Round 1: I played a fellow who obviously enjoyed his four Jaces. The deck was U/W control with stoneforge mystic, celestial colonade, day of judgment, mana leak, preordain, gideon, ... ok, it was exactly Edgar Flores's White-Blue Caw-Blade deck featured on "Top Decks". But with a different sideboard. There was a Journey to Nowhere in the sideboard.
I won the first game, lost the second game, and tied the third game. The first two games lasted at least twenty turns. I felt pretty good. My opponent was definately shaken. I have 10 counter-spells in my deck. That was the pinnacle of my evening.
Paul played against another mono green deck. He won his first game, and lost the next two.
Round 2: I played Paul(!). I won the first game. I think Paul won the second game. I won the match. This was the only game I deliberated over my side board. It turns out I didn't really care whether I beat anyone else.
Round 3. Paul had to sit out since there were an odd number of players. He went to the bar.
Round 4. I lost the match. Paul played a belligerent 11 year old named Zeb. Paul lost. I saw the end of Paul's last game. It was pretty brutal. The kid's Dad was at the table gloating. At the end of the game, Zeb asked Paul a question "How many people did you beat tonight?". Paul said "A few. I beat a few people.". Zeb was like "oh. really? who did you beat?" Paul ignored him.
I think I was mid-pack. I believe Paul was dead last. Paul was very unhappy. "Everyone plays the same stupid decks." He's right. For the most part they did.
As we left, Paul told me about this German alehouse down the street that served really good "sausages". We found the place. Paul pointed to a table and said "that's our table", and I walked up to the counter and asked the bartender if they were still serving sausages. He looked at me like he didn't quite understand what I'd asked. So I said "I'm wondering if I can order a German hot dog". After quite a bit of miscommunication, it turns out that they don't serve sausages. We ordered cans of Olympia. Meanwhile two people had sat down at "our table". Paul just walked over and asked them to leave. Hilarious. There was nowhere for them to sit, so they just stood at the bar.
We sat down. Paul looked into his drink and said "I got beaten by a stupid kid. How humiliating".
Paul turned thirty-something today. I gave him four copies of Tentacles of Agony for his birthday.
In retrospect, I don't think we were in a German Alehouse at all. Next weekend, I say we cook up some sausages.
