This past Sunday I played in the Buffalo Stampede event in, you guessed it, Buffalo. I had a wonderful time both playing Magic and not playing Magic.
Saturday Night
Buffalo is a six-hour drive for me which is a bit too much to do in one day. I drove up Saturday morning and arrived around 4pm. I checked into my room and then met up with DFB, Chris Mason, and DFB's brother John at Nine-Eleven Tavern (no relation to the national tragedy) for chicken wings:
We sat at the bar and got our order in shortly after they opened so avoided having to wait the hour for seating or hour plus for food. We had some beers and some french fries while we waited but our wings came out in less than thirty minutes:
I'm not entirely sure how to explain these wings. I don't normally enjoy Buffalo sauce, but these were the best wings I've ever had in my life. We ordered the medium heat sauce. The sauce was more complex with hints of vinegar and brown sugar (maybe?) but still the familiar heat and tang of Frank's.
After Nine-Eleven Tavern, we went to Anchor Bar, which claims to be the originator of the Buffalo chicken wing.
Driving past the beautiful City Hall at sunset
These wings were much more like what I've experienced before. The quality was still better than your average Hooters or other chain, but the sauce not nearly as interesting to me as Nine-Eleven. We met up with Jeff Menges here. This place was very busy since it was near the Sabres stadium and people were eating here before the game. Dave happened to "know a guy" and we got seated almost right away. We had just got our beers from the bar when the table was ready. I wanted to have some ice cream after eating all these wings but they didn't have any. I settled for a cannoli which was below average.
After Anchor Bar, we went to Colter Bay in the Allentown area of Buffalo for some more drinks. This was a chill spot and a good way to end the night. I got back to my room which was above another bar. I watched the end of the World Series game (go Astros!) at the bar with another drink (or three, the locals bought me a few shots) before going to bed.
Sunday
I was a bit hungover when I got to Resurgence Brewing Company, so the first order of business was getting some food. I had the biscuits and gravy. It was good.
The beer at Resurgence was fine? It wasn't bad but nothing special. About your average micro-brewery beer. It may have been better if I wasn't as hungover. I had two different IPAs and their Blond ale. No photos of that.
Later during the day I ordered the poutine that caught my eye from the menu. I wanted to get it with short rib, but they had ran out. The waiter told me that "the pulled pork is even better". I don't believe him. This was just fine:
The other highlight of the brewery was this dog who was so short and yet had the longest ears. He kept stepping on them. I loved it:
The Magic
It was refreshing to play some 4 Strip Old School again. I don't think I prefer it, but it is the format I've played the most. I played the following deck:
4 Atog
4 Savannah Lions
4 Black Vice
2 Relic Barrier
2 City in a Bottle
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Chain Lightning
2 Psionic Blast
2 Disenchant
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Timetwister
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Chaos Orb
1 Balance
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
4 Strip Mine
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Volcanic Island
4 Plateau
4 Tundra
1 City of Brass
Sideboard
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Library of Alexandria
2 Disenchant
1 Divine Offering
1 City in a Bottle
3 Copper Tablet
2 Aeolipile
2 Icatian Javaleneers
1 Plains
I decided to try this version with the logic that City in a Bottle can add to the mana denial of Strip Mine against decks with lots of City of Brass. This would in turn make Black Vise better. Lion over Serendib is already pretty close. The real sacrifice is in number of colored sources in the deck. I was conservative with Psionic Blast and Chain Lightning, opting for more generic spells like Relic Barrier and Aeolipile that I can cast with any color lands. This also meant not playing Demonic Tutor and Mind Twist. I skewed all my sideboard to white cards to make mulligans easier and to have access to the basic Plains. This was probably too clever and not needed. I also wanted more proactive cards in the sideboard and didn't want to play BEB or REB, two cards I'm not really a fan of.
City in a Bottle worked extremely well in two matches, was not relevant in three matches, and then probably hurt me in one match where I drew it game one when it did nothing and needed to have anything else to be in the game. I don't think its worth it to give up on Tutor and Twist, so I don't think I'll play this version again. There may be a way to build with City and black cards but no white spells if you find a replacement for Savannah Lions. I may try that in the future.
I still think Atog is the strongest deck because of the free wins you get and being the best at leveraging the draw sevens. It's certainly not unbeatable but I'm still a believer.
Round 1 - Jason Shaw on White Workshop Archeologist
Game one I'm explosive from the start with Lion Tog and Vise. I think I have a Twister and win easily. Game two I get him low but he has two Triskelion and Coffin and Diamond Valley. I have Relic Barrier to tap a Trike on his turn and attack with a lethal Atog. He makes some plays and I sacrifice some artifacts to keep it alive but it was all a setup to get him to activate the Valley. When he does, I respond with two Lightning Bolts to kill him.
1-0
Round 2 - Pete Lankering on Workshops
Game one I have Vise into Lion Vise. He only has two Mox so my Relic Barrier in his upkeep on his Sapphire forces him to Ancestral. The Vises do enough damage from there to win. Game two I don't remember very well. I think I had Divine Offering for a Su-Chi and STP for a Triskelion and then eventually found enough burn to win.
2-0
Round 3 - Nick Cummings on CounterBurn
Game one he sticks a Serendib that I never find an answer to. He only sees red and white cards though and sideboards thinking I'm Pink Weenie. Game two I manage to win with two Atogs. He adjusts his sideboard for game three but my City in a Bottle plus Relic Barrier plus Strip Mines keep him below three mana for too long and by the time he recovers he's facing lethal Atog and I win.
3-0
Round 4 - Raymond Mitchell on Shaharazad Burn
Game one I have City in a Bottle turning off a lot of his deck. He has to kill it with Shatter and finally casts Shaharazad. I think about scooping immediately since I'm at 20 and he's at 12 but I have two Bolts in hand and Lion plus Atog in play. I play the subgame just to see more of the deck but I end up losing. I take 10 but he's now tapped out in the main game and I draw the artifact I need to do lethal. Game two is a fight over City in a Bottle. I have one in play but am forced to sacrifice it to save my Atog. I play a second one and he has Energy Flux. The game then draws out extremely long with me paying for two Flux every turn while he has spells that he can't cast. I'm not drawing much gas but he also has CoP: Red in play so it is going to be a struggle. Eventually he finds Timetwister which lets him Disenchant the City and plays some spells. Unfortunately he tapped out in the process leaving him open to my burn spells that kill him.
4-0
Round 5 - Tino Galizio on Deadguy
Game one I have Vise plus two Lions. He takes a lot of damage before recovering with Balance at 1 life. I've got Psionic Blast in hand but only one land left after a Sinkhole. He Hymns and hits a Mox and a Disenchant so I'm still live to Psionic Blast. I draw Strip Mine and leave it in play for mana and then find the blue source the next turn to win as he's starting to get a threating board. Game two I'm not quite as aggressive start but I do manage to Strip his Scrubland and win with Atog when he can't cast Balance or STP.
5-0
I'm the only 5-0 going into the final round, but my tiebreakers aren't that strong compared to the three people on 4-1. I need to win to lock up first place.
Round 6 - Rich Borque on Workshops
Game on I have turn one Savannah Lion plus City in a Bottle. This draw is not good against Shops and he finds two Triskelion to easily win as I draw mostly nothing. Game two he has Abyss plus CoP:Red and the game goes really long. I manage to deal with all his threats and win with more Mishra's Factories than he has Relic Barriers. Game three is similar as he has Abyss and CoP: Red again. I draw a lot of lands but this time they aren't factories. He gets two Icy Manipulator in play and I decide to destroy one instead of his Factory thinking its going to be harder to beat the Icy. He then has a second Factory and a Jayemdae Tome. I draw two Factories but they don't do anything against his Icy and he draws too many cards with Tome and I can't comeback.
5-1
I end up in third place on tiebreakers. I did manage to get the Strip Mine from the prize pool though. You can't ever have enough Strip Mines.
Also received the nice Divine Offering for participation and had these Merfolk of the Pearl Trident altered by Jeff:
Props / Slops
Props:
DFB for putting on the event and the chicken wing tour
Nine-Eleven Tavern chicken wings
Buffalo for being a great place to visit
Slops:
Me for not playing Demonic Tutor
Me for not playing Mind Twist
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