Greetings duelists around the world, and a belated Happy Thanksgiving. The holiday season has always been my favorite time of year, and I can say without reservation that I am super stoked about Christmas this year. I love giving and getting gifts, eating well, and taking a few weeks off at the end of another wild year. I am happy to report that I kicked off the holiday season this year with a bang. My brother Jimmy, Matt and I represented the Akron Legionnaires at the inaugural Butterball OS 93/94 tournament put on by the Columbus Kobolds the Saturday before Turkey Day. Though we sorely missed our friend and fellow Legionnaire Sean , it was a great day of dueling. I can say without reservation that the Kobolds are awesome, many thanks to them for putting on a great tournament and being a generally classy, jovial group of guys.Jimmy, his fiancee, and Matt headed down bright and early Saturday morning. Since my sister-in-law lives in Columbus my wife and I decided to make a weekend of it, which is cool since I didn't feel like driving two hours home after dueling an entire day. I remembered from my other competitive OS experience in February just how much energy one expends playing competitively all day, even in the friendly confines of our community. Any time my wife and I take a trip out of town we always start with a delicious, healthy, McDonalds breakfast. Fast, tasty, and packed full of the nutrients we need to hit the open road. She dropped me off in the Short North section of Columbus to meet the other Legionnaires before heading off to see her kin. Matt, Jimmy, and I grabbed a quick lunch and headed off to the Brewdog.At the Cleveland Rocs event, which was only a month or two after I got back into Magic after 20 years out, I ran a budget white weenie and finished middle of the pack. I disassembled that deck long ago in search of something more unique and was piloting my main blue and red deck, an unpowered/no duals counter burn deck with walls as a critical component. Jimmy was of course running his unpowered red and green creature deck, a bodacious, powerful deck featuringandto make hisandutterly terrifying. A full set ofmeant that he could very quickly have a horde of psychotic apes out raising hell. Matt brought a new red and white brew featuring the requisite white removal spells,, and burn. I was cautiously optimistic that I could finish in the middle of the pack but running blue and red without duals or power is a challenge and I was cognizant of that fact, but mostly really excited to play.After a good half an hour of joyful mingling and signing of cards the tournament was about ready to begin. Before it started I laid out $10 for the raffle, as I never can turn down the chance to win a raffle even though in my life I have yet to be blessed by Lady Luck. I was pumped and ready to go when Ben Revell of the Columbus Kobolds announced the round 1 pairings.For my first match I would face Andrew, a local guy who was a real joy to sit with and sling cards. He gets kudos from me for bringing a Kobold deck to the Columbus Kobold event. It is always nice when someone shows up with something spicy and fun. In our first game he got out a great assortment of Kobolds pretty quickly, including the dreaded sergeant. My factories and walls stayed his assault and I lost only a few lives. Andrew cast aafter about seven turns, which allowed me to fireball his board. I then usedto get to a couple more burn spells and win game 1.Mulliganing is tough for me. When I stopped playing back in 1998 my brother Jimmy and I were still playing original mulligan rules: all land or no land. We were not aware that there were other mulligan rules, or that both players did not get to draw still for that matter. When I started back up again in January I embraced the "new" rules, only for the London rules to come into play a few months later. I still heartily reject the new drawing rules and mulliganing when you have land. It simply allows players to attempt to build a perfect hand. That being said, I was determined to mulligan aggressively at the tournament, so I sent back a hand filled withand singlein game 2. On turn 1 Andrew dropped 4 Kobolds, fortunately none of the commanders. On turn 4 he did manage to summon their sergeant, however I proceeded tothe following turn. I burned my way to a quick victory in game 2 and the match was mine. A good start, but I was aware that his deck, while filled with flavor and a joy to play against, was probably on the lower side of the power level in the room.1-0For my second match I was paired with David, who was running Pink Weenie. The Akron Legionnaires play 1and after this match I would come to understand and thank Matt and Sean for having that rule in place when I met them. Playing a game against someone with 4 of them, especially when you are playing without power, is awful. David was a cool dude and his deck was a blast, but there is nothing worse than getting constantly mined and then seeing an. Game 1 was over very quickly. Game 2 was a lot closer, I was able tohis two earlyand land several. Unfortunately he got a fewdown andruined my chances for victory. David would go on to win the entire tournament, and I can see why. His deck was fierce.1-1Just as we did at the Cleveland Rocs tournament , Matt and I would meet in the third round. Matt was running a really versatile red and white concoction featuring the best removal and burn spells. I have been playing Matt since January and know that in addition to being a great deck builder and a real gentleman, he is also an astute player who almost never makes an error. He beat me in Cleveland and I was determined to beat him in Columbus. In game 1 we traded Swords and Bolts to clear each others creatures. The game dragged on with my walls andholding steady until he cast anthat would have killed me, however I castin response so the game would end in a draw. A thrilling match up.In game 2 we once again cleared each other's creatures and factories early with our respectives and his. I laid down awhile winning 19-6 after a string of burn spells got him on the ropes. I then cast ato draw out the angry Mama Rukh but he countered with. In an awesomely old school fashion I castto save the day. But wait...there's more. He then blasted my blast! Fortunately I had abut then HE CAST ANOTHER BLAST!!! The wind was out of my sails at that point. He cast a, stripped my, and cruised to victory. A crushing defeat.Game three I drew a pretty bad hand and he was able to quickly make mince meat of me. We shook hands and I sincerely wished him luck. Any time I got done early I would try to find him and Jimmy to silently cheer them on. We are a tight group.1-2In round 4 I was paired up with Jon Revell, one of the Columbus Kobolds, brother of the aforementioned Ben Revell, and one of the most affable people I have had the pleasure of meeting since I started in January. While playing his deck was extraordinarily frustrating, the conversation more than made up for it. Jon whipped up a spicy brew the night before the tournament, a complete land annihilation deck with, and. It also featuredfor that extra kick in the gut andto help finish you off. He would win game 1 fairly easily by locking me out of land.Game 2 was an exciting one. I was able to use myto shut down his Orb and laid out a coupleearly to control the board while I laid down bolts and. He was never able to deal with my control and I slowly bled him to death. Game 3 played in a fairly similar fashion, except he was able to finally break through and I never got the land I needed to cast the mightythat was usually how I won games. Jon went on to win, but I can say without reservation that playing with him was one of the highlights of the day.1-3For Round 5 I would duel Greg, another really classy guy who I met that day. While most people who play the format we do are generally chill, there are some who are just a real joy with which to sling spells. The sort of people who don't get annoyed when you ask to undo an attack with a factory because you forgot they had a. Greg was one of these people. He was running an aggressive blue and white deck with several, a suite of, and the requisite power. In game 1 I got my walls anddown to stay his attack. I was able to fireball his ensuing efreet. He got down another Serendib but since I had ahe unfortunately (for him) slowly died at the hands of his own genie. Game 2 was actually pretty similar. He would get out his genies pretty quickly but my control cards made it so that his own Serendibs would claw him to death. This was easily my best match of the day.2-3I have been playing against Jimmy since 1994. I remember his red and green deck going back to whenwas still awesome, Super Nintendo was the highlight of video game technology, and grunge was reigning supreme on the Billboard charts. It was only fitting that we would be matched up together for the final round of our first tournament together. It was also only fitting that we would both be 2-3. What was not cool though was how the games went. Usually our games these days are close, thrilling, and intense. Hislegion staring me waiting to goand my walls and control spells holding him off until I can burn him to death. In game 1 he drew almost no lands and I cruised to victory pretty quickly. Game 2 was just as anti-climactic. This was not what I had hoped for in our awesome duel to end the day. I am not afraid to admit that Jimmy is the better deck builder and player. He finds synergies I don't, he makes great deck suggestions, and he is much more attentive to detail when playing. The only thing I am possibly better at is figuring out a good mana curve, and I suspect that his troubles that day were due to him underestimating the impact of the extra 3s that most people had.3-3Once again, just as I did in Cleveland, I finished 3-3 for the day and placed in the middle (15 out of 29 to be exact.) Jim finished 21st, but Matt led the way by claiming 4th place! Furthermore, he did this while scoring one of the most creative deck prizes. It is amazing to me that Matt was a top finisher at both tourneys and got a most creative prize at both events also. He is a radical dude and a great Magic player. Outside of all the great people I met, the highlight of my day may have been that I finally won a raffle! For the first time in my life I got to hear my number called! Better yet, it was for something totally awesome: a print ofautographed by Mark Poole. I remember cracking ain a booster pack that my cousin John gave me for my first Communion, which now sits in my binder with an autograph of its own.The day was really awesome.All in all I am once again really happy that I visited an official event. While I am blessed to have an amazing local playgroup, it is fun to step outside and meet new people and see new decks. A change of scenery once in a while is important, especially when it involved getting to hang with such a great community. The trip to Columbus was a blast. Lest anyone think that I have forgotten my quest to collect a full set ofusing only conventions and local game stores, I picked up a sweetand six other bodacious cards at a shop on the way home. 100 cards here I come!!