Regionals has come and gone and for those of you who are curious about my results, this is the article for you. I'll show you my deck list and give you a brief idea of what happened each round, though I don't want to bore you with too many details. With that said, and now that you know what you're in for, this is the list I piloted at Northern New England Regionals:

Sideboard:

After my usual pre-tournament habits of putting my cards into new sleeves, making last minute tweaks to my deck, scouting the competition, and chatting with random friends, the round 1 pairings were up and it was time to get down to business.

Game one had me winning the dice roll to determine play order, and playing first, but not being able to deal with three Pride of the Clouds with random flyers backing it up. I dropped Keiga at one point and thought I could finally gain control of the board, but out of nowhere came two copies of Glorious Anthem from his hand. That was more than enough to deal lethal damage to me.

I used the typical anti-aggro sideboard plan* and felt a lot better about my matchup after sideboarding, but I still don't like having to pull off two games in a row. Anyway, this game looked terrible for a while, mainly when his Lantern Kami died in combat with my Keiga, allowing him to pop two Promise of Bunrei when he already had two Glorious Anthem in play, leaving me against eight 3/3s! He then made what I consider a mistake by dropping the last card in his hand - a Hand of Honor - onto the table. This shows me that he is not holding Mana Leak or Remand and I consider it overextending. To his credit, he was unaware of the mass removal that came out of my sideboard. On my turn I played the Savage Twister after bashing with Keiga. On his turn, he drew a land and scooped his cards off the table and resigned.

Game three wasn't particularly close. I kept in the game early with Remand on Glorious Anthem and then Ribbons of Night on a random guy. He dumped his hand on the table in an attempt to pressure me before I drew the Twister, but this time it didn't work out, as it was already lurking in my hand. I cleared the board and even though he played a guy off the top, my next turn saw me dropping Meloku, and he's not nicknamed "The Clouded Victory" for nothing...
I win 2-1 (1-0 overall)

I win the roll (again!) and play first. When his first two turns consist of Steam Vents go, and then Shivan Reef and Izzet Signet, it's clear that he’s either playing Magnivore or blue/red control, right? That was my impression, so I started ramping my mana in an attempt to get too far ahead for his Wildfire to matter. But on his next turn he played a Plains and Court Hussar!! At this point I realize what he's actually playing and immediately switch to a beatdown plan, since the long game in this matchup doesn't favor me. I drop Kodama and he takes a hit. I play Keiga and my board gets Wrathed away after he draws a Hallowed Fountain for the second white source off the top. From there I can't kill him fast enough and Enduring Ideal eventually wipes me out. I did manage to drag the game out as long as possible to gather information about his deck.

I bring in Extractions and Shadows of Doubt and game two begins. This was one of the shortest games all day. I played a turn three Extraction for Enduring Ideal off of a turn two Elder, I look at his deck and see that his only ways left to kill me are Court Hussars and hardcasting Form of the Dragon, and I show him the two Melokus and the Keiga in my hand. He groans and makes a comment about how stupid Extraction is, then scoops.

My draw for game three is not nearly as godly, but I'm still able to put on a lot of pressure with random legends. He gets off an Ideal but I cast Shadow of Doubt, which gives me some time, as the epic part of the spell still happens. On my next turn I cast my freshly drawn Extraction and start taking key enchantments out of his deck, but I notice he has changed his sideboard plan and now has multiple ways to potentially kill me, so this time the Extraction doesn't get the auto-scoop. Keiga comes down and he thinks he'll be taking it on his turn by digging for Confiscate but once again I have Shadow of Doubt and he can't search for it. Next turn I drop Kodama and he is allowed to dig this time for Confiscate, but I respond to him trying to steal Keiga by gaining some life with Miren, the Moaning Well. Kodama bashes, I drop Meloku, and he concedes the game.
I win 2-1 (2-0 overall)

I skillfully win the roll once again and we're off. His deck is pretty rogue and I'm not sure what to expect, but I felt instantly better about my matchup when his one drop was Boros Recruit, followed by Frostling and Wild Cantor on the next turn. Somehow, I lose this game, and by somehow I mean he drew three of his Chars, but I felt very good about the matchup going into game two.

For game two I bring in the anti-aggro cards from my sideboard. I get an early Jitte advantage. I destroy his board position with the legendary equipment, and when he finds his own, it's far too late as I have Meloku in play and another copy of Jitte ready in my hand.

Game three involves him applying early pressure with his wide variety of one drops and me dropping to single digit life. But this is where Ribbons of Night is awesome. After getting back to twelve or so life between Ribbons and Jitte we trade Melokus via the legend rule and we're both on topdeck mode for threats. But I have top and I keep digging up shuffle effects, so this type of game tends to go my way. This time it worked out with me drawing Keiga, which got double Mana Leaked out of the game, but my next turn brought Meloku and the game was over.

I want to note that my opponent was one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet and that I really enjoyed playing against him. More people like him should come to Magic tournaments.
I win 2-1 (3-0 overall)

This was against a skilled opponent that I know and respect from the PTQ scene, so I was not particularly excited about this pairing, but you've got to make do. I won my roll, putting me at four for four on the day, and chose to play. I didn't expect to play against the Enduring Ideal deck even once, never mind twice, and I was really happy I'd added the Shadows of Doubts earlier that morning. Unfortunately, I don't get to use that card in game one, and even though I won the roll again and was on the play, Ideal resolved and I was forced to scoop up my cards.

Game two I brought in the Shadows and Extractions again and I got off an early Extraction for Enduring Ideal. While crippling, my opponent is an intelligent player who knows not to scoop until you're actually dead, so the game continued. He put up one hell of a fight for someone playing without his most important card, but I played an extremely tight game, sitting back on counters before playing anything, as I knew he had very few win conditions left. The tight play payed off as I was able to drop Kodama on my turn then counter his Form of the Dragon with Voidslime on his. I then used another Extraction on Dovescape which prompted his scoop.

With only ten minutes left we both shuffled and played quickly to try to get the match done. Neither of us wanted to draw at this point in the tournament. I chose to Extract Wrath of God instead of Enduring Ideal since I had just played Kodama and his turn gave him no answer. On his turn, he played the Ideal but I had Shadow of Doubt. I smashed with Kodama, dropped Meloku, and passed. On upkeep I used Voidslime to counter the epic ability of the Enduring Ideal and he slouched in his chair, playing a land and passing. I smashed him down to 4 and passed the turn back to him. He finally got to dig for an enchantment and went for Confiscate, which can take the Kodama when you find it off an Enduring Ideal, but he tried instead to take Meloku. I made tokens and sacrificed him to Miren the Moaning Well in response and my frustrated opponent scooped up his cards.
I win 2-1 (4-0 overall)

I'd never tested against this deck before and wasn’t expecting to see it, but his build was obviously fine to still be undefeated. Like a champion, I won the roll, and chose to play. My draw was fine, but his was better. He played a Birds of Paradise turn one then dropped Ninja of the Deep Hours on my turn two when his Bird attacked me. He Remanded my threats and bashed with the Ninja. I finally got a Keiga to stick but it didn't matter. He had far more cards than I did, more life to play with, and had an insane chain of graft with Plaxcaster Frogling, Cytoplast Root-Kin, and Vinelasher Kudzu going on. I wish I could tell you there was a point in this game where the outcome was uncertain but I'm not the type to lie.

I went with the anti-aggro plan once again and hoped this game would go differently. I found out afterwards that the draw he kept was pretty poor, that being five lands, Ninja of the Deep Hours, and Disrupting Shoal. To me that's an instant mulligan, but his logic was that if he hit one of his eight one drops the hand instantly becomes gold, so he kept it. But he did not hit his one drop and had no play until turn four where he had to hardcast the Ninja. With such a poor draw on his end I had no trouble taking this one.

Quite the crowd had gathered for our deciding game, including several of my friends and teammates, so I started feeling the pressure that comes with being undefeated. We both kept our openers and we were off. He had no play on turn one or two, which made me think he was sitting on Remand, but my Sakura-tribe Elder resolved and he again had no play on turn three. I was puzzled and wondered what he had in his hand. I was conservative and played Top and sat on a counter. When he once again played a land and passed it hit me. He had no red source in play, and had red cards stranded in his hand. At this point I switched to playing offense and dropped Meloku, which resolved. Maybe he had sideboarded wrong, but Meloku resolving surprised myself and the crowd behind me. He dropped Birds of Paradise and passed and I used a Ribbons of Night on it to further deprive him of a red source. Keiga and Meloku from me were enough to end it. Afterwards, he showed me the three Electrolyzes, a Kird Ape, and a Char in his hand.
I win 2-1 (5-0 overall)

This was against Ben Chapman. Remember that name for later in the report. Anyway, I won the roll, making me the biggest luck sack ever, and played. I finally broke my streak of losing game one every time by throwing Meloku down after we'd been trading one for one back and fourth and his Dark Confidant had him at low life.

My friend joked that since coming into the round at 0-5 in game ones, but 10-0 after sideboarding, winning game one was a curse and I was doomed to lose the match. Although I don't believe in that type of thing game two really seemed like I was just not meant to win it. I went with the anti-aggro plan as usual but he drew not one, not two, not even three, but ALL FOUR of his Castigates. What is anyone supposed to do against that draw? Within five minutes we were off to game three.

Game three was really tight and came down to the wire, but his draw was just better than mine. He had three Ravenous Rats, two Castigates, and two Shrieking Grotesque and I just couldn't keep a card in my hand. I countered his Ghost Council but I needed to find a Twister, especially when he finally ran out of cards. I thinned my deck of land with random Wood Elves and Coiling Oracle but in the end I never found the Twister and I took my first match loss of the tournament.
I lose 1-2 (5-1 overall)

I finally lost a roll, which made me feel human, and I got to test my deck out on the draw. At first, with Llanowar Elves and Selesnya Guildmage, it looked like he was playing Glare, but his turn four play, after a turn three Loxodon Hierarch, was a Greater Good. I suspect his deck probably had some sort of transformation in it between the two decks, but I never saw a Glare throughout the match. I let him sacrifice a Yosei to Greater Good but Voidslimed the ability. This put him considerably behind on the board and my Kodama was too much for him to deal with after I killed his Hierarch with Jitte.

I boarded in Ribbons of Night but didn't bother with Savage Twister since Arashi and Yosei are both really big and Hierarch can make a Twister look silly with its regeneration ability. I managed to counter some important things in the second game and Meloku put him in a really bad position. He attempted to channel Arashi at the end of my turn but I had the Voidslime. On his turn he tried for Wrath of God which got Remanded. On his turn he tried the Wrath again and I had yet another Voidslime, and he extended the hand.
I win 2-0 (6-1 overall)

I won the roll and played. His first turn play was a Genju of the Fields which tipped me off that he was playing something original that I was not familiar with. We both got Tops up and running and used them in a combination with land-ramping shuffle effects to thin our decks and dig for the specific cards that we wanted. We both had a lot of mana, but every time he activated the Genju he gained an additional two life. Between that and the Hierarch, he was up past 40 at one point. I was finally able to find a Voidslime to stop the Genju from returning to his hand, but I was worried he might be too far ahead. He showed me Wrath and Final Judgement as he started making Vitu-ghazi tokens at the end of his turn, but my draws were good didn't let me down. I kept digging for threat after threat and eventually ran him out of Wrath effects and took him from 42 life to 0.

For the first and only time of the tournament I didn't board anything at all. I made sure to take my time and put some cards in, only to take those same cards right back out, to make it look like I had made changes. This game I found a Voidslime early and dealt with the Genju. He had the top engine going again and managed to dig up several Hierarchs. I tried to answer with Meloku but it got Faith's Fettered. This prompted me to drop Keiga instead, but he also received Fetters. On my next turn I played Miren, the Moaning Well, played a Top, and passed. I stole his Hierarch with the Miren/Keiga trick but he Wrathed the board away. At this point we were both looking to rebuild with Top and we randomly traded one for one in the form of one of my legends for one of his Wraths or Final Judgements. I finally got a Keiga down that he couldn't find an answer to and by the time he drew his Faith's Fetters I had a counter waiting.
I win 2-0 (7-1 overall)

This was against Goochie who is an extremely solid player, especially in limited, who had just returned from Pro Tour Prague. I believe Goochie to be a better player than I am, so I didn't particularly want to play out the match. We know each other from local events as well as from side drafts. We're quite friendly with each other and have developed a respect for each other’s ability. We looked at the standings and did the math, we could both safely draw and still get into the Top 8. We agreed on a legal prize split and took the intentional draw, both wishing each other luck in the Top 8.
I intentionally draw (7-1-1 overall)

The draw had left me in 4th place against Goochie in 5th, and there'd be no draw this time. The judges made us exchange deck lists, which we both studied carefully for information, then rolled to get things started. I won the roll, putting me at a final record of 8-1 in rolls on the day. I chose to play, and even though Goochie and I both agreed this match was in his favor, I knew it was by no means unwinnable. A large crowd had gathered – larger than the ones at any of the other matches, so I felt the pressure, but also the overwhelming support from my friends and teammates.

I took game one when he didn't draw enough burn and my turn two Sakura-tribe Elder managed to hold off his Savannah Lions long enough to let me ramp into business. Stupid little 1/1s that accelerate my mana just started chump blocking until I dropped Meloku. Even though he had the Char for it I just made guys in response, and one of them was carrying a Jitte next turn. I won the first game pretty easily and needed to take one of the next two in order to earn my spot.

For the final time, I boarded in the anti-aggro plan and hoped my sideboard, which had carried me through so much of the day, could pull it off just one more time. He chose to play in game two and had to mulligan all the way down to five, and I felt myself taking it right then and there, until I looked at my own cards. My opening seven contained all the wrong colors of land and was a bit flooded so I had to ship it back, then my six card hand had no land at all. So all of a sudden, both of us were at five cards. I wish there was something exciting to report here, but his five card hand was just much much better than mine and I died with him at something like 16 life.

Wow, one game for a spot at nationals. I was trying not to psyche myself out and just hoped my cards would deliver. Before drawing, I knocked my deck and I fought my hardest to contain my smile. My draw was absolutely ridiculous. He kept his hand, and he played perfectly, but my draw was turn four Ribbons of Night, turn five Ribbons of Night, turn six Meloku, make two tokens in response to it getting hit with Char, then Keiga on my next turn. I was at an extremely healthy total and he was running out of cards, and I even began to take the offensive role with Keiga. Next turn, when I equipped him with Jitte, Goochie had no trick to deal with it, and two turns and two unimportant draws later, the match was over.

So there you have it. I somehow earned myself a spot at nationals. If you're interested in how the rest of the Top 8 worked out, this is what happened:

Ben Chapman defeated Tim McMath (Ben went on to win the event by default as after the quarterfinals they stopped the event and determined a winner based on the swiss standings)

James Pirkey defeated Jim Dyke

Random Guy defeated Brian Lynch

Therefore, all the guys on the left hand side above will be going to nationals. I'll certainly be there. Finally for clarification here is what I've meant all along by the "anti-aggro" sideboard plan and some props and slops:

*Anti-aggro sideboard plan:
IN-
4 Ribbons of Night
4 Savage Twister
OUT-
4 Voidslime
1 Coiling Oracle
1 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Kodama of the North Tree