2011)

Who am I?

Today you will find out who I am.

I have been writing articles for Cardshark for 5 years off and on and have had 31 posted (some better than others). Some viewed 1,500 times others barely read and most readers don't leave feedback (please do so, it helps me become a better magic writer). I have even been recognized at my local card shop by a new player as a Cardshark writer! I have been a member of numerous Magic website trading for years as either crypticfreak1, crypticfreak1978, or crypticfreakscards making thousands of trades. I'm always up for a good trade! So as a long time writer I figured I would properly introduce you to me.

I started playing Magic when I was a senior in high school 1995/1996. I learned how to play from some younger players. I was already into Dungeons and Dragons, playing daily during lunch with friends. So I figured why not. I purchased a book on how to play from a used bookstore and learned. Then I was able to trade the book for a bunch of cards from those same players. They weren't anything special but my favorite cards quickly became Craw Giant and Living Wall! Cards I look at now and say "wow, they suck!" Since I had no job and was graduating this year and going off to college, I had no money and had to play with what cards I could from the Revised pile I had. I taught my brother to play and always had a hard time beating his Royal Assassin and Nettling Imp combo! That did not deter me.

I graduated high school that summer from Tamarac High School in Troy, NY and as a graduation gift from my grandmother I received $1800 in savings bonds! Now I had some cash! I went out and purchased my first box of boosters - a box of Alliances. I purchased a total of 6 boxes that summer. Oh how I dream of all those Force of Will cards I had then that were worth next to nothing and are now $75+ each. I learned more about the game that summer by playing my brother. Then I had to go away to college.

I went away to the University of Dubuque in Dubuque, Iowa. I didn't know anyone that played so my cards got put away. Then during a freshmen seminar class I met Todd and learned he was from Dubuque and he played Magic. I became friends with him and he showed me where I could play at Comic World.

Comic World was a small card shop with a room big enough to hold a dozen people's but usually filled with 20+ people. I played weekly and usually lost but I was getting better and I made many magic friends. I was also purchasing 6+ booster boxes of each set trying to get four of each card. I spent too much and took out too many student loans to buy Magic cards!

Eventually I started to win prizes occasionally when I played and it felt nice and was very encouraging. Then in 1999 I had the chance to attend my first large Magic tournament - Iowa States. I fared much better than I expected. After the tournament I posted my first Magic article on a website that was one of the first big Magic websites - the Dojo. Read that article below - note that the email address s no longer valid and yes I had WebTV (look it up if you are too young to know what it was)

From:
Billy Moreau
Email:
murlof@webtv.net
Submitted:
Sunday, 21 Nov 1999 0:34:7
Subject:
Iowa States Tournament Report

First of all to start I would like to let you know that this was my first States tournament and also my first report. I was not only covering the Iowa States Tournament but I was also playing in it. It all started out Friday night. I (Billy Moreau) and the rest of the members from Team Sidebar, Josh Staudenraous, Justin Park, Kevin Koppes, and Frank Cardenas decided to playtest for the tourney. I knew what I wanted to play after beating Bargain 50% of the time. That was green weenie. Here is the deck list:

4 Llanowar Elves
4 Pouncing Jaguar
4 Elvish Lyrist
4 Wild Dogs
4 Rancor
4 Giant Growth
4 River Boas
4 Albino Trolls
4 Might of Oaks
3 Weatherseed Treefolk
1 Child of Gaea
12 Forests
4 Treetop Villages
3 Gaea’s Cradle
1 Yavimaya Hollow

I knew my deck would be able to stand up to anything but red, so I was pretty confident about it. Frank knew he was playing Black Control. This was also his first BIG Tournament outside of Dubuque. Kevin wanted to play Bargain. Justin had to sleep on it but in the morning he decided on Green Control. Josh had to wait until the last minute to build his deck. He built it 5 minutes before the tourney started. He played White Weenie. The tournament started at 10 am in Iowa City, 53 participants, of which 5 were from our team. We felt confident that at least one of us would make top 8. Here's how the rounds went

Round 1 (0-0-0) vs.
James Happel(0-0-0)
(Almost Mirror Match)

First of all I would like to say what a nice effort put forth by Mr. Happel. He was 3-1 going into the final round and needed a win to make top 8 but lost.

Game 1: I get out a quick River Boa with double Rancor and the beatings commence. He managed to knock me down to 8 before he died. Game 1 to me.

Game 2: Since James was also playing Green I felt Titania's Chosen should come in off the bench. In go 3 and out come the Treefolk. I get the Chosen out 3rd or 4th turn. This stalls James for a while. He can't really risk casting something unless he wants to lose. In the end all I can say is Titania's Chosen (6 counters) + a top decked Rancor + 2 Giant Growths + 1 Might of Oaks + 4 counters from those spells = 26 damage all trample and game over. I win in two thanks to amazing opening hands.

Matches (2-0-0) Rounds (1-0-0)

Round 2 (1-0-0) vs.
Mike Goodwin (1-0-0) Wildfire

Game 1: I see a mountain and scream... no not really. I hate red. He wins this game due to a stupid mistake of my own. He has Karn, Silver Golem out. I attack with a Pouncing Jaguar. He blocks. I have a Might of Oaks and a Giant Growth in hand with enough mana to cast one. What do I do? Cast Might of Oaks and Kill Karn? No, I did the stupid thing and Giant Growthed the Jaguar. STUPID ME!!!!!! He then proceeds to wildfire a few turns later and I die.

Game 2: Snake Basket in a Wildfire Deck? Well there must have been 4 of them. In come my Sex Monkeys and Splinters... 3 of each. I Splinter his Voltaic Key he beats me to death with SNAKES. I lose.

Matches (2-2-0) Rounds (1-1-0)

Round 3 (1-1-0) vs.
Tyler Gunn (1-1-0) Quicksilver Amulet?

Game 1: I see a Skulking Fugitive come out 3rd turn. I see it die 3rd turn to a Giant Growth. Now that's card advantage. I proceed to win wondering what his deck is about.

Game 2: All I get is 2 Llanowar Elves and 3 Lyrists and win with them. No Rancors. No Might of Oaks. No Giant Growths. Just 5 elves. WOW.

Matches (4-2-0) Rounds (2-1-0)

Round 4 (2-1-0) vs.
Scott Sheehy (2-1-0) Processor Black

Game 1: I remembered Scott from a Pro tour Qualifier he split with Kevin last summer/fall. I knew he was good.
Turn 1 - Land, Pouncing Jaguar
him - land
Turn 2 - Echo, Land, Rancor, attack
him - land
Turn 3 - Cradle, Rancor, Rancor, River Boa, attack-down to 8
him - land, Masticore
Turn 4 - Might of Oaks- I win

Game 2: In come the typical anti artifact cards. He gets knocked down a bit until he knocks off my creatures with Masticore. HE KEEPS ON PAYING FOR Masticore with only 4 lands out. I keep on playing my Treetop Villages and I also play my Yavimaya Hollow. Next turn attack with a Village and Might of Oaks. The following turn - Repeat previous turn. I WIN

Matches (6-2-0) Rounds (3-1-0)

Final Round
Round 5 (3-1-0) vs.
Derek Lewis (3-1-0) Green Control

Game 1: Now I am 3-1 and I know I have to win to make it into the final 8. 3 Rancors on a Pouncing Jaguar do the job. Game 1 - ME.

Game 2: Did we play? All he could do was play land and a Rofellos. I beat him down. I made it into top 8 for the first time ever. I am the 7th seed. Time to check on my friends. Josh Kicked butt and finished 2nd seed with a (4-0-1) record. Justin (4-1-0) seeded 6th. Frank (4-1-0) seeded 8th. And Kevin (3-2-0) did not make it, SORRY.

Team Sidebar did it. We came with 5 and 4 make top 8. Here were the deck types in the final eight:
Mono Red 6th place
White Weenie 3rd place
Black Control 5th place
Green Weenie 1st place
Cats and Dogs (green weenie) Me 7th place
Black Control Frank 8th place
Green Control Justin 4th place
White Weenie Josh 2nd place

Round 1 of Finals
Me vs. Josh
Justin vs. Black Control
Frank vs. White Weenie
Green Weenie vs. Black Control

Josh beats me in 3
Justin beats Black Control
White Weenie beat Frank
Green Weenie beats Black Control

Round 2 of Finals
Josh vs. Justin
White weenie vs. Green weenie

Josh's white weenie overtakes the Green Control and wins
Green Weenie beats White weenie

Final round:
Josh- White Weenie vs. Green Weenie.
Josh loses in three due to main deck Titania’s Chosen.

Overall team Sidebar did excellent. I finished 4-2-0. Josh finished 6-1-1. Frank finished 4-2. Justin finished 5-2. And Kevin finished 3-2. Next time States come around they better watch out for Team Sidebar.

My congratulations go out to the winner of the qualifier and my apologies also for not knowing your name and some of the other names of the people in the final 8.

Billy Moreau
Team Sidebar
Murlof@webtv.net

That was an awesome experience. It also happened to be the year before they had top 8 pins so I have nothing to show for it other than this report.

During the years since I have won many many FNM tournaments but never any large tournament. I have played in Grand Prix Milwaukee sometime before moving back from Iowa 1999-2003, and have played in Grand Prix Boston somewhere around 2006. I finished one win away from day two at GP Milwaukee and finished 92 out of over 600. I also won a GP qualifier the night before GP Boston winning 3 byes for Two-Headed Giant sealed only to go 1-3 the rest of the tournament. I have played in over 1,000 tournaments throughout the past 16 years.

I am known wherever I play as the player that is playing with cards no one else would but yet still finishing in the upper half of 95% of the tournaments I have played in.

During my evolution as a Magic player, Magic Online came out. I was one of the first testers. Oh how I miss all those very rare now Invasion cards! I have alternated between MTGO and paper Magic throughout my Magic career and each time I have sold my collections. At one point I did own 4 of each Dual Land but never any of the Power 9/10.

I am a big collector of Jeff Miracola signed cards having met him at GP Milwaukee (oh how I wish I never sold the playmat he drew on). I currently have 1424 cards signed by him and also have three custom pieces of art done in colored pencil by him - Rock Golem, Paper Beeble (on a toilet!), and Scissors Sliver drawn on the back of artist proof cards! I will always trade for cards he has painted, too bad he has taken a break from Magic paintings though.

Now as a 16 year Magic veteran that has pretty much done nothing significant in the large scope of Magic I am regulated to part time MTGO and paper player based on time now that I have a wonderful 2 month old baby boy, Jace (not actually named after the card, or my wife thinks!) Thomas Moreau!

If you are interested in learning more about me feel free to contact me:
E-mail: Crypticfreakscards@gmail.com
Facebook: Billy Moreau

Also feel free to send me ideas for articles. Everything will be considered! Until next time!

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