Re-visiting Skred Red

A short while ago, just before the State Championship tournaments, this article space was dedicated to a goofy red deck centered around the snow mechanic which I was intending to bring to battle with me at the Iowa State Championships. At that time it was assumed the deck was good (or it wouldn't have taken up article space) but likely a one-trick pony that would simply be outclassed following Champs. For some reason, however, the deck struck a chord with players and it managed to earn spots in the Top 8 of tournaments all over the country as well as winning the championship in both Iowa and Nebraska. Since that time it has remained popular on Magic Online so it seemed, some two months later, appropriate for another look at Skred Red.

Deck Name: Skred Red
10 Snow-Covered Mountains
4 Tresserhorn Sinks
4 Scrying Sheets
4 Mouth of Ronom
2 Molten Slagheap
4 Coldsteel Heart

4 Stalking Yeti
4 Martyr of Ashes
4 Shriekmaw
3 Chandra Nalaar

4 Incinerate
4 Molten Disaster
3 Dead//Gone
2 Disintegrate
4 Skred

Where the heck is Stuffy Doll?

It's the first thing everyone to date has said of the new list, after their eyes stop bugging out of their head in shock. Yes Stuffy Doll was an integral part of the deck, originally, but the 0/1's time has come and gone (though as the metagame continues to cycle, it will become good again).

Let's be clear about one thing, first and foremost: Skred Red is not, nor has it ever been “a Stuffy Doll deck.” In the piece before States it was said, and bears repeating, “the deck is not a Stuffy combo deck, but a deck that combos with Stuffy.” At that point in time the format wasn't willing to consider the 0/1 indestructible creature a relevant threat, let alone prepare to beat it. Things have changed and Stuffy has gotten gradually worse.

First, nearly every deck with removal has removal that can kill Stuffy. Oblivion Ring, Nameless Inversion, Crib Swap, even Serrated Arrows are all waiting in the wings to bash the 0/1 to bits. How is that any different than at States? The answer is a bit complex. States often trends towards mid-range creature decks and mopey “big spell” decks that beat up on the untuned aggro and control decks, the first because they're not aggressive enough and the second because they're not certain what facets of the game they're supposed to be controlling. By the time Grand Prix-Krakow rolled around all that had changed. The aggressive decks had become either hyper-aggressive (like RG) or disruptively aggressive (UG Faeries). The control decks, meanwhile, had become entirely more focused.

So how does that make Stuffy Doll worse? Against the aggro decks you no longer have a marquee threat that shuts down their offense; instead you have a 5-mana turn-waster that eats their 2-3 mana removal spell while they put the final bash on until you stop twitching. The control decks, meanwhile, are happily countering your horrifically expensive spell or, God Forbid, stealing it with Guile. Game after game Skred Red would trade early burn for threats as it always had in the past, then play Stuffy ready to stabilize only to see that plan fall flat on its face and its life total quickly dwindle. Something had to be done.

Enter the Maw

One of the reasons Skred Red was so great headed into States was its particular resilience to the new kid on the Nekrataal block, Shriekmaw. It's almost comical, then, that we turn to exactly that card to replace Stuffy Doll, but it shouldn't be too surprising. Shriekmaw replicates what Stuffy did very well. Providing a win condition? Check, even if a 3/2 with fear isn't quite as exciting as comboing Skreds onto the ole' Stuffster. Nullifying Tarmogoyf? Check, but instead of having to stick around in play Shriekmaw actually justs bins the infamous 0/1 dealing with the problem whether your opponent has Nameless Inversion or not. All that and for less than half the price (in a pinch) and we're more than happy to make the switch.

The important thing to remember is that Skred Red is a control deck, even though it plays Mountains. Stuffy Doll provided you with a win condition that could halt an opponent's attack before turning the tide in your favor in an environment with little counter magic to speak of. That format no longer exists and as a result we need to find a card which does what Stuffy did but taking into account the new design constraints. Shriekmaw is an excellent solution, halting an opponent's attack in a different manner than Stuffy Doll while still providing us with a win condition. Is it as big and splashy? No. Does big and splashy inherently mean more wins at Magic? Of course not. So Shriekmaw it is.

The Matchups

Guile

At Grand Prix-Krakow the French players debuting the Guile deck, sometimes called Sonic Boom, felt they were favored in the Skred Red matchup. That might have been true at the time, but that no longer seems to be the case. There are two primary reasons for that and they are the Guile deck's painfully slow clock and Molten Disaster.

It's really rather simple. The Guile deck is seeking to stop its opponents plays with countermagic, Desert, and large threats like Teferi and Guile or by a bounce and re-counter with Venser. The majority of spells in Skred Red cost less to play than the counters from the blue mage and some of the most important card in the matchup are simply not counterable. Your draw engine (Scrying Sheets), your primary win condition (Molten Disaster), your big-mana engine (Molten Slagheap), even your answer to Teferi (Mouth of Ronom) are all outside the Arena in which Guile is trying to force you to interact in.

For these reasons Skred Red, unbelievable as it sounds, is the control deck. Your entire goal in the match is to create a life advantage, any life advantage (even just a single point!), then sit back keeping the board cleared, maintaining your lead, and then eventually split seconding a Molten D that puts the Island fiend out of their misery.

There are some key cards which allow you to do this, first and foremost the cards most likely to provide you with the life advantage: Martyr of Ashes and Incinerate. A first turn Martyr provides an attacking threat that sneaks in under the countermagic and must be answered with Desert. Incinerate is a great response to an early Think Twice while the Guile player is tapped out, or to set up an early Disintegrate/second Incinerate to resolve on your turn. That play comes up against a Guile player in the know in which you Incinerate them at the end of the second turn, they counter with Faerie Trickery or Rune Snag tapping themselves out, then you resolve the other burn spell safely on your turn.

Games usually play out with you posturing for advantage early, then sitting back and accruing cards and mana with Scrying Sheets and eventually Molten Slagheap, all the while holding off on things like Shriekmaw, Stalking Yeti, and Chandra until the time is right. Meanwhile the Guile opponent will attempt to build up their hand with Think Twice and Ancestral Visions, then eventually attempt a creature. It's important that you manage to stick a Mouth of Ronom with the requisite mana by this point to prevent getting Lightning Bolted by Teferi; while not impossible to battle through the 3-point swing in life, it's a whole lot easier to not have to. A resolved Martyr of Ashes will also provide security against the 3/4.

As the game goes longer and longer and manabases become more and more cluttered, you will begin to blank Rune Snag and weaken your opponent's ability to stop your threats. At some point, when Guile is NOT in play, you may attempt to resolve something like Chandra Nalaar or a medium sized Disintegrate in order to start getting ahead. The historical game plan of “unleash a bunch of burn end of turn, untap and resolve a large threat” for red versus blue is applicable here, and proves why the plan has been so successful in the past.

Your solutions to Guile are plentiful and efficient. You should not have creatures on the board when they play the 6/6 meaning a Spelljack on your Skred is worthless; the only legal target is their 6/6 and they certainly don't want that dead or they wouldn't be using counters. An evoked Shriekmaw is also a fine answer, and part of the reason the 3/2 made the cut into the deck. Terror costs less than Cryptic Command and Faerie Trickery and often Rune Snag is irrelevant by the time you're evoking so it's highly likely that if you need to kill Guile, Guile will be dead. Also, because Guile is still the only target for Shriekmaw and the comes-into-play effect is not optional, the blue player can't afford to counter your creature and replay it without trading their 6/6 in.

Mannequin

The matchup against Mannequin can be challenging, but isn't necessarily bad. Your long term plan is to control the flow of the game from the creature front while matching your opponent in cards with Sheets and two-for-ones, then resolving Chandra and charging her to eight. To accomplish this you must carefully utilize your resources. Try to trade Martyr of Ashes for Phyrexian Ironfoot or Teferi, save spot removal for flying threats and in particular Faerie Conclave, utilize Stalking Yeti and Shriekmaw on Venser, Riftwing Cloudskate, Mulldrifter, Shadowmage Infiltrator, and their Shriekmaws whenever possible (being aware that only the Yeti can handle the last two). Hold Mouth of Ronom and Skred for Phyrexian Ironfoot and Teferi (particularly Mouth for Teferi), and try not to Molten Disaster unless you must to maintain your life total. Sheets when you can and don't be afraid of your opponent using their mini-suite of bounce effects to return Chandra. She will resolve eventually and when she does, she will cause problems.

Typically you find yourself behind in this matchup only when your opponent lands an early Phyrexian Ironfoot and you struggle to find an answer. Yes they draw a fair amount of cards with Mulldrifter, but a single Drifter can be nullified by a Stalking Yeti + their removal spell and your draw engine, unlike theirs, costs only mana not cards. Over time you will outdraw them, you simply need to find ways to force the game to go long.

That said there are a few tricks it is important to remember against the deck. Reserve Disintegrate for their Epochrasites; the 1/1 can be problematic and the X-spell is your only permanent answer. If you fail to draw it, you're best off ignoring the little bugger and soaking up 1 damage each turn. Make sure to play around Makeshift Mannequin when possible as their board being clear does not equate to “swing away” with whatever 3-powered creature you manage to land as a Mannequin for Ironfoot can really throw a wrench in your plans. Finally, and most importantly, you must monitor your life total to guard against Profane Command. The X-spell is one of the most important developments to come out of States that has impacted Skred Red. Previously decks needed to play Mountains to have any reach against you with burn, but players who realized Profane Command's power bear that statement false. You can actually be at risk against the Mannequin player at a moderately high life total so once you establish control of the game, go to town on their life before they hit one of their two outs to do the same to you.

The Mirror

Unfortunately adapting to the new metagame means shifting away focus on some matchups in order to be favored in others. The Skred Red mirror is one in which you lose ground this time around. Not having Stuffy Doll is a huge blow in that it prevents you from benefiting from Molten Disaster, quickly comboing them with a fortunate Skred draw, and preventing them from utilizing the effects of Molten Disaster and Martyr of Ashes.

Still, we do have some tricks at our disposal to try to make a game of it, and the most important is Dead//Gone. Many Skred Red lists are removing the flexible Shock from their maindecks though that play seems entirely wrong. The flexibility of the spell is impossible to Recoup from something like Shock or Tarfire even if those two can go to the head, and it's one of the key cards to winning the mirror. Opponent played Stuffy Doll with a single red up? Slump dejectedly, then counter their Skred by bouncing Stuffy at the end of your turn when they excitedly try to 6 ya'. Or simply put the problematic artifact back into their hand so you can attack around it.

Aside from careful resource management in the first game (hold those Dead//Gones!), Skred Red is a matchup best evened out in the sideboard. An anti-burn package of 4 Bottle Gnomes and 4 Loxodon Warhammers for Skred Red and RG is something that has seen some success with Hammer serving to provide “evasion” for your creatures against Stuffy Doll and Bottle Gnome providing you an additional life cushion as well as another warm body to Hammer your opponent. Serrated Arrows was a card Brandon Scheel used for the mirror in the finals of the Iowa State Championships and one which is still relevant though perhaps more narrow than I'd like in other matchups (though it does kill Faerie Conclaves against Mannequin…). Flowstone Slide is another card that's been considered as it answers Stuffy Doll, Paladin en-Vec/Soltari Priest/Burrenton Forge Tender, and Albino Troll as well as occasionally allowing you to pump your team and swing for an unexpected win. The only problem is that it's very expensive though it does swap out nicely for Molten Disaster in the matchups in which that card is sub-par.

Pickles

The Pickles matchup has stayed about the same as it was for States, even with the addition of white. Your removal is simply too much for them to hope to lock you, moreso now with Shriekmaw, and for the most part you can play the matchup as you would against Guile. However as friend Blu McFarlane found out at States while playing Skred Red against Matt “Cheeks” Hansen and his Pickles list, you have to be a bit more careful than you would against Guile. Tapping out to use all your fancy lands at the end of turn could leave you red faced following a Teferi, then Brine and Shapeshifter lock. The moral of the story? Don't get greedy.

Instead, sit back accruing an advantage in land and cards with Scrying Sheets, Coldsteel Heart, and charge lands burning what creatures they play as they present themselves. Remember that Pickles as a deck has swapped counters for more creatures, good news for Skred Red as it's designed to win creature battles consistently while not as designed for the counter war. Over the long term you'll want to resolve Chandra and let that do the work for you, or else save up a huge Molten Disaster blast. Do not simply run Martyr of Ashes into play if your opponent is playing the white version as their removal (like Oblivion Ring) can nab the 1/1 which in turn is very good at cheaply wrathing the board. Unless, of course, you're running cover for Chandra in which case that play is just fine.

The Sideboard

Normally these articles come with a pre-set sideboard tested for an environment and ready to go. We've stayed away from that today and for a simple reason: the metagame, depending on what environment you're playing in, is pretty fluid right now. The professional community (aka “q'ed for Worlds”) might consider the deck a solid choice for their metagame which was filled with control decks the last time out (Grand Prix-Krakow). The online metagame is apparently more filled with, well, Skred Red in which case the above version of the deck is not the best choice and the sideboard of the deck would have to be built with that in mind, if not having the maindeck altered a bit. Finally potential new kids on the block like a return of red Storm decks could necessitate things like Thorn of Amethyst and/or handkill in the sideboard.

So what are some options? Against the control decks it still seems best to force them to play in an Arena they're not comfortable in and that means uncounterable threats/answers. What are some of the things that fall under this category? Redkroma, Detritivore's suspend effect, Urza's Factory, potentially even Shock and Tarfire which are hard for the control players to spend cards and mana answering though they are not technically uncounterable. Additionally other lands to help you accrue a lead on mana, particularly charage lands, provide you with the ability to get to your ultimate plan in these matchups: a huge Molten Disaster. The most important card, however, is probably Krosan Grip.

Wait…Krosan Grip? But you're not even playing green!

True, but we're not very far from doing so. A number of control players have begun recognizing the problematic cards in the Skred Red matchup with prime suspect numero uno being Scrying Sheets. Accordingly they have begun sideboarding Pithing Needle to put an end to those shenanigans, and for good reason. K Grip gives us an indefensible answer to the $20 rare plus a free excuse to run more charge lands in the sideboard in the form of Fungal Reaches. It might be prudent to run something like this, for right now:

4 Fungal Reaches
3 Krosan Grip

It is important to keep in mind in that scenario that Coldsteel Heart doesn't necessarily need to be set to either red or black, and that we should keep open the possibility of setting it to green if we're not there on mana. The cards to sideboard out depend on the matchup but usually the expensive stuff like Chandra and Stalking Yeti, neither of which do much against a deck like Guile, can go.

As for the creature matchups we've already alluded to the Skred Red mirror with the anti-burn package of Loxodon Warhammer and Bottle Gnomes. Both of those cards buy us some time and cushion that most precious of resources in those matchups: our life total. It's key to board the extra attacker in against burn to ensure someone is always willing to pick up a piece of equipment and charge across the red zone for a relevant amount of damage. For a time under this plan even Stuffy Doll would occasionally pick up the Hammer and go to town before the switch was made to Shriekmaw. Anything to counter the effects of burn, which leaves us with this sideboard:

Skred Red Bill Stark

Main Deck:
3 Chandra Nalaar
4 Martyr of Ashes
4 Shriekmaw
4 Stalking Yeti
4 Coldsteel Heart
3 Dead // Gone
2 Disintegrate
4 Incinerate
4 Molten Disaster
4 Skred
2 Molten Slagheap
4 Mouth of Ronom
4 Scrying Sheets
10 Snow-Covered Mountain
4 Tresserhorn Sinks
Sideboard:
4 Bottle Gnomes
4 Fungal Reaches
3 Krosan Grip
4 Loxodon Warhammer

It remains to be seen if that's the best option or if there isn't something more nuanced that can do both jobs as good or better, but we've got a start.

Well, that's all for this week. Again, I'll see some of you at the PTQ in Chicago this weekend (feel free to say hi!) and if you're going to be at Worlds I'll be there doing coverage so feel free to look me up then as well.

Thanks for reading.

-Bill Stark
Assistant editor, TCGplayer.com

Saturday, November 24 Tournament Standard

Metagame
RG Mana Ramp: 14
RWG Predator Aggro: 3
Haro Rock: 1
BG Rock: 4
Gb Elves: 6
Skred Red: 8
MGA: 7
Uw Pickles: 3
Ug Faeries: 6
Mono Blue Pickles: 3
Sonic Boom: 8
Mannequin Control: 6
Mono Black Control: 6
Discard Effects.dec: 1
Gruul Beats: 2
Mono Red Jank: 1
Rb Goblins: 2
Mono Blue Merfolk: 1
Gbw AggroControl: 2
Mono Green Treefolk: 2
Uw Merfolk: 5
Ub Faeries: 3
Changeling Zoo: 1
TarmoSkred Red: 1
Gb Midrange: 1
TurboTog: 3
Mono Green Elves: 2
RG Tokens: 1
mtgfanatic's deck: 1
Angelfire: 1
TSPS: 2
KajTheMan's Deck: 1
RBg AggroControl: 1
WRU Blink: 1
UB TarmoControl: 1
RB Control: 1
Snow White: 1
BW Haakon Inversion: 2
Mono Black Aggro: 1
Bg Haakon Inversion AggroControl: 2
Kithkins: 1
RU Aggro: 1
Uw Blink: 1
Mono Blue Aggro: 1
sideney's deck: 1
Ug Pickles: 2
GRB AggroControl: 1
Mono Red Aggro: 2

TOP 8:
RG Mana Ramp
1st - MiguelG
Main Deck:
5 Forest
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Karplusan Forest
5 Mountain
4 Treetop Village
1 Urza's Factory
1 Pendelhaven
2 Bogardan Hellkite
4 Siege-Gang Commander
3 Tarmogoyf
4 Wall of Roots
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Cloudthresher
4 Fertile Ground
4 Harmonize
3 Incinerate
3 Molten Disaster
4 Search for Tomorrow
2 Loxodon Warhammer
Sideboard:
3 Krosan Grip
4 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
4 Pyroclasm
4 Eyes of the Wisent


RWG Kavu Justice
2nd - D4rk3z
Main Deck:
2 Battlefield Forge
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Horizon Canopy
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Treetop Village
1 Mountain
2 Forest
5 Plains
3 Brion Stoutarm
4 Kavu Predator
3 Saffi Eriksdotter
4 Serra Avenger
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Incinerate
4 Call of the Herd
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Fiery Justice
Sideboard:
3 Crib Swap
1 Fiery Justice
3 Krosan Grip
4 Eyes of the Wisent
2 Mystic Enforcer
2 Thrill of the Hunt


BG Rock
Top 4 - Haro
Main Deck:
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Treetop Village
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Forest
4 Swamp
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Ohran Viper
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Graveborn Muse
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Hypnotic Specter
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Shriekmaw
3 Nameless Inversion
4 Thoughtseize
4 Eyeblight's Ending
Sideboard:
2 Shriekmaw
2 Loxodon Warhammer
3 Distress
3 Krosan Grip
3 Extirpate
2 Profane Command


Gb Elves
Top 4 - Equinox-
Main Deck:
4 Thoughtseize
3 Wren's Run Packmaster
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher
4 Imperious Perfect
4 Masked Admirers
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Elvish Champion
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Thornweald Archer
3 Boreal Druid
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
6 Forest
3 Swamp
1 Pendelhaven
4 Treetop Village
4 Llanowar Wastes
1 Horizon Canopy
Sideboard:
4 Slaughter Pact
2 Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
3 Shriekmaw
3 Krosan Grip
3 Riftsweeper


RG Mana Ramp
Top 8 - Batutinha
Main Deck:
1 Urza's Factory
5 Mountain
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Treetop Village
6 Forest
3 Bogardan Hellkite
4 Wall of Roots
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Cloudthresher
1 Deadwood Treefolk
3 Siege-Gang Commander
3 Molten Disaster
4 Harmonize
4 Search for Tomorrow
3 Fertile Ground
3 Incinerate
Sideboard:
2 Loxodon Warhammer
3 Quagnoth
2 Krosan Grip
4 Eyes of the Wisent
4 Sulfurous Blast


Skred Red
Top 8 - Tidus-
Main Deck:
4 Mouth of Ronom
4 Scrying Sheets
15 Snow-Covered Mountain
2 Fungal Reaches
4 Martyr of Ashes
3 Stalking Yeti
3 Chandra Nalaar
4 Stuffy Doll
4 Coldsteel Heart
4 Skred
3 Molten Disaster
4 Incinerate
4 Dead/Gone
2 Disintegrate
Sideboard:
1 Fungal Reaches
1 Molten Disaster
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Serrated Arrows
4 Sulfur Elemental
3 Akroma, Angel of Fury


MGA
Top 8 - GreatMind
Main Deck:
2 Pendelhaven
10 Forest
4 Treetop Village
4 Horizon Canopy
3 Quagnoth
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Boreal Druid
4 Scryb Ranger
4 Troll Ascetic
4 Spectral Force
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Masked Admirers
2 Loxodon Warhammer
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Fertile Ground
Sideboard:
1 Loxodon Warhammer
3 Call of the Herd
4 Eyes of the Wisent
4 Gaddock Teeg
3 Riftsweeper


RWG Kavu Justice
Top 8 - Nameless1
Main Deck:
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Horizon Canopy
3 Treetop Village
2 Forest
2 Battlefield Forge
1 Pendelhaven
3 Mountain
1 Karplusan Forest
2 Brushland
1 Plains
2 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Kavu Predator
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Greater Gargadon
3 Mogg Fanatic
1 Magus of the Scroll
4 Mogg War Marshal
3 Masked Admirers
4 Tarfire
4 Incinerate
3 Fiery Justice
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Oblivion Ring
Sideboard:
2 Oblivion Ring
3 Eyes of the Wisent
2 Molten Disaster
3 Krosan Grip
3 Riftsweeper
2 Serrated Arrows

Hm, no blue in top. Green eats each other.
   +      =   old, but works?

PTQ Kansas City *Top 4*

I hope all you Americans enjoyed your Thanksgiving this year, but a lot has happened since last we met so it's time to get back to work! Without further ado here's the recap from the recent Pro Tour Qualifier in Kansas City…

The People

Magic represents many different things to the people who play it, but as much as I love the game (and I really really really love the game), the people I meet through it are as much a reason why I keep coming back as anything. That's why I love going to Kansas City.

You see, Kansas City is home to a man known by those close to him as “Tel”. His birth certificate may read differently but Tel Parrett, so named after a Louis L'amour character by his parents in his youth, is one of my favorite people to hang out with. We met in the summer of 2003 at the San Diego Convention Center, recently home to the Two-Headed Giant Pro Tour but then the scene for the United States Nationals tournament won by Josh Wagoner. It was the first major tournament for both of us and I was fortunate to have been traveling with Scott Lewis, long time Iowa City forefather and certainly one of the better people to have as a roommate on a Magic trip. Tel, unfortunately, hadn't been so lucky as to have any of his friends qualify with him at Regionals that year and had made the trip solo.

Towards the middle of the first day of competition Mr. Parrett had approached me casually and asked “What's your record Bill?” To this day I'm not sure how Tel knew my name beyond the fact I believe we both qualified at the same Regionals tournament in Lincoln, Nebraska. I'll admit I was a bit taken aback but replied and we brokered up some minor conversation that led to further conversations throughout the day, often with the aforementioned Scott Lewis, and by the evening when Tel mentioned he was staying solo at his hotel Scott and I extended the offer to join us for dinner.

You could say we hit it off and on the flight back from San Diego we wound up seated next to one another battling halfsies using his Vintage deck with Tel occasionally white-knuckling his way through turbulence (Tel and flying go together like…well, that's a story for a different day). We've stayed in contact ever since and whenever I'm headed to Kansas City Tel's the first person I call and the first person who extends his guest bedroom should I need a place to Crash.

Of course, some things have changed over the years. Tel eventually married his long-time girlfriend Bobbie, a character in her own right who was a champion martial artist and cleverly bartered naming their cats after Star Wars characters in exchange for never doing the same to their children. They settled in the suburbs of Overland Park, conveniently just up the road from the Overland Park Convention Center, site of 2008 Grand Prix-Kansas City, and Tel is just finishing up his law degree. Oh, did I mention the time he was inadvertently shot with a .9 mil during a drive-by at a pool?

The stories could go on and on but the moral of this one is simple: Tel Parrett is a good man and I'm grateful to be playing a game that allowed our paths to cross.

Of course a discussion of my favorite Magic persons would be painfully incomplete if I didn't mention Tim Berkley. Save for my brother Mike there is no other person in the game who I have played with so long as I have been playing with Tim (and the nearly-always-close-by Blu McFarlane). It's a matter of miles really. You see, growing up in rural Iowa (on a farm near Aurora, where the newly re-elected mayor won with 20 votes…total) leaves one with few places to actually play Magic: the Gathering. The nearest shop when I was growing up was some 50 miles up the road in Cedar Falls. As luck would have it, Tim happened to live in Cedar Falls and on most days you could find him at said shop.

Our first few meetings were derisive at best, the headstrongedness of teenage boys and un-supervised competition to blame. Over the years, however, Tim slowly changed into a familiar face in sometimes foreign lands, then into an acquaintance, then into a testing partner, then one day I woke up and found myself having spent a snowed-in week at his loft in Minnesota playing cards and PTQing while looking for jobs on the possibility I would be moving north. It's almost funny how quickly that transaction happened and when Blu called me Friday night at 1 a.m. to ask me if it was true there was a PTQ in Kansas City that weekend (the Wizards site didn't have the date listed) I assumed he was joking. Even if the Cedar Falls crew left right then, I thought to myself, they wouldn't get in until 5 or 6 a.m.

Imagine the joyous surprise on my face the next morning when Tim's mug was the first I saw as I walked into the cavernous convention center. It turns out they had driven straight through to arrive at 6 a.m. all because Tim wanted to surprise me by coming down. Thanksgiving is a slow week for him at his job as a chef in the Twin Cities, so he had made the journey back to Cedar Falls then convinced the crew to PTQ and…well, I guess there you have it. A good trip had only gotten better.

And of course there were the usuals. Larry Waymon and the St. Louis crew came down sans the apparently newly-girlfriended Tim Galbiati (their very own Mike “Pimpin'” Donovan actually registered the pool I got to play with). There was a young crew from Nebraska featuring not one but two Rolf brothers though hardly a member out of high school. The intrepid Ames guys made it sans Steve Locke, who managed to qualify in Wichita, instead adding Nick Mohon to the mix. The man they call Money had a rough night off it on Friday when they got into town. It seems the crew had gone out to enjoy some of the local pubs and a misunderstanding led to quite an unfortunate scenario. Nick mistakenly believed the gentleman who had purchased them a round of drinks early on in the evening was speaking with an Irish accent in jest and followed along with the ruse. Turns out said gentleman was…um…actually Irish and didn't take kindly to Nick's mimicry.

Calm heads and wise words nearly prevailed until the bouncers decided to remove Nick forcibly for the affront, pinning his arms to his sides and leaving him defenseless. The aforementioned Irishman, sensing an opportunity, planted a boot front square and center on poor Nick's mouth while he was unable to defend himself, then quickly disappeared into the night. Suffice to say Nick had a fat lip, a hangover, and a tip of the nose that read “Doctor Martens”, though a fine lesson had been learned about running accents before determining why everyone else in the room is running one. Still, it takes more than that to keep a good man down, and Nick is one of the best. He managed to find the time to enjoy himself in between griping about his swollen lip and lack of sleep.

Things I Learned

Those of you who read my blog from PTQ-Kansas City had a chance to see my entire sealed pool with the promise I would reveal my actual list in this article. Here is what I played (and if you want to see the entire pool, click on that link silly):

1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Vivid Meadow
7 Plains
7 Mountain

1 Wanderer's Twig
1 Footbottom Feast
1 Mulldrifter

1 Austere Command
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Crib Swap
1 Avian Changeling
1 Kithkin Healer
1 Kithkin Greatheart
1 Hillcomber Giant
1 Lairwatch Giant
1 Cloudgoat Ranger
1 Sentry Oak

2 Tarfire
1 Consuming Bonfire
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Chandra Nalaar
1 Lowland Oaf
1 Thundercloud Shaman
1 Fire-Belly Changeling
1 Axegrinder Giant

I gave Ingot Chewer a shot in my maindeck after discovering just how good Springleaf Drum was the previous weekend in Madison. For this Sealed Season I have found myself building decks from my pool which provide the minimal amount of “weak” resources to allow me to survive the early game and focusing on overwhelming the late game with large-monster threats like Axegrinder Giant and Oakgnarl Warrior or bombs like Chandra Nalaar and Austere Command. Of course one can't take credit for being given decks with a few bombs in them but I still hate the feeling of an opponent stabilizing at 8 life while you pray to find your one flyer, hit on a Lash Out clash, and rip the Giant's Ire on your way to a three-outer.

Ingot Chewer, then, is a medium-sized threat with a not-irrelevant ability. This is certainly no format dominated by artifacts but enough targets exist to have convinced me to try the lil' 3/3. Thoughts of trading with Hill Giants after bashing a Drum, Runed Stalactite, Dolmen's Gate, or forcing a Moonglove Extract to go off when my opponent hadn't planned it to danced in my head and eventually came up. Sure throughout the day Ingot Chewer mostly just killed opponents or traded for other creatures, but the second ability was relevant from time to time. Would I play it again? I would certainly move it to my pile of playables, though I consider it a 23rd caliber card.

I've mentioned previously that I've been pretty greedy so far this season when it comes to splashing powerful effects from other colors. Lorwyn makes it so easy! The Vivid lands, Springleaf Drum, Shimmering Grotto, Wanderer's Twig; nearly any sealed pool is capable of playing the most powerful off-color spells available with a minimal amount of effort. In Madison I discussed such splashes with Sam Black who said the card he most wanted to open for splashing in his pools was Footbottom Feast. I agreed the Bone Harvest retread was very solid, but pointed out I would prefer Mulldrifter, what I consider the top common in the set (even if it means being at odds with those who feel Nameless Inversion is the better card).

Lo' and behold my pool in Kansas City offered up both, as well as just enough mana fixing (I believe) to splash the two. Ultimately that's what I opted to do with a Twig and on-color Vivid Meadow but I was surprised to see other players whom I hold in high esteem disagreeing with that decision. Brandon Scheel, generally regarded as the top Iowan player and the individual who knocked me out of the Top 8 in KC, offered up a list that was only red and White. Here's what that looked like:

8 Mountain
8 Plains

1 Austere Command
1 Avian Changeling
1 Axegrinder Giant
1 Chandra Nalaar
1 Cloudgoat Ranger
1 Consuming Bonfire
2 Crib Swap
1 Fire-Belly Changeling
1 Hearthcage Giant
1 Hillcomber Giant
1 Kithkin Greatheart
1 Kithkin Healer
1 Lairwatch Giant
1 Lowland Oaf
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Sentry Oak
1 Surge of Thoughtweft
2 Tarfire
1 Thundercloud Shaman
1 Vivid Meadow
1 Wanderer's Twig
1 Wispmare

Describing the list he said “I think you don't have enough fixers for more than two colors. Red/White are the pool's strongest colors and share your obvious tribe.”

One area a lot of bloggers keyed into was the fact that the pool offered up a number of creatures to combo well with two Makeshift Mannequins and the Footbottom Feast I opted to play. Rickaroni offered up this list:

1 Cloudgoat Ranger
2 Crib Swap
1 Austere Command
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Avian Changeling
1 Sentry Oak
1 Hillcomber Giant
1 Kithkin Greatheart

1 Lowland Oaf
1 Hearthcage Giant
1 Axegrinder Giant
2 Tarfire
1 Chandra Naalar
1 Thundercloud Shaman
1 Fire-Belly Changeling

2 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Footbottom Feast
1 Mournwhelk
1 Thorntooth Witch

1 Wanderer's Twig

1 Vivid Meadow
6 Plains
7 Mountain
3 Swamp

Said Rick “I think you play enough black cards to warrant a splash. Footbottom Feast is a no brainer, and I felt that it would be worth it to splash the Makeshift Mannequins because of the quality creatures you could get back with them (Cloudgoat Ranger, Hearthcage Giant, Thundercloud Shaman, Mournwhelk). I also splashed for Mournwhelk (as stated above) and Thorntooth Witch. You have five Treefolk spells you can cast (2x Crib Swap, Avian Changeling, Fire-Belly Changeling, and Sentry Oak), and in my limited experience (LOL PUNS), it is amazing.” Rick couldn't have guessed how close he was to the build I almost ran with, for exactly the reasons he mentioned, though I had Mulldrifter in that build as well. Ultimately I decided that the consistency of being RW with only two minor splashes would be more successful, but I was BWru until about 10 minutes left in deck registration.

In addition to the builds focusing more on black, a lot of players opted to consider blue as a serious contender as well. I think the version of that deck I liked the most came from Savaj Cheetr, aka Grand Prix-San Francisco Top 8 competitor Zack Smith, who offered up this list which also managed to sneak in some green cards:

1 Stonybrook Angler
1 Silvergill Douser
1 Silvergill Adept
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Sygg, River Guardian
1 Streambed Aquitects
1 Avian Changeling
1 Kithkin Healer
1 Cloudgoat Ranger
1 Aethersnipe
1 Mulldrifter
1 Hillcomber Giant
2 Crib Swap
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Ego Erasure
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Austere Command
1 Wanderer's Twig
1 Briarhorn
1 Gilt-Leaf Ambush
1 Lairwatch Giant
1 Kithkin Greatheart

2 Forest
1 Vivid Meadow
7 Island
7 Plains

Explaining the process by which he came to that conclusion, Zack said “White is an easy inclusion as it has your best removal, a legitimate bomb, and some solid creatures. From there, I look at what color offers the most solid creatures in addition to what I've already got, and look to splash cards from there based on available fixing and power level concerns. Blue offers Sygg, Aethersnipe, Mulldrifter, and Douser, along with some other fine early game men. Green has some decent creatures and the mighty Briarhorn, black is fairly weak, and red has some quality cards but lacks the depth to be a base color.”

Other players opted to splash Briarhorn as well, there were some UWb lists, and truly some interesting things being discussed on the forums attached to the blog. Ultimately I think you simply have a lot of evidence that the format is a very complex one for Sealed and Draft play and at the end of the day I'm not sure whether choosing power or consistency is the correct play. At Pro Tour-San Diego Randy Buehler watched Jon Finkel finish a draft on Day 2 with teammate Josh Ravitz. Buehler complained that Jon had the bad habit of drafting for card advantage and potentially weakening his manabase when he could, it seemed Randy felt, get just as far being consistently minded instead. While Lorwyn is certainly different than Time Spiral in regards to Limited play, those are still two very solid minds grappling with the power versus consistency argument.

Kansas City saw a marked rise in the number of players opting to draw after winning the die roll. In Madison there were only a few rounds, one or two, in which my opponent both won the die roll and opted to play second. I feel that is the default choice in this environment, preferring the extra card to the unremarkable gains from making the first land drop, and apparently others are coming around to that decision as well.

One of the important things I've learned in this format is that it's not always right to play a card with clash simply because you're able to. In this deck that became particularly apparent when playing with Sentry Oak. The repetitive card filtering is actually a potential problem when stabilizing against an aggressive curve hell-bent on finishing you with the last few points. During one particular match I had stabilized at a paltry 4 life; while firmly in control and unlikely to lose through the combat phase I was certainly within reach of the Giant's Ire my opponent was telegraphing was in his deck. A Thundercloud Shaman had cleared his board and provided ample sized beatdown but when I drew Sentry Oak I wasn't quite certain what to do. I could try to “get there” each turn with the clash, which you're always a slight dog to win, but that meant slowly filtering my opponent's deck into possible outs.

Instead I opted to keep bashing with the Giant, then when he dealt with that I started clashing, winning two quick and ending things before my opponent could change the outcome. I believe the correct play (I'll leave the argument to the forums to determine for certain) was to avoid clashing when I had a separate clock, but that sitting doing nothing seemed worse than being pro-active and taking the risk of clashing my opponent into Giant's Ire in order to attack. I do the same thing against opponent's who are mana/card-screwed; given the choice I'll play non-clash cards until the point where not playing them to get ahead on board is more damaging than clashing my opponent into whatever it is they need.

The Swiss

Round 1 I was naturally paired with Tim Berkley, who had made the trip all the way down to visit. I won the first in resounding fashion, lost the second and, in a trend that would sort of define the weekend, faced off in an all-or-nothing third game. Tim managed to take it down as a Burrenton Forge-Tender seriously impacted my ability to utilize Chandra. After the match Scheel pointed out a strictly better series of plays I could have made with said planeswalker and I was forced to admit I had just failed to think the course of action through clearly enough. 0-1

Clay Gillette was my opponent for Round 2. Poor Clay Gillette. The last PTQ I played at in Kansas City I started 0-1. My second round opponent? Clay Gillette. It sucks to play someone “good” so early in the day, particularly with a loss, but such is life. Unfortunately for Clay, just as last time, I managed to take the match in three games, though unlike last time it wasn't because I ripped two Shrapnel Blasts to seal his fate. 1-1

Next up was John Rolf, a young Nebraska player I knew from Facebook through mutual friends. We went to three games again but I was able to push through on the back of Chandra and two Wrath of Gods though in the final game John put me to 4 on a last-ditch Final Revels, possibly hoping to draw a Profane Command or other “burn” spell. 2-1

Shelton Watson was in the Air Force and my opponent round 4 so we chatted about military life before we got things under way. In the first game I was setting up Austere Command by slow rolling my hand, but hadn't seen the sixth land drop after playing my fourth land. What I had seen was my Swamp, which allowed me to play Footbottom Feast with no targets to try to cantrip into the sixth land in time. There was a rules call on whether you could play the card without targets (you can) and the extra card did net me the land I needed, allowing me to stabilize at something like 8 life. I was blown out of the second, then in the third had Crib Swap for a Timber Protector so that I could untap and Austere Command for a second time in the match. 3-1

John Pennick is a young Gerry Thompson underling who works on a forum group I use to hammer out decklists. His friend Andrew Vick was my opponent for round numero cinco and he was playing a hyper aggressive deck that indicated to me his overall sealed pool was weak but that he was doing the best he could by going to the face so quickly an opponent wouldn't have time to utilize their bombs. That's exactly what he did in the first, so I boarded in Boggart Forager (yes Boggart Forager) and Flamekin Brawler for some of my more expensive threats in order to lower my curve and put up a fight long enough to allow me to Overwhelm. Game 2 was the game where I had Sentry Oak but was concerned about Giant's Ire and got there anyway. The third game was the least close as the early drops showed up to stymie his initial offense, an Ingot Chewer blew up a Runed Stalactite, and an Austere Command showed up to destroy a second Stalactite and his >3 casting cost creatures leaving my monsters on the board. 4-1

For the next-to-last round I would face David Rolf, John's (from round 3) younger brother. He looked to be all of 13 or 14 but one thing you learn as you grow older is that your ability to determine the difference between 13 and 17, something that seems so simple to do when you're 13-17, gets worse and worse. It's entirely possible the young Mr. Rolf is pushing 20, but that's beside the point. What isn't beside the point are the first and third games we played in which David was partially manascrewed. In the first he contributed to his own demise by Boggart Harbinging up a Warren Pilferers despite not having a fourth land drop. In the final he simply didn't get there, and I managed an ideal curve of turn 2 Fire-Belly Changeling, turn 3 Avian Changeling, and turn 5 ripping the land for Thundercloud Shaman to wrath his board after being destroyed in game 2. 5-1

The final round of the day saw me square off against Chelsea Torrez. I was 5-1 but in 10th place meaning I needed to win to make the single-elimination rounds. She was in a similar position. Unfortunately for her it would be the only matchup in which I was comfortably ahead the entire series. In the first she revealed herself to be a tempo-oriented UW deck and I knew which Counterspells to play around as a result of her shuffling face-up. I led with a few “must-counters”, then Austere Commanded her board, played a Giant, and bashed. In game two she pushed all in, hell-bent on beating me before I hit the Wrath. That's not a play I completely disagree with, as it gets really good if you hit one of your Counterspells and are able to sit back on it. The problem was that I had threats in the meanwhile, dropping a Cloudgoat Ranger which met Oblivion Ring, before using Austere Command when her hand was empty. She ripped a blank, then I ripped Wispmare which nailed the Oblivion Ring and returned my Cloudgoat Ranger. I had sideboarded the ‘Mare in to nail Ring, but I never thought it would be that good. It was over soon after that. 6-1

The Top 8

The Top 8 struck me as relatively inexperienced. I mean nothing disrespectful to the other members of the final table, of course, but simply mean that the nervous energy at the table was very high and there was a great deal of excited chatter. Scheel and I, anxious to get the draft started so we could finish up and go home, exchanged knowing glances from across the table. After your dozenth PTQ Top 8, when it has started to become semi-automatic and you're no longer satisfied with nearly making Top 8, playing the single elimination rounds loses its “new car” feel and becomes more of a second nature, like playing FNM at your local store but with higher stakes.

I was seated next to Kenny Castor to my left and an unknown to my right (meaning I didn't recognize him or get his name, but not that his play was questionable in any way). Scheel was on the other side of Kenny, and the packs opened up pretty strong. I started with a Moonglove Extract intending to keep flexible. I saw some early Merfolk cards going by, but not the ones that make you go into the archetype (Deeptread Merrow, double Veteran of the Depths). I've drafted Merfolk more times than any other tribe in the format so I felt comfortable with it and have had some success with the fishies. When the choice between Consuming Bonfire and Neck Snap came up, I opted to take the Neck Snap in case Merfolk presented itself. Sure enough in the next pack I saw Silvergill Adept, Merrow Harbinger, and Fathom Trawl.

Those are some saucy picks.

I love Silvergill Adept because I'm a huge fan of drawing cards in Limited but it simply doesn't compare in power to either the Harbinger or the Trawl. I was worried shipping the Harbinger would send signs to someone to my left that Merfolk was open (I had sent a few solid-but-middling picks down the line earlier to give that impression), but Fathom Trawl was simply too insane. Brandon Scheel disagrees with that pick, but I'm just too greedy to pass on 3 action cards in a format relatively devoid of natural card advantage.

After that I picked up 2 Judge of Currents and some tabled Merfolk cards though neither Veteran made it back. I figured the drafter sitting next to Scheel had probably gone Merfolk but that that was more than enough distance between us to both draft fair decks.

In the second pack there were plenty of cards for my deck but none of the marquee bombs I was looking for like Drowner of Secrets or Summon the School. Still I did manage to open Brion Stoutarm so I was pretty happy. The final pack rounded things out nicely with 2 Silvergill Dousers, which I had been missing, a Streambed Aquitects, and a Forced Fruition. Here's the list:

8 Island
6 Plains
1 Windbrisk Heights
1 Mountain
1 Vivid Crag

1 Moonglove Extract
1 Brion Stoutarm

1 Inkfathom Divers
1 Fathom Trawl
2 Silvergill Douser
1 Wings of Velis Vel
1 Tideshaper Mystic
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Forced Fruition
1 Whirpool Whelm
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Streambed Aquitects

2 Neck Snap
3 Judge of Currents
1 Harpoon Sniper
2 Avian Changeling
1 Crib Swap
1 Goldmeadow Harrier

I was very excited with my draft. For the first time ever this block I was sitting with 30 playables trying to make cuts for my deck. Should I splash Lash Out and Tarfire? I had thought to myself. Instead I opted to stick with just Brion, and was fairly confident in that splash.

The final card that I agonized over was the Forced Fruition. I've seen that enchantment in action and have actually been on the wrong side of it from time to time. Still, I was concerned that it could potentially Backfire if I wasn't careful. Eventually the conclusion I came to was that without Drowner or School I was lacking a “broken” Merfolk means of winning the game which meant needing to get there on the ground. That's not a very hopeful situation in which to be as the fish-folk are pretty weak themselves unless an opponent is playing Islands. Enter Forced Fruition. One thing the Merfolk are good at is muddling up the combat phase and creating situations in which opponents simply cannot attack favorably. From there you start to make a comeback with massive amounts of Judge life and eventually deck them with Drowner. I didn't have Drowner, so Fruition took its place under the assumption that once I had mucked up the board good and plenty, Fruition could come down and KO my opponent short Austere Command or Wispmare (and even then I did have a Faerie Trickery to have a shot at ending those shenanigans). Is that the right play? I'm not positive but my line of reasoning seems…well, reasonable, so again I'll leave it to the forums to offer up otherwise.

Quarters: David Saylor

When we sat down to draft I asked the judge whether we would be paired randomly within our pod or whether we would be paired in the traditional cross-table fashion. He said we were randomly seated but that we would play across the table so I knew immediately I was in for a rough patch in the quarterfinals: David Saylor was seated kitty-corner from me.

Players outside the Midwest may know nothing of Mr. Saylor but the gentleman (*cough*) is shadier than a grove of palm trees at an Oasis. His DCI rap sheet could stretch across a table and his reputation normally precedes him at most Magic events in the local area. Sitting down to play our match he knew that I knew this, and I knew we were going to butt heads throughout our games. I had already requested a table judge be present but things started up even before the judge could arrive, as soon as I sat down at the table.

“Is the number even or odd?” Saylor asked, holding up a Lorwyn token card. David was trying to determine who would play first using a method popular on the money draft circuit: guessing whether a card number is even or odd. Guess right and you choose, guess wrong and the opponent does. There are a number of cheats you can run there that are pretty simple, but the most basic is to simply take a card with an odd set number (the tokens are numbered up to 11) and an even card number (say the Merfolk token which is card number 4). When you ask your opponent “Is the number even or odd?” they might very well be under the impression you're implying “Is the set number even or odd?” but you've explicitly done no such thing. Instead they answer either even or odd and you inform them the answer was the other number type. If they guessed even and disagree, you claim you were referring to the set number, not the individual card number. From Saylor's perspective I'm sure it's a risk-free cheat in that you can't get “caught” because you haven't done anything “wrong” and players are unlikely to notice the shenanigans. Furthermore without allowing the events to reach their naturally shady outcome, we can't even prove David was intending to run that gambit.

Either way I obviously was having none of it, and the posturing for who would control the flow of the game had already begun. I told him we'd roll a die, of which I had numerous, and he quickly responded with “I don't want to roll dice.” That's a surprising turnaround considering at Nationals this year he ran a basic die cheat in which he rolls a die, then has his opponent roll and instead of waiting for the die to fall and checking the roll he quickly scoops the die up and claims it's a number suspiciously less than his own roll. I know one player ensnared in such a tactic but the reality is this: no player should ever touch a die until it has stopped rolling and both players agree on what number it landed on.

Suffice to say a judge was forced to flip a coin for us and Saylor managed to win (though I refused to allow anyone to call the coin in the air, instead simply declaring if it landed heads I'd win and if it didn't Saylor would). We went through the process of shuffling and offering up fake pleasantries while staring each other down much like Dave Price and Mike Long from many years ago.

The games, however, were uninspiring. David's deck appeared to be a pretty run-of-the-mill Faerie deck meaning islandwalk was a relevant path of victory for me and in the first he opened on four lands then drew only land for the rest of the game. In the second things were a bit more fair but I stabilized with Judges, played around Sentinels of Glen Elendra, and resolved Fathom Trawl. That's all she wrote at that point.

It's always a good feeling to beat a player like David Saylor, but there are plenty of competitors who like him or enjoy hanging out/trading with him. There's only so much you can do and I'm sure David is relatively cordial with most people (I mean, who expects the nice guy to be sticking it in your backside?). Still, Richard Nixon had friends too…



Playing David Saylor, pictured on the left. Far left is table judge Peter Martinez.


Semifinals: Brandon Scheel

It feels like I always lose to Brandon Scheel. That might be fair considering it's a. almost always true and b. Brandon is very good at playing Magic cards. Kansas City was the weekend in which I felt I could Snap the curse at major events. My deck was very good, the best in the archetype I had drafted so far this season. I was playing relatively tightly and felt good about my game, and I had even managed to win the die roll.

Naturally I mulliganed to 5 in the first game. Furthermore Brandon revealed himself to be the player a few seats down from me who had gone into Merfolk and he had gotten Drowner of Secrets, an absolute insane bomb in the mirror. Because of that pesky 1/3 I sideboarded in additional removal in the form of Lash Out and Tarfire to keep the thing contained, boarding out Neck Snaps and Forced Fruition. I also boarded Deeptread Merrow so I could potentially islandwalk my way to the finals, as well as two additional Mountains.



Brandon Scheel squares off against me in the semifinals.


Game 2 quickly went my way when Scheel whiffed on his fourth land drop, I hit the Mountain I needed to turn 4 my Brion Stoutarm (after being too aggressive with my Tideshaper Mystic and Scheel correctly recognizing its importance as a color fixer post-board, trading a Judge of Currents for it in combat), and then had a removal spell for each effort Scheel made after that. His Moonglove Extract wasn't going to get there on its own against my 4/4 Brion so it was key that I was able to remove the chump blockers to prevent a double team.



Focusing on breaking the Scheel curse.


Game 3 was the heartbreaker. We went back and forth early on and I managed to resolve a Fathom Trawl for some saucy action, including Lash Out and Tarfire. When I ripped the source of red the following turn Scheel appeared to visibly deflate a tiny bit. I was in control of the red zone with more creatures, multiple Judges, and a Douser, so I started setting up attacks to sneak damage through. A Tarfire to nail a Balloonist traded for Surge of Thoughtweft instead, and the following turn when I used Lash Out on the 2/2 Scheel responded with Pestermite to tap it so he could Wellgabber Apothecary it for the save. That meant I needed to Crip Swap the Gabber in response, and all of a sudden I was ahead on the board but out of removal should he hit a Drowner of Secrets.

The turns dragged on. I gained a considerable amount of life with my Judges, eventually ending the game at well over 170 and removing that particular path of victory from consideration. Scheel blanked on his Drowner for turn after turn until I finally managed to hit a Harpoon Sniper to go with my double Silvergill Dousers, then Brion Stoutarm. I still wasn't getting damage through because of the number of creatures Scheel had on his half of the board, but I felt I was in a position wherein I needed to be aggressive and potentially trade for as many of Brandon's threats as possible. By killing most of his Merfolk I would weaken his Drowner of Secrets, possibly providing myself the time to race.

Brion bashed and after some calculations Scheel blocked with every single creature he had. I used Harpoon Sniper to nail a Veteran of the Depths, then Brion got Silvergill Adept, Pestermite, Judge of Currents, and a Shapeshifter token from my Crib Swap on his Gabber. That opened the avenue for Inkfathom Divers and Avian Changeling to slowly start getting damage through, and they did exactly that.

Unfortunately Scheel managed to finally rip Drowner and start milling. With only one Merfolk, however, my clock was faster. Inevitably he managed to rip Harpoon Sniper, stifling my attacks, then an additional Merfolk and at just 4 life with me at well over 170 Brandon Scheel milled the final card from my library.

Truly a heartbreaker.

Scheel revealed after the match that he had two Drowners, so not drawing one until halfway through his deck was a lucky break for me really, even though I couldn't capitalize. Though I had drafted a very solid deck and played relatively well, even against Brandon, Scheel still happened to have the Merfolk deck that was better for the mirror. In retrospect I think it was wrong for me to sideboard out my Forced Fruition. I think I should have left the card in as my deck was more controlling than his and made it a point to reserve every single piece of removal for Drowner as setting up a long game in which I could answer each of his Drowners with Faerie Trickery and/or removal before winning via Forced Fruition (on an even board Brandon would have to do something to get ahead) or an islandwalker seems far more favorable than trying to race. When you're gaining 6-10 life each turn because of the amount of Merfolk you have tapping and the sick number of Judges you can safely keep in play against Wrathless UW, it's highly unlikely your opponent is going to beat you down.

Still, Scheel's a friend and close testing partner and as much as I wanted to win, I was happy he was able to take the slot in the finals. He's the rare breed of player who usually leads by example, is universally respected within his own community as well as on the Pro Tour, and is one big finish away from finally pushing through into the big time (after a narrow-miss for Top 4 in Charleston).

Up Next

This weekend it's PTQ-Chicago, provided the weather holds. If you're going to be in attendance at the event, say hi! and I'll see the rest of you back here tomorrow for a special two-fer set of articles this week.

-Bill Stark
Assistant editor, TCGplayer.com

Magic The Gathering Color (Mana) Chart

Red specializes in Direct & Mass Damage, Random Effects and hordes of Dragons, Dwarfs, Goblins & Orcs. Red draws it's power from mountains. There are plenty of large flying creatures. Red has good artifact destruction, and lots of spells to blast creatures into nothingness. One of Red's glaring weaknesses is that it has trouble dealing with enchantments.
Green is the color of nature. Green draws its power from forests. Green's specialties are creatures & extremely fast mana growth. Elves are abundant in green. Green's creatures also tend to be less expensive than other colors' creatures of equivalent power. Green's mana quick creation and cheap creatures allow green mages to get large creatures into play very quickly. One of Green's glaring weaknesses is that it has trouble removing opponents creatures.
Blue is the color of Wizard magic. Blue draws its power from Water. Blue specializing in countering spells, changing spells, and controlling spells. Blue has less creatures than other colors, and most aren't all that impressive in size. Blue's glaring weakness is it can have difficulty removing creatures and enchantments. As a beginner, blue can be among the hardest colors to play, but stronger players can scare the crap out of you with it when you go against a strong blue deck. They can really wreak havoc on your deck's strategy.
White is the color of goodness and purity. White draws its power from the plains. White specializes in defense, healing and small dangerous creatures. Creatures include soldiers, spirits and angels. White usually has plenty of good enchantments at it's disposal. White's glaring weakness are lack of large creatures and lack of direct damage spells.
Black represents death & decay. Black draws it's power from swamps. It specializes in creature destruction, forced hand discards, and a variety of large and small creatures. Creatures include Vampires, Zombies, Specters, Shades and Shadows. Black's weakness is dealing with enchantments.

Colors that are designed to work together:

Now I'm not sure how many of you guys actually know this ... but the back of a Magic Card actually tells you which colors are designed to work together!



All 5 colors are represented on the back of the card. Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) does their best to make adjacent colors easier to work together. Here's a larger image to help make things easier to see:


In this illustration (created by Pojo writer EBM many moons ago), the thick green lines between the colored circles indicate the harmonious flow of Mana. Colors are most easily combined when aligned with their immediate neighbors. The magenta-colored arrows indicate disharmonious, opposing colors: in this case White is opposed by both Black and Red. So Wizards tries to make white work well with green and blue, and hate for red & black. You'll see a lot of examples of this when you look at your cards in detail.

What do I mean by "Hate"? Here's a great example in the black card, Perish:


Perish affects only Green creatures, leaving the Black player who casts it with his army intact, and for the quite reasonable cost of just 3 mana.

That's not saying that you can't make a powerful deck that includes opposite colors, because you certainly can. WOTC just tries to make it easier for you to combine neighbors, with great "Hate" cards in opposing colors.

My Grand Prix: Daytona

I take one week off and everyone is running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

“Where's Riki?”

“What happened to Riki?”

Answer: I took a trip to GP Daytona Beach to judge, and what with being gone from Thursday to Monday and working 12-hour+ days at the site, it was highly unlikely that I would be able to get an article done. Now having saved some money on my auto insurance by switching to Geico, I have lots of fun stories to relate.

Getting There

Choosing to go to an out of state GP is a big deal for Magic players. It's the point when you decide that you are really “going for it,” investing both large amounts of time and money to become a better player and pursue your lofty goals.

It's roughly the same thing for a Magic judge. The decision to judge a Grand Prix within driving distance, like I did with San Francisco, is all about the decision between playing and judging. After crossing that divide, it's another Leap to get to the point where I am willing to drop a few hundred dollars on a plane ticket to Daytona Beach.

I make my decision to take the cross-country trip to Daytona Beach sometime in early October. I get in touch with the Tournament Organizer, Eric Mock, and make arrangements to judge all three days (GPT's Friday, and two days on the GP, possibly with side events mixed in), and I reserve a room in the judges' block for the Cheontourage and myself. When the dynamic duo returns from their rain-drenched trip to Valencia, we book our flights and the finality of all the planning settles into my mind.

In addition to LSV and Paul “Level 6” Cheon, I will be rooming with Grand Prix SF runner up Jon Stocks and Iain Bartolomei, who seems to have a permanent spot in California PTQ Top 8s reserved as of late. Like their predecessors in the Cheontourage, these two have vowed to push each other to the next level in 2008 with their sights firmly set on Level 3 status.

The next month passes in a Whirlwind of Magical cards between judging States, a PTQ, and the TCGpprentice. I also fit in a Guitar Hero III release party where my meager talents get blown out of the concert hall by local judge Jeff “Judge of Currents” Morrow.

On the Thursday before the event, Luis and I board our plane in Sacramento and make the short hop to LA where we have a three-hour layover until our redeye to Atlanta departs. We mull about the terminal for a bit, taking stock of our options. Luis opts for McDonalds, and like a movie theater, everything is marked up by 50%, which makes it 25% as satisfying. Look, I never said that math was my strong suit.

Unsatisfied with the Golden Arcs, we make our way to “El Cholo,” an in-terminal bar that boasts “LA's best margarita.”

Unlikely. That's the first word to cross my mind. Why is LA's best margarita being tucked away in an airport terminal bar? Sure, there's plenty of traffic in an airport, but most of these people don't care about the difference between a margarita and a Marton Stromgald as long as one of them gets them drunk for their flight.

El Cholo might have LA's best margarita, but their service leaves a lot to be desired. Luis asks for water no less than three times before our Russian-accented waiter remembers to bring them to us. The margaritas are good; I just don't know if they are “LA's best” good. They certainly aren't “twelve dollar” good.

Our flight to Atlanta is just under four hours. The in-flight movie is “Mr. Bean's”—Zzzzz. It's just before midnight so I just end up sleeping through the entire flight and miss Mr. Bean's idiotic hijinks completely.

Atlanta looks just like LAX, which looks just like Denver from the time I flew to GP Dallas. When we get to our connecting gate to Daytona Beach, we see a bunch of prone bodies on the seats. It's around 9am local time, 6am for our native Pacific time, and I imagine a lot of these people are in the same boat as us, road-worn and weary.

Iain should be in Atlanta at this point—he caught a flight out of San Francisco—so Luis calls him up. Suddenly one of the prone bodies in an adjacent row sits up and answers his phone. Like some modern day Kerouac, or maybe just a bum, Iain is on the road sleeping it up at an airport. Luis and Iain dig some packs out of their travel bags and do a Time Spiral-Planar Chaos-Planar Chaos Winston Draft. Such fiends for the game they are. They barely finish before we board our plane.

Standing outside the Daytona Beach airport, Luis and I hit the phones. He calls Jon Stocks, who has flown into Orlando and rented a car. He's about twenty to thirty minutes away from picking us up. I call Eric Mock and get the hotel information that I somehow managed to not print out.

Finally, we're here, and the room isn't ready yet. Wonderful. Some of Luis and Iain's MTGO draft buddies are hanging out in the lobby. So I meet “Aceman,” “Nova Sandler,” and a few others, never learning their real names. I think this is the new state of the world at large and Magic as a subculture where your username is your identity.

A grumpy old man (affiliated with the site, not the event staff) won't let us into the tournament venue, so our merry little band high steps it to the neighboring arcade, where among other things I get to watch some fairly good DDRing from the crew.

Trial and Error

After assorted arcade fun, it's time for me to judge the GP Trials. My head judge is Jared Sylva. He randomly divides us into teams of two to run each 32-person Sealed flight. I'm teamed up with Deb Rivkin for flight two (Yellow flight for those who saw our lovely color coordinated pairing sheets).

When the third flight kick-starts next to mine, I am taken aback to see Shuuhei Nakamura dashing to his seat. You may need a moment to let that one sink in because I certainly did. Shuuhei is one of a select few Level 6 mages in the Pro Player Club. In fact, he is the only mage to repeat as a Level 6 in the first two years of the PPC. Maybe, having finished Day One in 72nd place at GP Kitakyuushuu, Shuuhei wants a little extra practice with the format. The truth is close, but oh so much more Japanese. During rounds, I catch up with snappy-dressing pro and ask him what the heck he is doing in a GPT.

“At GP Kitakyuushuu, Shouta Yasooka asked me to play in a trial with him for fun, but I begged out, saying I was ‘tired.' Then in the main event I opened a really bad card pool.”

That's about the gist of what he tells me. The words he actually uses to describe his card pool are “kuso pack,” with kuso literally translating as sh-t. It's just another case of Japanese superstition; Japan is a nation obsessed with horoscopes, blood type personality matches for couples, and all things Miss Cleo, except they don't have the actual Miss Cleo.

For Shuuhei, the karmic translation is clear: don't play in a GPT, scrub out of main event; play in a GPT, do well? With the power of hindsight, we can see that Shuuhei barely squeaked into Day Two in 63rd place. Perhaps this means we'll be seeing Shuuhei in more GPT's in the future, trying to buy some good Karma, or perhaps barely squeaking isn't quite good enough so he'll be wearing Olivier Ruel's lucky hat.

If you're going to play in GPT's, you need to be aware of the big change that took place within the past year. Instead of being one monstrous Swiss affair that takes its winners into the dawn light hours of the morning, they run as single elimination flights of 32. The key is the single elimination part. This leads to two unique considerations.

Slow play matters (more)- Slow play should always matter and you should be vigilant in making sure your opponent does not take too long think about his plays no matter how complicated the board situation. Just like everyone else, I have an “I just needed one more extra turn to win (or force a draw)” story that means I should have played faster or prompted my opponent to do the same at some point. When you're playing in a Swiss tournament, you can afford to absorb a draw, or even a loss, due to sloppy clock management. Not saying that it is ideal, but X-1-1 will still get you into most Top 8s and Day Two cuts. Not so in a single elimination tournament where a loss boots you and a draw… well, those have their own funny rules.

The life total rule- There are no draws in single elimination; someone has to win, and if the game score is tied, the player with the higher life total in the current game wins the game and the match. If the life totals are tied, then the first change in life total determines the outcome. This can mean damaging your opponent, but also applies to life gain. I heard of one incident when a Tanglebloom won such a match for someone.

I come across one match that finishes game two during the five extra turns, leaving the match at 1-1. Both players look up at me and ask “What now?” What happens now, I explain to them, is that game three starts with the Sudden Death rule in effect. Both players' eyes open wide at this. For the next three minutes they sideboard feverishly, trying to jam as many one-drops as possible into their decks without mucking up their mana too much. I watch with interest as the player on the play keeps his hand with a smile—he's got a one-drop for sure. His opponent, one-dropless, mulligans to six, keeps that hand, and the exciting Sudden Death game begins.

Player one quickly drops a Mountain and a Boggart Forager, about the only time that card could ever be considered useful. Player two has mulliganed into a Mountain and…

#####CARDOD=15667#####

Yep. Good game. I mean, as long as he doesn't do something stupid like Tarfire the Forager (which he doesn't). Later, in another flight, I hear the roar of a crowd that probably means a similar thrilling Sudden Death victory. Other than that, the Trials proceed smoothly and we get out of there at midnight. (Although I think the final flight does not finish and all remaining players are awarded three byes, so the tech appears to be to sign up for the final flight, folks.)

Main Event: Day One

I am on side events for Day One, which means I don't need to be onsite until 11am. Unfortunately, I am rooming with four players so the hustle and bustle gets me up and I figure I'll just wander down and catch the sights. I get a chance to sit down with Ben Bleiweiss and Pete Hoefling at the Starcitygames booth. For me personally, the most interesting thing to come out of this is Ben's explanation of how his “Building on a Budget” column has evolved into what it is today based on forum responses. Even writers for Le Mothership have something to learn from the masses.

I also manage a quick exchange with Brian David-Marshall on event coverage. We swap the usual pleasantries about how much we like each other's work, but he adds a nice little “But there was that one time you misspelled my name S-H-I-L-L.”

Awkward.

Yes, there was that one time I called him out for irresponsible journalism regarding the winner of the Great Designer Search. I've heard about BDM's remarkable memory, so I figure he'll remember that. I do some quick talking about it not being personal (I did call out the entirety of WotC for that incident) and how opinions on the Internet are exaggerated for drama and conflict. I mean if you hold me sacrosanct to everything I write, I probably hate the world and the horse it rode in on. I just play a bitter doctor on TV, kids.

Anyway, with things being as busy as they are, I only have a minute or two to chat with BDM, but I think we square things away and have a good hearty handshake on it. Whatever criticism I might heap upon him—he looks awkward as hell on video coverage what with the long pauses and looking down at his notes—he's still one of the best in the business when it comes to written coverage, and I hope I have a chance to work with him in the future on that.

All of this chatting with people takes me to eleven o'clock, and since no side events are firing yet, I get the temporary shift to assist on the main event where judges are busy counting deck lists for legality. I come across one problem list with only 39 cards listed. I throw it into a pile of about a dozen lists. I guess that isn't so bad for a 650-person tournament, but it still irks me. Having never committed a deck registration error I don't understand what is so hard about counting to forty or sixty (and fifteen).

After getting the counts, it's time to match the deck lists with the players entered into the tournament to make sure we got everyone's list. I read off names from deck lists while Jeff Zandi, an occasional contributor to our site, checks them off the master list. This is actually a somewhat arduous task because Magic players have awful handwriting. On more than one occasion we have to make an educated guess and hope it's right. Shouta Yasooka is the worst offender. At the end of this task, we come up two deck lists short; apparently two players entered the tournament but didn't bother to build a deck. Took their foil Thoughtseize and went home perhaps?

I spend the next few rounds walking the floor of the main event. The bulk of a judge's time at any tournament is spent floor judging, walking around, waiting for a call, stopping to watch matches involving friends—I mean, matches that attract your interest for no particular reason. Most of the confusion on the day stems from layers, with a large number of questions starting with “I play Wings of Velis Vels….” Shapesharer and Turtleshell Changeling are two other contenders for “most asked about card.” I probably need to write a rules heavy article in the near future on these cards.

Girls, Girls, Girls

At just about the midpoint of the day, Carlos (side events head judge) and Jeff (co-TO as far as I can tell) call me over with an unusual job for me. Apparently, a handful of women want to learn how to play Magic, and they task me with putting together a tutorial session for them.

Magic… with women! Who wouldn't jump at such an opportunity? Well, me, I guess. I'm a little too old at this point to get excited just because someone has a pair of breasts. Plus, my keen mind picks up on the fact that these women have to be significant others of Magic players. There's just no other feasible explanation for why they would be at a Grand Prix and not know how to play Magic.

Jeff is explaining to one of the girls that they have to open the tutorial to both sexes lest he get hit with some kind of discrimination charge. Of course, there aren't any guys in the house who need a tutorial in Magic, so it's me and nine women together in a side event conference room with a bunch of Lorwyn precons. If that sounds sexy, you haven't been paying attention. These are Magic players' girlfriends (and fiancйs and wives as it turns out). If fact, a few boyfriends who have scrubbed out join us to help out, which is a relief for me from a manpower perspective, although it completely saps any sexiness out of the whole affair.

The tutorial moves forward with the expected minor hitches (like forgetting to explain how instants differ from sorceries. Oops.) and one major one. Teresa (or possibly Theresa) gets a little frustrated with the game state and storms out crying. Great. Add “made a girl cry” to my list of Magical accomplishments. Real nice. Do they promote you to Level 2 judge if you've ever made a girl cry?

In all fairness to me, one of the other ladies who knows her says that Teresa has tried to learn how to play Magic before with varying degrees of frustration. The Lorwyn precons we use don't exactly help matters. Teresa up and leaves a board involving Knight of Meadowgrain (lifelink and first strike) wearing Battle Mastery (double strike) and her opponent controlling Sygg, River Guide (protection). This is not a beginner-friendly situation. Other than that it's peaches, roses, and whatever. And for the rest of the weekend I have pretty women thanking me and other judges commending me for my patience. All in a day's work.

Main Event: Day Two

I'm actually on the main event staff this time, which is cool in a lot of ways. It's my first time judging in a Professional REL environment (Day One is Competitive). I get to watch the players draft up close and personal, although judging means watching their eyes to make sure they aren't running the Big Peeks, and I get zero sense of what kind of deck anyone is drafting.

After the draft, I am on the deck check team, lead by Jason Powell. Things are a lot more laid back on Day Two since we only have 64 decks to check, and the card pools themselves are smaller (45 total for Draft as opposed to 75 for Sealed). We do beginning and mid round deck checks, and the only usual occurrence is that we randomly select Alex Lieberman two rounds in a row. He's got dinged sleeves both times, even though they are clearly brand new sleeves. The first time, I watch him push the card out of the sleeve from the bottom and see exactly how the sleeve gets the distinctive finger mark. The second time is a completely different mark, so there's no need to upgrade the penalty or investigate for non-Boggart Shenanigans.

For Round Eleven, I draw the Feature Match area assignment. Judging the Feature Match area is the most exciting, boring job you can get. What I mean is, for my Feature Match assignment, I get to watch Paulo Vitor DDR (Dance, Dance, Revolution!) versus Mark Herberholz and LSV versus Tomoharu Saito. That's four of the top ten players in the world. The boring part is that these players need nary a judge. Except that this one time, they do need a judge, or more correctly, Saito needs a judge to tell him if Burrenton Forge-Tender's ability can affect damage from Mudbutton Torchrunner even after it has been sacrificed and is safely tucked away in the graveyard. (The answer is yes.)

After the second draft, it's another fun round of deck list counting. Unfortunately, one of the lists I see in the problem pile is Luis's. He's only registered 44 cards. Luckily, if you can call it that, his deck is pretty awful anyway and he 0-3s his second pod, but it's a crappy way to end what looked like such a promising run. Meanwhile, Iain finishes in 20th place, a strong showing, but just short of the Top 16 he needs to qualify for Kuala Lumpur. And of course Paul and Jon don't even manage to Day Two, this despite Paul powering up with a Hunan fortune cookie. Maybe he still has a hangover from reaching Level 6. Must.

The Draft

Finally free of the stripes, I join Luis, Paul, Ben “2006 US Nationals Team Reunion” Lundquist, Zack “I'm not Zac Hill” Hall, and Adam “no cool nickname, but I'm just damn good at Magic” Chambers for dinner at the BBQ shack across the street from the convention center. There's another table of Magic players behind us that includes Billy Moreno and Chris McDaniel amongst others. Some of our braver souls try the “fried corn,” which ends up looking more like “burnt corn.”

After dinner, our table plus Jon Stocks and Paul's friend Big Dog from LA join up in our room to do a 4v4 draft. I draft a pile, quite possible one of the worst decks I've ever drafted.

Things start off fine with Silvergill Adept and Judge of Currents. Things dry up in a hurry. I end the first pack with three Judge of Currents and nothing to make them good. No Steambed Aquitects or Silvergill Dousers. It's just a big mess. I'm getting cut off hard, and it's pretty clear that I should be in Goblins what with the Tarfire I got passed third pick and the late Muddbutton Torchrunner making the rounds.

Then in pack two, my savior arrives: Forced Fruition. This card saves my draft in a way that no ordinary bomb like Purity or Austere Command possibly could. FF allows me to fill out my deck with some late Broken Ambitions and Faerie Trickeries, along with some very questionable creature enchantments…

#####CARDID=15707#####

During deck construction, Luis convinces me to cut the trips Judge of Currents since they don't actually do anything in my deck. In their place, we pack the deck with those Zephyr Nets I had taken as a backup plan. Paul pans the deck. Zack Hall is off in his own world. I enter battle with this:

Deck:
3 Zephyr Net
1 Forced Fruition
1 Protective Bubble
1 Lairwatch Giant
1 Turtleshell Changeling
1 Stonybrook Angler
1 Goldmeadow Harrier
1 Deeptread Merrow
1 Silvergill Adept
3 Broken Ambitions
2 Faerie Trickery
1 Avian Changeling
1 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
1 Pestermite
1 Neck Snap
1 Glimmerdust Nap
1 Tideshaper Mystic
1 Ringskipper
10 Island
7 Plains

My first opponent is Adam Chambers. His loss to Tannon Grace in the last round left him in 9th place in the main event, just over half a percentage point out of the Top 8. Primarily a Limited player, Chambers has been quiet this year due to the Constructed-heavy United States GP schedule. He's hoping that his performance at Daytona will catapult him to a successful 2008 season. He is also hoping to forget his three games against me.

In game one—Game One!—Chambers plays two—Two!—Wispmares as vanilla 1/3 flyers. While I'm relieved to see him play them out before my enchantments, I wonder how I can possibly win this match against such awful cards that are particularly suited against me.

I slowly lock up his most threatening attackers with my Nets and Naps while countering others. This leaves his Wispmares free to nibble away at my life total. With the help of Surge of Thoughtweft, Chambers nibbles me down to single digits. That's when I draw the deck's Plan B. You may be a bit confused because the deck is already a pile of Plan B, a milling deck without Drowner of Secrets. So maybe it's my plan C, Lairwatch Giant with Protective Bubble.

I think I just heard jaws around the world dropping to the floor. Plan D is to put the Bubble on Turtleshell Changeling.

Let's just stick to Plans A and B then. B works well enough as Chambers can't deal with the untouchable four turn clock. When I tell Paul that I'm winning game one, he shouts, “Did you do it with Forced Fruition?” No, Paul, I didn't. But thanks for telling Chambers and the rest of his team.

Chambers runs me over in game two with some decent cards like Lys Alana Huntmaster.

I “curve out” with Stonybrook Angler, Pestermite, and Turtleshell in game three. That may sound unimpressive, but it's about as beatdown as my deck gets. It's enough pressure to force Chambers to play out his dual Wispmares as 1/3 blockers though. Unfortunately the second one blows up my Protective Bubble that was threatening to take over the game on my Turtleshell. Yes, I just wrote that and it was not sarcastic.

With the Bubble gone, I pretty much have no way to break through his Wispmare defenses (if these games sound stupid, you should have been there), and I switch to the Net plan, throwing a few on his actual cards, Plover Knights and Nath's Elite.

My next opponent is Ben Lundquist of US Nationals fame. Rumor has it that his deck is powerful and slow, the perfect matchup for my counter and mill plan. Sure enough, I trade off some early creatures and land Forced Fruition at a comfortable twelve life. Ben plays Giant Harbinger and fetches up Hearthcage Giant. I counter the Hearthcage and Glimmerdust Nap the Harbinger after it hits me once.

Ben counts his library and determines that his next spell is his last one, so he makes it a good one: Galepowder Mage. I'm dead in three swings and Ben has three cards left in his library after drawing seven for the Mage. No problem. I have Ringskipper and Protective Bubble, which guarantees me one chump block and the win…

If not for his Giant Harbinger sitting there taking a Nap. Because of that, I am forced to Protective Bubble his Harbinger to keep Galepowder Mage from waking it up. So Galepowder pushes my Ringskipper aside and I don't find an answer to it in my next three draws. One of my three Zephyr Nets would have won me the game right there. Ben absolutely crushes me in game two with an early Smokebraider.

My third match is against Big Dog, whose real name is Micah (sp?). I'm not sure if Big Dog is his MTGO name, a nickname from something else, or possibly both. What I am sure of is that by this point he can't help but have heard about my concoction. He reveals an Ajani off an early clash, but doesn't play it into my counter wall. Instead, he holds it until I tap out for Forced Fruition. At that point, he plays Ajani and Garruk, makes his army hunormous and smashes me like a bug.

The next two games are roughly the same: I play Forced Fruition and he goes for a really big turn with his planeswalkers. Fortunately for me, things end up in my favor. In one of the games, Big Dog loses a Fistful of Force clash leaving me at two. As fun as this format is, doesn't it seem like a lot of games are ending in “and then I lost the clash and the game”? The other game ends with Big Dog unable to play Fistful of Force for the win because he doesn't have enough cards left in his library to survive the Fruition.

My 2-1 record with 15th pick.dec, along with Paul's 4-0 mauling, means I don't have to play my final match against Jon, which is all well and good for me. Milling people is hard work. We war (each team member flips over a card and highest mana cost takes those cards) the picks and Luis gets them all. He gets them all. Oh, except for the leftover foil Oaken Brawler that he graciously gives to Paul for 4-0ing the draft. What a nice guy.

Animal Planet

The next day, Jon and Iain leave for their flights sometime very early in the morning. Luis, Paul, and I sleep in late—almost too late—we barely make our checkout time. We catch lunch with my fellow judge Brendan O'Connor at a restaurant that purports to serve “gator tail.” I have to try this. I just have to. I'm left somewhat disappointed. As James Spader says in Stargate: “Tastes like chicken.”

Brendan kindly gives us a ride to the airport. We check in, catch our connecting flight to Atlanta and settle in for our respective layovers with Tiago Chan, Raphael Levy, and Gadiel Szleifer. Somehow the conversation turns to animals, and this is apparently right up Levy's alley. He starts things out with a rather innocent “How many unarmed humans would it take to kill a bear?” The group asks Levy various questions about these humans. These are average people; no warriors, bodybuilders, or Peter Petrellis. They are also afraid of the bear to whatever extent normal people are afraid of bears, which means that you have to factor that fear in. It will take a certain amount of people to build up the Mob Mentality to attack in the first place.

Most of us agree that it would take something like fifty people to kill this bear. We move onto a slightly more dangerous animal. How many people would it take to kill a shark? In the ocean, we deem the number to be infinite. There's just no way people stand a chance against a shark in water. In a swimming pool, I postulate that you might be able to stack enough dead bodies into the water to suffocate the shark.

Next Levy drops the mother of hypothetical animal questions: would you rather spend a half hour in an Olympic-sized swimming pool with a shark or half a soccer field with a bear? I wonder if this is what all Magic Hall of Famers think about in their spare time. Tiago opts for the bear and I have to agree with him. Luis offers up the contrary opinion, saying, “Unless you're bleeding, the shark might ignore you.” I guess that's true. I then suggest that the bear might ignore you too, but Levy, the Crocodile Hunter of Magic, says that bears are very territorial and will attack intruders mercilessly.

After a couple more animal related discussions, we grab a bite to eat, with we fat Americans haumphing twice as much food as the Europeans. Then we scatter to our respective planes and another exciting Magic weekend is over.

In Closing

There are so many other people I met that weekend. I came across Justin Vizaro and Mike Wawszczak from TCGplayer.com in the side events area. Apparently their Main Events didn't go so well. On the plane from Daytona to Atlanta, I sat next to GP Toronto Top 8 competitor Brad Taulbee. I expanded my judge-signed foil Rule of Law collection by five, including level 5 Sheldon Menery. I also talked to the heads of two new, exciting online Magic ventures, MtgChicago and ManaNation. I also ran into Chris Williams again, who mistook me for someone else at first, but apparently it wasn't Mike Flores. Oh, and there was also Lance Loden, most famous for Kiki-Opposition from three years ago. I played him at GP Salt Lake and I've always tried to say hello since as a fellow Opposition lover.

All this and I still missed talking about that one guy or that one thing that happened at that place. That's the nature of these events. There's just too much going on in a short amount of time. This hasn't been a tournament report in the traditional sense because I didn't play. If I have advice to offer from my experiences, it would probably be:

a) Double check your deck reg sheet.

b) Play at a reasonable pace and make sure your opponent is playing at a reasonable pace.

c) If b) isn't happening, call a judge. In fact, call a judge for anything out of the ordinary.

d) Meet people and have fun.

P.S. Yes, we will have the TCGpprentice Finals this week. Fellow Seattleites Robin Russell and Zaiem Beg square off for the title of TCGpprentice, a Feature Writer position, and a bag full of marbles. The loser gets nothing. Okay, that's not true. We've set up some nice parting gifts for everyone in the Final Four. I'm looking forward to seeing how Robin and Zaiem approach the “Year in Review” and I hope you are too.

by Riki Hayashi

Examining Blue: Sonic Boom

The Standard metagame is pretty much defined by now, with loads of deck lists in from States and GP Krakow. Despite the diversity of the field, only one color caught my attention; blue. As a control player, I'm glad to see all the successful blue decks performing in the current metagame. To start off my preparation for Worlds, I chose Wafo-Tapa's Sonic Boom Mono Blue Control. The deck managed to get a respectable 2nd place finish in GP Krakow piloted by Frenchmen Amiel Tennabaum, only to lose to another blue/white control, which I will discuss in the next article. I bought the required cards like Cryptic Command, Guile and others in Magic Online and started my research. Without further ado, here is my updated version of Sonic Boom:

Main Deck:
3 Guile
2 Sower of Temptation
3 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 Venser, Shaper Savant

4 Ancestral Vision
4 Cryptic Command
4 Faerie Trickery
2 Pact of Negation
4 Remove Soul
4 Rune Snag

4 Desert
2 Dreadship Reef
2 Scrying Sheets
18 Snow-Covered Island
1 Tolaria West
1 Urza's Factory

Sideboard:
2 Dreadship Reef
2 Jace Beleren
4 Phyrexian Ironfoot
3 Razormane Masticore
2 Serrated Arrows
2 Sower of Temptation

At first, I copied the exact list and started testing. Then I noticed an issue with the deck; the lack of lands. Sure, Think Twice is considered half a land and earns an extra card, but most of the time you are tapping your mana for Rune Snag, Faerie Trickery, Cryptic Command and etc. There is simply no time to cast Think Twice in the Mono Blue versus aggro matchups, and you must hit the 5th and 6th land drop. However, Think Twice shares its benefits in the control matchup, where you never have to tap your mana anyway in the early game. Still, I don't fancy Think Twice's existence in the deck. There must be something that is as good as a land as well as a good resource against control.

Enter Scrying Sheets. This is one of my favorite standard cards, not to mention I've won my Nationals Championship with it last year. It is pretty underplayed this year, and strangely, I find its place in mostly non-blue control decks like Monored Chandra Control, Monogreen Treefolk and Monowhite Control which I don't quite understand. To start off, I added 2 Scrying Sheets and an additional snow island to the deck and loved it instantly! Not only did I have 28 lands, which is a huge advantage against control, I could consistently play my 5th and 6th land while using my mana to counter threats every turn. Of course, there are turns where your opponent just passed, and it makes little difference if you activate Sheets or cast a Think Twice, but it really matters when you needed the land drop. You are playing mono blue, and you simply can't stall on 3 lands and rip the 4th land to play Wrath of God. You simply need to drop lands every turn to ensure you could play all thecounters in your hand and drop the Teferi and Guile.

Another major change I did to the deck was adding the maindeck Sower of Temptation and cutting the remaining Think Twice and a Pact of Negation. I like the main deck Sower of Temptation a lot, as most people do not expect it and it could single handily win games on its own, as the astounding numbers of counters in the deck ensures that he survives. Sower is also one of the few efficient answers to resolved threats in the deck. The reason I cut a Pact of Negation is due to the redundancy of the deck. There are quite some numbers of cards that you do no wish to draw multiple copies, for example Teferi, Guile and Pact of Negation as well. The difference between them is that, you really need to draw one Teferi and/or one Guile, but you do not necessary need to draw a Pact of Negation for the win and holding 2 Pacts is really bad compared to holding double Teferi or Guile. Sure, Guile+ Pact of Negation is the “combo” of the deck, but most times you still win anyway if the game state is in your favor.

The difference between my main deck and the basic version is;

+ 1 Snow Island
+2 Scrying Sheets
+2 Sower of Temptation

- 4 Think Twice
- 1 Pact of Negation


Strategy Guide

Versus Straight Aggressive Creature deck( Kithkin, Monored, Elf, Faerie)

+ 4 Ironfoot
+ 3 Razormane Masticore
+2 Sower of Temptation
+2 Serrated Arrows

- 3 Teferi
- 3 Guile
- 2 Faerie Trickery
- 2 Cryptic Command
- 1 Urza's Factory

You bring in the hate creature package and takes out all the expensive creatures and cut down on expensive counters. You do not sideboard in the Ironfoot against the flying troops of Faerie though and keep Teferi because they do have countermagic which he could shut down. The reason I cut a land because sideboarded games are slightly slower than it is, and you have a greater defense base to stall out and you never activates Urza's Factory in these matchups. Ultimately, it was strange that I've found Scrying Sheets is pretty relevant in this matchup post sideboard due to Razormane Masticore. The interaction between Serrated Arrows and Desert is insanely powerful, usually killing most of the threat by using an arrow counter and an activation of Desert. This matchup is not favorable before boarding, but favorable after boarding with all the hate except for Elf, which I would explain later.

Versus Aggro-Control Strategy ( mostly Mannequin decks)

+4 Phyrexian Ironfoot
+3 Razormane Masticore
+2 Serrated Arrows

-3 Guile
-1 Teferi
-2 Venser
-3 Faerie Trickery

This is a favorable matchup before and after boarding. They play their games by resolving 187 card advantage creatures, and most of your card stops them from gaining advantage. They does not come out blazing fast, and their turn 2 plays are weak against Teferi and you can counter basically anything that is threatening because their relevant plays starts on turn 3, for example, drawing 2 cards by evoking Mulldrifter, casting Shadowmage Infiltrator. Faerie Conclave does no harm to you because of Desert, although Mouth of Ronom is a pain for you. After boarding, you can hardly lose this matchup. 1 Ironfoot stops 4 Shadowmage, 4 opposing Ironfoot and 4 Shriekmaw (they can't kill Ironfoot nor passes through it). Serrated Arrows kills Shadowmage (literally), dudes with Mannequin counter, Fairie Conclave. Razormane usually seals the game, but do beware of Profane Command because that is the card that will turn the game around. Try to hold on to your Masticore until you can protect it because once it sticks, they can hardly win. This is a battle of Attrition instead of speed; therefore I kept all Cryptic Command and remove most Faerie Trickery.

Versus Control Strategy (all types of blue control)

+2 Dreadship Reef
+2 Jace Beleren

-1 Rune Snag
-1 Desert
- 2 Venser

You only bring in 4 cards in this matchup because most of your card is good and there are few to bring out. There is only 1 scenario that you would be happy with an all land hand or heavy land hand; the control mirror matchup, because literally both player only plays land and it is common knowledge that whoever makes the first step often loses. I increased the land count to 29 after boarding, to ensure that I have more probability of hitting land drops and adding the count of storage land is also significant because you really want to see one on your side of the table by turn 2. Jace Beleren is a cheap and efficient card drawer where you punish your opponent after he had exhausted on resources after a counter war. Tolaria West is a key in finding Scrying Sheets in this matchup.

Against Non-Blue Control Strategy (all sorts of Monogreen,Monored and Monowhite variants)

+2 Dreadship Reef
+2 Jace Beleren
+2 Sower of Temptation

-2 Desert
-4 Remove Soul

These decks are light on creatures and feature some card advantage engine and some creature control element. Therefore, Remove Soul is petty useless on them and you actually want them to resolve their big and expensive creatures because you can steal it with Sower of Temptation and protect it to victory. They are the active player in this matchup and you are the reactive player. They often have to play spells before you do; hence it is unnecessary to add up the land count, although you still do the Desert swap for Dreadship Reef. Again, Jace Beleren makes sure you have enough answers for them.

The conclusion

I took the deck to the 8-man queue and been cashing in some wins. So far, I've played approximately 8 times, with 2 wins, 2 split in the finals, 3 semifinals lost and 1 quarterfinal lost. After all, it is not a bad profit ratio. Of the 4 loses I incurred, 1 was a mirror match where I made a mistake in using the wrong counter in the counter war, thus costing me the match. The other 3 loses? Green-Black Elf and I lost all of them 0-2.

It is hard to imagine that the tiny green men actually run me over and over again. Mostly is due to the die roll where I lost most of them, and they go land mana elf, land imperious perfect/elvish champion/ vanquisher. Combined with Treetop Village, they don't find a hard time to kill me in game 1. After boarding, I brought in the suite of hate against it. Unfortunately, Elf has the perfect answer to all of my threats. Riftsweeper for Ancestral Vision, Eyeblight's Ending for Sower of Temptation, and even Viridian Shaman for both Razormane Masticore and Serrated Arrows. If they managed to draw any 2 of their hate that answers our threats, it is often game for them. Not to mention Garruk Wildspeaker is a headache on its own. Pithing Needle is a fantastic card to try out, but I have not figure out the right slot to make space for it.

by Terry Soh
www.magic.tcgplayer.com

Daytona Beach Matches

Alex Lieberman vs. Seth Manfield


Seth had an army of Cloudcrown Oaks against a pesky team of Harassers, Skeletal Changelings, and Dreamspoiler Witches. Alex looked like he was going to come out on top but Seth had just enough mana to finish off the Minneapolis Champ with Profane Command.

Had he included that card as the best rare on his profile form?

"Nope. I know everyone else did though."

Alex evened up the series but after a long battle of attrition in Game 3 the last card standing was Oakgnarl Warrior on Seth's side of the table.

Final result: Seth Manfield defeated Alex Lieberman in three games.


Kyle Miller vs. Tannon Grace

There seemed to be a lot of green running around in this Top 8 and Tannon grace had some of the choicest rares of the bunch with Wren's Run Packmaster, Timber Protector, and Imperious Perfect. Kyle Miller had a pretty exciting merfolk deck that had many of the prime Mefolk up to and including Sygg, River Guide.

In the final game Tannon made a turn three Packmaster and also played and Imperious Perfect against Sygg, Judge, and Mystic. Neck Snap took care of the Packmaster and a Merfolk Sniper showed up to keep the Perfect from getting completely out of control. Moonglove Extract took out the Sygg and the Perfect threatened to take over the game.

Trey – from the van feature on Day One – offered to let Tannon use Wolf and Elf tokens in place of the coins and buttons that were being used.

"Thank you I would like to borrow them for the rest of the Top 8 – if needed."

Final result: Tannon Grace would need the tokens for at least one more match and Kyle ended up as the highest finishing Amateur in the event winning an extra $1,500 for his status.

Tillman Bragg vs. Steven Wolansky

Game 1 was a bloodbath on both sides. Steven came blazing out of the gates with a green-red giant/changeling deck. He did ten more damage than it appeared he could do on the table with a pair of Blades of Velis Vel and Elvish Handservant but he could only get Tillman to one. Tillman cracked back and had his own Blades for the win. In Game 2 Tillman had a super aggressive Kithkin draw that Steven could not possibly deal with starting with Goldmeadow Stalwart, a pair of Goldmeadow Harriers, and Wizened Cenn.

"Nice deck," said one watcher, "your worst card was Isamaru."

Gabe Walls vs. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa

"Paulo is the first person in fifteen rounds who can level up if I concede to him," said Gabe Walls by way of explaining his concession to Paulo Damo da Rosa, looking to hit Level 4 for next season. Paulo didn't even ask Gabe for the concession, he just walked up to the Feature Match area and said, "I scoop."


Sunday, November 18: 8:03 p.m. – Semifinal - Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa vs. Tillman Bragg
by Brian David-Marshall

Game 1

Paulo mulliganed into a handful of burn and played Skeletal Changeling on turn two while Tillman had an uncharacteristically slow draw for his deck playing Dolman Gate without any creatures in sight. His Avian Changeling was shot down with Lash Out which cleared the airspace for Paulo's Marsh Flitter.

Goldmeadow Harrier picked up a Runed Stalactite but it was also killed with Lash Out. PV revealed Colfener's Plans – winning the Clash Out for the second time -- and kept the card on top of his deck. Tillman shrugged and paid full price for Stalwart. He fell to three on Paulo's next attack and the Brazillian laid the Plans and looked for some burn in his next seven cards.

He found it and played Tarfire for the kill.

Game 2

Tillman came out fast with Harrier and Kithkin Greathear but stalled on lands. Mudbutton Torchrunner stalled him on the ground as well. He could tap it and attack but Tillman was stuck on two lands. There were no such difficulties on the other side of the table as Paulo played Marsh Flitter

Tillman sighed at his third land and hoped to slow things down with Avian Changeling.

Paulo obliged and played Boggart Sprite Chaser and Tillman thought things were turning around when he added Harpoon Sniper but the game was actually a huge blowout when Paulo sacrificed the Mudbutton to the Flitter – doing three to Tillman -- and clearing the other side of the red zone with Final Revels.

The game wobbled along on its rims for a couple more turns but Paulo was going through to the finals.

While they waited for a quarterfinal and semifinal bracket to catch up to him, Paulo chatted with his opponent who was unsure if he would be attending Kuala Lumpur or not yet due to the price of the plane ticket.

Paulo agreed that they were expensive but was not anticipating having to pay for his own if he could win one more round.

"I am a win away from getting the plane ticket paid for," said Paulo who came into the tournament on 30 Pro Points for the season. A win here and two points from Worlds would guarantee him Level 5 for all next season and free flights to all the Pro Tours.


Final result: Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa wins two games to none over Tillman Bragg.


Sunday, November 18: 8:32 p.m. – Semifinal - Seth Manfield vs Tannon Grace
by André Coimbra

In this semi-finals match, we get to see two Americans playing for the chance to fight the Brazilian Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa in the finals and keep the trophy in their country. Seth Manfield comes from Philadelphia and is just 17 years old, while Tannon Grace comes from Baton Rouge, LA and is 21 years old. Both have Pro Tour experience, so it will be an interesting match for sure!

Tannon won the die roll and started with Leaf Guilder on his second turn and third turn Imperious Perfect: swinging for 3. His opponent, played Fertile Ground on his second turn and Imperious Perfect on his third turn, which was quite similar! On his fourth turn the Baton Rouge player chosed to play a Timber Protector, instead of getting a token from his Imperious Perfect. That was followed by a Kithkin Daggerdare, while the younger player setted a Mossworth Bridge to play later with two Elvish Branchbender in play. The hidden creature was Changeling Titan and it appeared when Tannon decided to attack on his next turn to get the place of one of the Elvish Branchbender. While both players were getting elf tokens every turn, they couldn't attack, as their were too many creatures in each side. Finnaly Seth played Sentry Oak, getting to clash and finding Cloud crown Oak on the top of his deck and Oona's Prowler on Tannon's deck, keeping both cards on the top. However, Seth had a different agenda, playing in that same turn an Elvish Harbringer and his target was Nath's Elite in order to try to break the simmetry of the game. After playing his elf, Tannon realized he couldn't win and conceded to the younger player.

Being one game behind, Tannon Grace decided to draw first, as he thinks that the game will be quite long and one extra card might make the difference between going home or facing the Brazilian player in the finals. Unfortunnaly for him, his seven cards were not good enough to play, so he chosed to take a Mulligan. Another one... and he kept his next 5 cards. Seth got a swamp from Wanderer's Twig and played Imperious Perfect on his third turn, passing the turn with 4 mana open on his fourth turn, but leaving the swamp in his hand. Tannon speeds his mana with Fertile Ground and plays Cloudcrown Oak on his third turn, yep folks, this is a top4 match! His next play is Nath's Elite, but losing the clash to a Elvish Branchbender, which Seth happily keeps in the top. Nath's Elite trades with Elvish Branchbender and Bog-Strider Ash comes from Mr Grace's hand to smile with a Swamp on the other side of the table. Follows Changeling Titan from Mr Manfield and a Warren Pilferers that returns Nath's Elite back to his owners hand. However, before Tannon gets the chance to play his Elite, Seth plays his own, but losing the clash. Warren Pilferers gets sacrificed in the Titan's way and Changeling Hero comes to fight in the same side has the previous Changeling creature, but gives two life to the other player, that uses Bog-Strider Ash trigger ability. Things getting hot? Tannon plays his own champion, Wren's Run Packmaster, but Nath's Elite won the game once again.

Seth Manfield 2 Tannon Grace 0


Sunday, November 18: 9:10 p.m. – Final - Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa vs. Seth Manfield
by Brian David-Marshall

Game 1

As the players looked through each others decks Seth noted all of Paulo's removal, "Hmmmm... I doubt Imperious Perfect is going to stick against you."

Paulo looked at his opening hand and decided he could do better. He was able to play Skeletal Changeling off of his two Swamps and he was holding Final Revels but the remaining four cards were early red creatures and if he stumbled at all he would need to draw both lands and removal spells to fight through it.

Skeletal Changeling came down and nibbled for a point. Elvish Branchbender and Marsh Flitter landed on each side of the table but Seth stymied the goblin munching faerie with Cloudcrown Oak. The match-up looked pretty bad for Paulo actually despite the ease with which he could kill Seth's Perfect. Maindeck Bog-Strider Ash was another example of the cards that Paulo had no easy answers for. Seth also added Moonglove extract to the board in case of an emergency.

Paulo's Axegrinder Giant threatened to make things interesting but he could not see over the Changeling Titan that championed a Forest while the Bog-Strider took a swampwalk.

Seth searched for a black source with his Wanderer's Twig and showed where the Doran, the Siege Tower that had drifted around the draft table ended up. He attacked for four with Bog-Strider. Paulo was quickly at six with no reasonable counterattacks. He played out his hand including Nightshade Stinger and Dreamspoiler Witches in the hopes of pulling something off with Colfener's Plans but Seth had Profane Command.

Game 2

Paulo shook his head as he had to ship back two straight hands and go to five cards to start the game. As difficult as it was to believe for Paulo, Seth's friends watching along the rail were even more stunned that Seth was on the verge of winning a Grand Prix.

"This is unbelievable," exclaimed Brad Taulbee. "Every prerelease he opens the best foils, the best rares...and now this?"

Someone else added: "Did you know he is also a Bridge master?"

"You play Bridge?" asked Paulo.

"I mean...yeah...a little," answered the 17-year old Seth who seemed uncomfortable talking about what many people perceive to be an old person's card game.

"I play Bridge," shrugged Paulo. Sadly he was not playing much Magic from his five card hand. He led off with Fire-Belly and followed up with Boggart Loggers but that was all he had for the time being. Seth held the Changeling at bay with Warren-Scourge Elf and could race the Loggers with Bog-Strider Ash. He also planted a Cloudcrown Oak.

Paulo had sputtered and was just playing lands. Seth swung with everyone and played Imperious Perfect in his second mainphase -- "Oops" -- and Moonglove Extract. Paulo attacked with both guys and Seth blocked the Changeling with the Perfect. When Paulo pumped it, Seth used the Extract.

Loggers killed the Bog-Strider. Final revels killed everything else and Paulo hoped to keep the Oak at bay with Skeletal Changeling but Seth had more gas in the tank with Changeling Hero and Nath's Elite to ensure the killing stroke.


Final result: Seth Manfield is the Grand Prix Daytona Champion!

Manfield Triumphs in Daytona Beach

Congratulations to Seth Manfield, Grand Prix Daytona Champion!

The Philadelphia player was recently identified by one Magic columnist as a rising star and he lived up to the advance billing. His treefolk deck splintered the competition which included Grand Prix Minneapolis Champion Alex Lieberman and two-time pro Tour Top 8 competitor Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa. In the finals Seth's Cloudcrown Oaks, Bog-Strider Ash, and Doran, the Siege Tower proved to be be too tough for Paulo's speedy black-red removal.

This was the last event of the 2007 season before Worlds and players came here hoping to level up and jockey for position in the Player of the Year race. The two big winners on that front were Tomoharu Saito who picked up three more points with a Top 16 finish and Top 8 competitor Steven Wolansky who inched closer to the lead in the Rookie of the Year race. Don't forget Paulo who came into the event with 30 points and left more than halfway toward Level 5.

Tune into the Tournament Center in less than three weeks for the World Championships when those races -- and much, much more -- will be settled once and for all!

Quarterfinals
Lieberman, Alex vs Manfield, Seth
Miller, Kyle vs Grace, Tannon
da Rosa, Paulo Victor D. vs Walls, Gabe
Bragg, Tillman E. vs Wolansky, Steven J.

Semifinals
Manfield, Seth vs Grace, Tannon
da Rosa, Paulo Victor D. vs Bragg, Tillman E.

Final
Manfield, Seth vs da Rosa, Paulo Victor D.

Winner: Manfield, Seth 2-0


Top 8 Profiles

Name: Gabe Walls
Age: 23
Hometown: KTown, IN
Occupation: Hahahahahaha


Pro Tour Experience: 1 PT Top 8

Grand Prix Experience: 5th GP Top 8

Other Magic accomplishments: Team Worlds '03 Championship

How did you prepare for this tournament? MTGO 4Xs

First pick/first pack which would you pick Chandra Nalaar or Shriekmaw? Maw

Best rare in Lorywn for Limited? Mulldrifter

Best uncommon?Mull Shriekmaw

Best common? Mulldrifter

Best tribe? Mulldrifter

Name: Tillman Bragg
Age: 25
Hometown: Murfreesboro, TN
Occupation: Student

Pro Tour Experience: PT Atlanta and PT Charleston. Neither finish was good 

Grand Prix Experience: I know Gabe Walls?

Other Magic accomplishments: See GP Finishes...

How did you prepare for this tournament? Magic Online with some boys in my clan Russian Playa Kiki Jikis (They just wanted me to say their names.)

First pick/first pack which would you pick Chandra Nalaar or Shriekmaw? Shriekmaw

Best rare in Lorywn for Limited? Profane Command

Best uncommon? Shriekmaw

Best common? Silvergill Douser

Best tribe? Faeries


Name: Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
Age: 20
Hometown: Porto Alegre, Brazil
Occupation: Student

Pro Tour Experience: Top 8 2006 Worlds. Top 2 PT Charleston

Grand Prix Experience: Top 8 GP San Francisco and Porto Alegre

Other Magic accomplishments: 2006 Brazilian National Champion and 3rd at this year's Invitational!

How did you prepare for this tournament? By going 2-4 in Bangkok and learning what not to do!

First pick/first pack which would you pick Chandra Nalaar or Shriekmaw? Chandra but it is very close.

Best rare in Lorywn for Limited? Profane Command

Best uncommon? Shriekmaw

Best common? Nameless Inversion

Best tribe? Faeries; Goblins and Merfolk are close second and third


Name: Steven "Stoyven" Wolansky
Age: 19
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Occupation: Student

Pro Tour Experience: Top 24 Geneva, Top 16 San Diego

Grand Prix Experience: Top 32 Grand Prix New Jersey

Other Magic accomplishments: Won Regionals 03

How did you prepare for this tournament? Infinite drafts since the set came out.

First pick/first pack which would you pick Chandra Nalaar or Shriekmaw? Chandra

Best rare in Lorywn for Limited? Mirror Entity

Best uncommon? Thundercloud Shaman

Best common? Dreamspoiler Witches

Best tribe? Faeries or Merfolk


Name: Kyle Miller
Age: 21
Hometown: Falls Church, VA
Occupation: Student

Pro Tour Experience:

Grand Prix Experience:

Other Magic accomplishments: Top 4 2HG States 07 with Mark Labelle

How did you prepare for this tournament? Playing at The Lucky Frog Triple Sealed Deck with William Wash, Scott Edmond. Mark Labelle, and others.

First pick/first pack which would you pick Chandra Nalaar or Shriekmaw? Shriekmaw for sure.

Best rare in Lorywn for Limited? Profane Command

Best uncommon? Shriekmaw

Best common? Wings of Velis Vel and Dreamspoiler Witches

Best tribe? Faeries


Name: Seth Manfield
Age: 17
Hometown: Philadelphia
Occupation:

Pro Tour Experience: Money in Geneva

Grand Prix Experience: 12th in NJ

Other Magic accomplishments: JSS/PTQs/Champs

How did you prepare for this tournament? Lots of drafts and Sealed on MTGO

First pick/first pack which would you pick Chandra Nalaar or Shriekmaw? Shriekmaw

Best rare in Lorywn for Limited? Sygg, River Guide

Best uncommon? Shriekmaw

Best common? Mulldrifter

Best tribe? Merfolk


Name: Alex Lieberman
Age: 22
Hometown: West Palm Beach, Florida
Occupation: Law Student

Pro Tour Experience: A string of Top 64 finishes a few seasons ago

Grand Prix Experience: GP Minneapolis Champion

Other Magic accomplishments: US Nationals Top 8 and friends with Antonino DeRosa and Gerard Fabiano.

How did you prepare for this tournament? I taught my girlfriend how to play and we practiced together the week before the GP.

First pick/first pack which would you pick Chandra Nalaar or Shriekmaw? Shriekmaw

Best rare in Lorywn for Limited? Profane Command

Best uncommon? Shriekmaw

Best common? Dreamspoiler Witches

Best tribe? Faeries


Name: Tannon Grace
Age: 22
Hometown: Baton Rouge, LA
Occupation: Salesman/student/gamer

Pro Tour Experience: London, Charleston

Grand Prix Experience:

Other Magic accomplishments:

How did you prepare for this tournament? Drafting and sealed with Mike, Adam, Jimmy, Kyle, Austin, George, Andy, Cannon, and Beau.

First pick/first pack which would you pick Chandra Nalaar or Shriekmaw? Shriekmaw

Best rare in Lorywn for Limited? Profane Command

Best uncommon? Shriekmaw

Best common? Mulldrifter

Best tribe? Faeries

The Best Deck You Weren't Playing At Regionals (Or how I stopped worrying and learnt to love the 0-3 Drop) By Matthew 'The Wedges' Hare

Welcome to 'The Wedges' first article, obviously because I am the greatest magic player you have ever seen, I had some seriously '1337' technology for States.

....Or maybe not, especially considering my recent failure at magic.

I do however, have one interesting MBC list.
(Mono-black combo to those in the industry)

Behold:

Jankity Jank.Jank

4 Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
4 Skeletal Changeling
4 Basal Sliver
3 Homing Sliver (Coloured black with permanent marker obv.)

4 Smallpox
4 Diabolic Tutor
4 Damnation
2 Liliana Vess
3 Nameless Inversion
4 Bitter Ordeal

2 Mouth of Ronom
2 Urza's Factory
20 Snow Covered Swamp


Confused with how the deck works? So was I, until that voice inside my head told me: "It has Haakon + Inversion, you win obv".

Actually the real 'combo' is Haakon+Basal Sliver+Skeletal Changeling, which cycles Skeletal Changeling an insane amount. Bitter Ordeal is just the kill card (In-colour makes it > Grapeshot. It also beats Turbofog).

As for the Sideboard:
4 Tarmogoyf
11 Island
Because this deck is bad, I just added 4 Tarmogoyf! And since Island is the best land ever, I added 11 Island!!111oneoneshiftone!!11

The 'Special' Sideboard:
4 Tombstalker
4 Oona's Prowler
4 Thoughtsieze
3 Distress

A transformation sideboard if you suspect they have GY hate game 2 or just to add discard instead of other stuff.(Like Smallpox/Damnation when you're on the draw/against Control).

Onto the card choices:
Haakon+Changeling+Basal+Ordeal: The combo obv.

Inversion: Good with Haakon

Smallpox: It's a strong card, also a discard outlet for Haakon

Homing Sliver: Can fetch either the Basal Sliver or the Changeling

Damnation: Buys you enough time vs Aggro/random other deck.

Diabolic Tutor: Finds you Damnation/Whatever combo pieces you're missing.

Liliana Vess: Discard outlet for Haakon/Tutor for Combo pieces.

Mouth of Ronom: Teferi

Swamp: Is tech for casting black spells. And charging your PEWPEW Haakon+Inversion lazer.

Urza's Factory: Alternate Win-Condition.

Whilst this deck is probably not going to utterly dominate standard, it is fun, and it is rogue.

Matchups:

Turbofog: Almost unloseable. Bitter Ordeal your Recursion/Relevant cards? Draw the combo from mines/rites? Sure buddy.

Aggro: The Haakon+Inversion combo and Damnation can buy you time, especially since Skeletal Changeling can chumpblock Tarmogoyf.

Teachings-style control: Strong game one because they often do not have enough counterspells/threats to kill you quickly.

After sideboard you can bring in Tombstalkers and Prowlers to just kill them quickly. Making all their Graveyard Hate and lack of removal a killer for them.

Pickles: Untested although Theoretically Changeling+Basal Sliver itself can provide enough mana for the Bitter Ordeal.

Obviously when 'The Wedges' is piloting the deck I just crush onwards to World Domination, but for you lesser mortals it is a fun deck and makes people go 'WTF I lost to THAT!'.

Thanks for reading this tiny article.
Until next time.
'The Wedges', Unofficial Scrub of Team 3am.

www.mtgparadise.com

PTQ Yokohama Report TAS By Pipp Hunn

OMG Japan!

Today’s report is brought to you by the number 6, the letters D and Q and special guest, Gamey McJudge! He’s everything we all aspire to be. Please don’t sue me, Hasbro.

Blasphemous Beginnings

OMG, there’s a PTQ? O lordy, Extended. Beard-crumbs of Allah, wasn’t that the fun format, perfectly balanced, until Rizzo ruined it for everyone with Friggorid? Great flatulent Ganesh, wait, that was one too many Worlds ago. Jiggly Buddha, what’s happening in Extended now? Full sets of Ravnica Duals mean that every deck and its Gate Hound is hybridizing left, right and centre. Tasmanians are going crazy for it, must be our two heads. Tog splashing Deed. Aggro playing Meddling Mages in the board. Affinity running Kataki for the mirror.

Hey, this is great. I’ve got all those cards! But I’m a judge. Turns out I can’t play. Everyone else is so pumped I tie strings around their legs and sell ‘em at funfairs. They deflate rapidly as they realize nobody can play anything – so I come to the rescue and end up lending 31 fetchlands, 5 entire decks, 6 sideboards and enough Baloths, Deeds and Watery Graves to make ssteven to cry at his lost revenue. I make him better by buying about $400 worth of doodles off him, and suddenly everyone’s deck pulls together.

The co. disappears onto MODO and refuses to talk to anyone about Magic. I don’t see him for three weeks as he immerses himself online, testing up to 8 hours a day and discarding decks like Menindian analyzing Gifts plays. He wants to win this more than anyone I’ve seen, and the pile of favors he owes me grows as he churns through Obliterate Tings (with Durkwood Baloth tech), Aggro Zoo and Deadguy Boros right up until the night before, when he throws together Loaming Tog and gets about 5 games’ testing in. The co. reasons Tog has a 60% matchup vs. everything he’ll see on the morrow, and he can rely on playskill to get him through. Too bad he can’t play.

Nobody in Tasmania can play Affinity despite it being the only deck we own copies of, but everyone’s packing Kataki for laughs. About this period I start to feel a little sick. Trying to keep my health up for the event, I buy a Potion of Strength from a traveling wizard. I drink it while chatting online. Most of the ensuing conversations went along these lines:

Gr8Bo1: do you hav the cards
PipTas: Aaah! I just turned into a smurf!
Gr8Bo1: sick
PipTas: help me man
Gr8Bo1: lol
PipTas: this isn’t funny. I’m jumping around on the keyboard
Gr8Bo1: ?
PipTas: typing is really hard.
Gr8Bo1: who said that?
PipTas: I did you ****wit now call for help. The phone is as big as I am
Gr8Bo1: let me guess you took lsd
PipTas: no it was a magician. I thought it was a potion of strength
Gr8Bo1: if you’re out of it how come you can type
PipTas: I didn’t take lsd. Just the potion. Now im like 5 inches high and blue.
*time passes*
PipTas: you arent going to call an ambulance, are you?

Nobody went for help. Luckily the potion wore off in time. I’m going to kill that bastard. (KIDS! Gamey McJudge says: Don’t buy Potions from anyone but a local wizard who is licensed with the MGTAA!)

Nobody else tests at all. As time comes closer we start theorizing in a mass of emails, receiving reprimands from our respective managers for being unproductive. People near me at work get concerned as I burst into tears after someone suggests, for the fifth time that afternoon, that sideboards aren’t really necessary.

Kit (spazmonkey) picks up Tron and likes the look of it. Tyler (Topiary_Avatar) had been leaning towards Boros from very early times, until it became apparent that Zoo was infi better. Concern as my resources were running low, but then we shared the Deadguy list and resolved to play it.
Spazmonkey complains constantly about how bad Chrome Mox is. The co. generously shares Karstens’ list which Kit switches to on the Friday, with a few changes, and keeps with 4 Chalice but drops to 2 Moxen.

Goblinhumper gets around to advertising a couple of weeks beforehand. Noises of interest are made by chumps. Moral quandary: Do you encourage people to play their Zubera deck at an Extended PTQ? (KIDS! Gamey McJudge says: The internet is for decklists! There are other things you can use it for when you’re older.)

Turns out nobody else wants to lend out stupid amounts of cards, so I’m feeding pretty much the entire PTQ. We hear mainlanders, FILTHY MAINLANDERS, are coming down and everyone’s hackles rise. And considering how hairy us Taswegians are, it got pretty ugly.

Everyone decides to play decks with Trinisphere to beat the mainlanders, who we assume will all be running TEPS. Unfortunately I send my email asking ssteven for 16 Trinispheres to my Asian stockbroker. Because I work in the ATO he thinks I’m talking about the proposed changes to the Chinese Capital Gains tax and starts to panic. By mid-afternoon he’s told all his mates and there’s a global meltdown in prices. Scott pumps his Trinispheres to $5 after I buy half his stock in one transaction, but it turns out it was only a minor correction and the market stabilizes within a week. (COLLECTORS: Gamey McJudge says: Remember, it’s time IN the market, not TIMING the market! Keep buying those tasty tasty boosters!)

Time passes. Suddenly everything explodes. I stop working at work completely, my head starts bleeding all over the keyboard from the stress I’m under there. This lucky reprieve lets me organize all my players from all over the state, fine tuning decklists and suggesting sideboard cards. The co. oscillates between decks so fast he looks like a hula dancer on his wedding night. Acid emails me every twenty minutes asking how certain cards work. Steve is busy in the background working on a blue/black mill deck, I don’t think I saw a Circu in pay all day but he got some nice interactions working with Mesmeric Orbs and Glimpse the Unthinkable. Don’t think he wins any rounds, though.

Guy knocks together something like 40 stone rain.dec which should have gone better than he did on the weekend. He had to mulligan something like nine times in the first two rounds he played, but the interaction between 12 stone rain effects, Trinisphere, and Shivan Wumpus is surprisingly effective win condition.

We run out of cards. Everyone needs Chrome Moxen, chalices, blah blah blah and I simply can’t afford them. I don’t know how I can get a set of Meddling Mages and a set of Lavamancers within a day considering nobody in Tasmania owns them. Delfy_delf appears like a majestically magical weather balloon and sells me his collection for $1500.00. I think it’s worth about $1520 if I resell it so I accept because I need to lend cards to people. Lucky he has playsets of relevant things. I start to sell his collection on the weekend and get rid of most of it for about $500.00.

Last minute testing. Bill and Zeepug rock in and fling decks around. TEPS keeps falling over. We’re amazed at the foiled-out Zoo deck with its’ billion dollars in pimpingness. Reminds us all of how Magically impoverished our self-governed island state is. Sleep is for losers, but eventually we all get some. Brekkie, coffee, piles in car and swing through to event.

The Electric Boogaloo

Apparently I’m MC for the event. I start bustin’ some funky grooves but the sight of twenty nerdy males getting jiggy puts me off completely. I run through rules and announcements instead.

The rounds are due to start nice and early, and as I collect decklists I recognize a few early-morning coffee after-jitters in the decklists. Is that a 4 or a 7? It’s for Savannah Lions, so I’m hoping it’s a 4. I put them aside, plenty of time to hand out punishment for illegibility later. (KIDS! Gamey McJudge says: Write clear and good on your decklist!)

I churn the standard spiel about judging, welcome, my name is Pip, I’ll be the judge for the day. People yell smart-alec comments while I’m talking but my fearsome eyebrows soon quieten things down. Good thing nobody here respects me, otherwise the tournament would be no fun . (JUDGES! Gamey McJudge says: Pip is a very experienced judge. Get your players to like and respect you as a judge before letting them yell rude things during your speeches.)

I skip the safety dance since there’s only one way out of the room in case of fire. I’m so relaxed, I avoid doing the judge shuffle while everyone’s looking at me (two half-steps to the left, squirm to the right, glance down at papers, cough nervously, repeat to counts of 8 until the speech is over).

I take the time to introduce the new Penalty Guidelines and talk about how Bribery is a bad thing if it doesn’t involve a judge. I let everyone know about the new sliding scale, where if you want me to DQ or Match Loss an opponent it becomes progressively more expensive as the Top 8 draws closer. Quick chats with players before the first round indicates this new policy is well-received, and much better than the old $50-per-disqualification blanket approach that the DCI supported. (PLAYERS! Gamey McJudge says: Some judges are not as cool as Pip and don’t accept bribes. This means you should only bribe other players and not those loser judges who don’t probably even understand how much you want to win, anyway).

It turns out Kenjihara Mahasooiso has turned up – he sent me an email through our mutual friend, Professor Takeshi Manura of the Tokyo University. Kenjihara is a genetically engineered MTG-playing mutant with a 100% perfect play rate. He has never mulliganed in his life and once topdecked 7 Lightning Helixes in the same draw phase to win a game when an opponent had him down to 15. There have only been three players in the world to deal him more than 4 points of damage a game. He decided to make a name for himself by coming to Tasmania and crushing the co. Needless to say, I’m excited about watching the match.

The first rounds starts and I get Gobinhumper to wander the floor. He manages to not coach anyone within my hearing and, to the players’ credit, they don’t ask too many difficult questions while I’m running through the decklists. I get called up once or twice to answer complicated things like how Trinisphere works and if Bill can really do that when he kills peoples lands with Devastating Dreams. I think Kenjihara was paired against Billy Moreno in the first round. Kenji tricked him into ID’ing somehow.

Round 2 goes in a blur of poking players in the eye as I give out three Game Losses for Illegal decklists. Apparently my repeated warnings during the announcements to get people to double and triple check their decklists, then get a friend to quad and pentuple check them fell on deaf ears. Morons. (KIDS! Judges don’t really think you’re morons. They just don’t like giving you game losses for things that can be avoided. Remember, do what Gamey McJudge says: “Decklist Errors can be missed – get someone else to check your list!)
Kenjihara was paired down against Teferi, who turned up late to the round. Unfortunately Teferi pulled some sort of Jedi Mind Trick on Kenjihara, who sat there not moving for ten minutes until I had to DQ him for stalling.

The co. Force Spikes a Mesmeric Orb at the start of Round 3. He looks up at me fearfully.
“But lord,” he whines, “it crushes me!”
“the co.,” I command, “if I catch you playing counterspells again, you’re out! PTQ’s are for fun!”

Spazmonkey is playing against Adam’s B/W deck in a game 2. She’s up one but Adam is sitting tight on a Jitte’d Nexus, swinging for 5 a turn. Kit has a few lands and slaver in the bin but no outs arrive from the top of her deck for 4 turns, and she falls down.
Jason wanders up and reports he’s beaten Harry. Apparently duress and Destructive Flow trump Tron decks, even if they’re playing Crucible.

Spazmonkey’s third game goes quickly – Adam comes out blazing with a Tomb of Yawgmoth making his Nantuko Shade incredible. Kit flings an Explosives for 2 but stalls on land, while Adam uses his opportunistic window to kill her with a Jitte’d Nexus yet again.

Lunch break, spend infi dollars on food. I try to get some sales going but some arsehole reminds me the next round is starting.

Round 4 and 5 disappear in a haze of belchings. Tyler makes a dramatic comeback by winning his last 2 rounds. Provisional standings put him at 8th and it looks like he’ll stay that way into the Top 8. Adam foolishly offers the ID to the co., who insists on playing it out. We could think that
a) the co. was set to lose points on the draw, and played to preserve his ranking, thus meaning he wouldn’t need to play in Regionals, thus making more room for Tasmanians to get to Nats via Regionals, or
b) the co.’s an arrogant prick and he likes crushing mainlanders to stroke his own gratuitous ego.

Take your pick – although I watch in disbelief as in the third game the co. makes what, to any mortal eyes, might be a play mistake. He has two ‘Tog’s on the board, swings with them, counts his hand and graveyard, and says” discard my hand, remove my graveyard” -which is lethal damage assigned to his ‘Togs, in the Declare Attackers step – into his opponents’ untapped Silver Knight and Spectral Lynx, having just removed the wonder that was in his bin. Adam scoops up his cards before he notices though, and smiles through it all with a grace that is totally lacking in Tasmania’s finest player. The co., in his defense, does admit “I can’t play Tog”.

The Playoffs

We settle down for a Top 8 that looks like:

Nick (Tog) vs Tyler (Deadguy Boros)
Kit (Trashy Tron) vs Tim (Gifts Rock Tog Confinement Blah Blah Blah)
Bill (Aggro Loam) vs Jason (Flow Rock Aggro Beats RAAR)
Adam (B/W) vs James (Tooth and Nail)

Before we start, can I point out how stupid it is having a field comprised entirely of hybrid decks? THANKS, Ravnica Dual lands. Making everything worth splashing makes naming decks hard, especially if you’re trying to differentiate between nine thousand little variants.

Another quick aside, if one would indulge.
Young James ‘Jimmy’ Stait was an up-and-coming young player starting at the same time I was. Due to an alarming enthusiasm for the game, his up-and-coming got up and went, unfortunately leaving Jimmy behind. It went to Japan and infected the bodies of thousands of young Japanese players like an erotic ghost from so many filthy hentais, spurring on the nations emerging dominance through the early years of the century. Jimmy languished behind, sitting on the bottom page of the world rankings. His determination to find a way to make 60 card, 5 colour decks _work_ at Prereleases was an inspiration to many.
But with enough pluck to strip a herd of obstinate chickens, Jimmy never faltered. With a recent crushing of drooling illiterates at the local FNM behind him, he loaded up a Tooth and Nail deck (no sideboard, mind you – a strategic decision) and played at the PTQ.
Jimmy is a man of passions. Friendly like a cheap hookah dealer in the norm, a series of mulligans or vaguely reasonable plays on behalf of his opponents can enrage 'the Jimster' to the point of beating his head through walls and setting small children on fire. Since we've banned children at all non-Pokemon tournaments we manage to keep his throbbing tempers under control. I was pleased to see his opponents remaining gracious through the best of times and through the worst of times, with nary a sly glance as he struggled with the complexities of attacking through an empty board (for 5 turns) or mulliganing the one-landers - tenaciously playing on all the way to the Top 8.


Quarterfinals

I settle down to watch the Dynamically Dynamite Duo, the Terrible Two, the co. ‘Nick’ Rolf and Tyler ‘Godlike’ Walsh. Both engage in minimal trashtalking as they set the stage.

Jason and Bill are laughing in the background as they both roll consecutive ones. Tyler generously offers Nick a D12, appearing unfazed when he rolls a 10. Tyler announces he’ll play, then calmly rolls off a 12. Nick slumps, dejected, in his chair.
“Why do the Gods love you?”
Numerous spectators shout witty responses but the two have slipped into a legal game state (That was a judge joke. It wasn’t even a good one. I should feel bad about myself.) and suddenly everything is in the removed-from-game zone.

Nick fans an opening hand of double Putrefy, Mana Leak, Damnation, Circular Logic and two lands. He keeps.
Tyler breaks a Flooded Strand into a Sacred Foundry and drops to 17 to play a Savannah Lion. Nick draws a land, drops his Mire and passes. Tyler swings, dropping Nick to 18. He plays the same lands as the previous turns and drops another Lions and a ‘Mancer. Nick cracks the Mire for a tapped Grave and untaps for his second turn on 17, staring a potential 6 damage on the other side of the board.

He draws, drops a Yavimaya Coast and says go. Tyler draws and swings to knock Nick to 13. He drops a third Savannah Lion but this one is quickly Mana Leaked. With Nick tapped out, he drops a Javelineers and passes.

Nick draws and drops a Mire and thinks. His relevant cards in hand are a Damnation which he won’t be able to play until the next turn, a Putrefy and a Circular Logic. He passes to Tyler. Tyler untaps and swings in. Nick cracks his Mire for a swamp and takes 2 pain to shoot the Lions, taking 3 combat damage which leaves him at 8. Tyler shrugs and suspends Rift Bolt, still on 2 lands.

Nick slams down Damnation, and Tyler Lavamancers in response, dropping Nick to 6. Tyler doesn’t have another land but is happy to suspend a second Rift Bolt after the first one drops Nick to 3, and play a Javelineers.

Nicks turn sees no action apart from laying a land. The rift bolt triggers but hits Nick’s Circular Logic. The Javelineers swing, dropping Nick to 2. Tyler drops a land and passes. Nick takes his turn and Cunning Wishes for a Demise to kill off the Javelineers, Everything in Tylers deck is lethal at this point. Nick drops another land. Tyler runs a Char into a Force Spike. Nick cracks a fetchland to drop to 1 and draws into a Tog, but is defenseless against Tyler’s second Char.

Nick sideboards in 2 Stifle, Ghastly Demise and (Duresses?), taking out a Gifts, Wonder, Stinky Imp, Genesis, Cunning Wish and Damnation. He explains that the cards are too slow vs. Deadguy, the Stifles wil occasionally stop a Lavamancer or act as a strip Mine and the Duresses hit burn.

Nick: So you basically just cream all over my face, right?
Tyler: Yes.
Nick: OK then. I’ll play.

Nick grimaces at a one-lander with Force Spike and Duress before mulliganing. He hides second hand from me but I glimpse multiple lands and a Duress. Evidently worth keeping.

Nick opens with a tapped Overgrown Tomb. Tyler plays a Flooded Strand through to a Sacred Foundry to drop a Lavamancer. Nick grimaces, then Duresses into Molten Rain, Rift Bolt and lands. He takes the Rain, drops a land and passes. Tyler simply drops another fetchland and passes the turn, planning to Lavamancer Nick at the end of his turn. Nick drops another land and Duresses again, leaving Tyler with a hand of 4 lands. Nick falls to 18 from the ‘Mancer.

Tyler draws more lands as Nicks grip evolves into Psychatog and Putrefy vs. his lone onboard Lavamancer. Tyler goes to shoot Nick again, and Nick Ghastly Demise’s the Lavamancer in response. Nick drops his Psychatog and Tyler finally draws an Isamaru, which he plays while laying out more land. Nick Putrefies and swings for 1, dropping Tyler to 11.
Tyler draws another land and plays it with a sigh.

Nick: Is this just rubbing in that I lose the third game regardless?
Tyler: Yes.
Nick: You smug bastard.

The rest of the game is torturous. Nick topdecks consecutive Deeds and follows with more creature removal than he could throw at an army of Goblins, while Tyler struggles to find men on the top of his deck apart from land. Nick calculates that Tyler’s drawn through three quarters of the land in his deck, and reasons he should try and win faster as Tyler’s got ‘nothing but gas to go’. A Lightning Helix delays the onslaught briefly but eventually Nick packs everything into one swing and we move onto game 3.

Lord Jimminston Staitworthy the Third loses his Top 8 game, to the relief of Adam who was playing for the pride of his state and whatever rating he held dear. James stomps over and grouchily returns my deck, informing me that one of the basic forests in there is his. I’m happy to let him have it.

The co.: “I hope we have a good game, but then you get mana flooded and I draw gas, because that’s the only way I can see myself winning.”

Nick opens with Mire, Duress, Stifle, Cunning Wish, Smother, Circular Logic and Tranquil Thicket.

Tyler opens with a Lavamancer. Nick opens with his Mire. Tyler drops an Isamaru and swings with the ‘mancer to drop Nick to 19. Nick grabs a Watery Grace and draws a land, which he plays. His Duress sees a Rift Bolt and land. Tyler keeps swinging and drops a Grunt. Nick smothers it before it can do any real damage, but Tyler uses his window to slide in a Rift Bolt and then tosses a Helix at Nick while he’s vulnerable, dropping him to 6. Nick has the choice to cycle a land end of turn for a pain, which would drop him to 5. He decides to dig and between the cycle and his draw step sees a Last Gasp and a Deed – both useful cards but he needed the Deed and a land in order to drop the Deed and blow it for one, leaving him on 3 against Deadguy Boros – but it’s irrelevant, as Tyler has burn on the top of his deck and Nick has no answers to the onboard threats.

Post-game, Tyler agonizes over removing the co. from contention in the finals. The co. had practiced harder than anyone in Tasmania for weeks before the event, and to lose to a terrible matchup in the first round of finals was a terrible blow. That the co. had lent many of the cards for Tyler’s deck was also in his thoughts:

“Have I a deck to doom my Teammate's death,
And shall that deck give Top 8's to a scrub?
His deck kill'd no men - it's synergy was thought,
And yet its punishment was bitter mulligans.
Who su'd to me for him? Who, when I played Wrath,
Kneel'd at my feet, and bid me be advised?
Who spoke of clans? Who spoke of love?
Who told me of the field in Hobart,
When Zeepug had me down, he rescu'd me,
And said "Dear friend, win, and be a King"?
Who told me, when we both lay 0-1,
Flooded almost to death, how he did concede me
Even in his best matchup, and give himself,
All thin and tired, to the bitter-scrub'd bracket?
All this from my remembrance brutish Wraths
Sinfully pluck'd, and not a man of you
Had so much grace to put it in my mind.
But when your 'Mancers or your Arcbound Ravagers
Have done a hasty slaughter and defac'd
The precious image of our dear Finkel,
You straight are on your knees for backsies, backsies-
And I, unjustly too, grant it you.
But for my Teammate not a man would speak
Nor I, ungracious, speak unto myself
For him, poor soul. The proudest of you all
Have been beholding him to your life totals;
Yet none of you would once beg for his life total.
O God, I fear the justice will take hold
On me, and you, and all the Top 8 for this!
Come, Inquisitor, help me to MODO.
Ah, poor the co.!
Tyler wins 2-1

I wander over to watch Kit and Tim’s game.
Kit starts up one game from a Slaver lock after mulls to 5. Apparently both of them had been playing terribly: Tim keeps and Kit mulligans to 5 again, saying it seems to work well for her. Kit seems a little light on land in the early game – I am called away by a player asking me a question about the pairings.
I sweat it out in one of those ONoMoments when I realize my Top 8 pairings are incorrect. As I was table judging / note taking for Kit’s match someone else had told Adam and Tyler they were paired against each other. I had said they were welcome to start as both had had a break. Luckily they were only a few minutes into the game so after a quick deliberation we ended that game and Adam and Bill sat down to play each other. Interestingly, both Tyler and Adam were happy with the outcome, both insisting they were in the unfavourable matchup. I felt completely moronic for not checking the pairings but at that point in the day I was as tired as everyone else and took another’s advice instead of checking for myself. (JUDGES! Gamey McJudge says: Don’t be like Pip, all tired at the end of a day! Use drugs!)

Unfortunately no notes for these rounds – Bill and Adam both play very tight over their hour-long pair of games, but Bill can’t find answers fast enough to Adam’s constant threats – Spectral Lynx having Pro Green proves pivotal in the matchup as Bills post-Threshold bears seem a lot less effective.

Kit and Tim enjoy each others company so much they keep playing for another two hours. I wander back over at the three-hour mark having had another two rounds of MTG be completed at that point. Both the first and second games have gone almost to decking. The third is decided when Tim, who had been slowly amassing resources to get off a conferment lock, and drawing out Kit’s Repeals to save her Exalted Angel, misplays in the pivotal turn and taps out his White sources, leaving him stranded with the Confinement in hand staring down lethal on the board.

Semifinals

Kit opens with a land and passes. Tyler responds with a Wooded Foothills into a Sacred Foundry for a Lions (17).

Kit drops a Signet and passes Tyler drops a Javelineers, suspends a Rift bolt and swings, dropping Kit to 18

Kit draws and lays a Petrified Field, and passes again.
Tyler swings, dropping Kit to 12 after the Bolt, and plays out Legionnaire. Kit Gifts end of turn for Tower, Ruins, Crucible and Wrath. She’s holding a Hallowed Fountain in hand. Tyler ponders for a moment and gives her the Ruins and the crucible.

Kit untaps and sacs her Petrified Field to play Tower. Counts 8 mana and passes the turn. Tyler Lava Darts Kit at end of turn to drop her to 11. He swings for 5 and then suspends Rift Bolt, passing the turn.

Kit draws and then lays a Hallowed Fountain. Immediately realizing her mistake, she moves to pick it back up again and apologises to Tyler. I blink, and before I can move Tyler assures he that Backsies in a PTQ are OK. I am surprised at such graciousness but play continues as Kit drops the Tron piece she was holding and Slavers Tyler.

He smiles, flashbacks his Lava Dart and sacrifices his Legionnaire to drop Kit to 3, leaving him with 3 lands in play. Tyler then chooses to Rift Bolt his Lions, draws a Lava Dart, The Dart pings Tyler and Kit hastily lets Tyler know that his Javileneer has rebelled, pinging him before it dies. Then he flashes back his Dart to hurt himself before passing the turn.

Kit taps incorrectly in her tiredness and burns to 1 to Slaver Tyler again, which she does. Tyler draws land and Kit drops a Chalice for 2 and a Crucible, allowing her to fully Slaver-lock Tyler on the next turn. She couldn’t lock him again as her mana left her with odd amounts in her pool and she couldn’t afford to burn. Tyler calmly topdecks a land to drop the Molten Rain that’s been sitting in his hand, unusable, for the last few turns and burns Kit for the final point.

They sideboard for the second game. Kit apologises again for her sloppy play, and points out she’s been playing for the last 3 and a half hours straight and Tyler’s had a good two hours’ break. Tyler points out that it didn’t really matter as he’s still a game up going into the second.

Kit drops land and passes. Tyler opens with a Javileneer. Kit fails to draw a second land and passes the turn with a hand full of gas. Tyler drops Kataki which makes Kit’s position fairly untenable. She remarks how incredibly useless her Chrome Mox is at this point. Kit draws into a second and Chalice’s for one, resolving to pay the upkeep to slow Tyler down long enough for her to ply out her gas. Tyler swings for a few turns and drops a Lions. Kit remands it, and the co. has to run over the other side of the room to stop himself laughing. Tyler uses the opening to Char Kit. The remand drew her into a Repeal which she uses, but Tyler has Blistering Firecat to serve for lethal.
Tyler wins 2-0

As they pack up Kit apologises for her sloppy play, citing absolutely no sleep the night previous and the three-and-a-half hour match she’d come out a mere five minutes before her round with Tyler started.

Finals

Tyler and Adam sit down. Both of them want to go to Japan. Adam swings out a D30 and rolls an impressive 2 – odds on Tyler to win the roll, which he does comfortably with 6. They take a moment to peruse each others’ decklists. Adam exclaims over Tyler’s singleton Blistering Firecat, which he hadn’t seen before.

Tyler opens up dropping himself to 17 to play a Lavamancer. Adam cracks a fetchland for a swamp, dropping to 19 and Needles the Lavamancer, slowing Tyler’s onslaught. Tyler simply shrugs and swings before dropping a Legionnaire. Adam makes a potentially fatal error when he needlessly cracks a Delta for a Godless shrine untapped. He had miscounted his mana and could have let it come in tapped, saving two precious points of life. He Duresses Tyler and take a Molten Rain, then passes.

Tyler attacks Adam to 12 and lays a Flooded Strand, then passes. Adam cracks another Polluted Delta for a Silver Knight, dropping himself to 9. Tyler chars Adam and of turn, dropping him to 5. He untaps. The board is Tyler with 4 lands verses Adam with an untapped Knight. Tyler declares an attack, pauses, then passes without attackers. Postcombat, he lays a Rift Bolt to drop Adam to 2, then finishes him with the Legionnaire.

Game 2.

Adam grabs a massive pile of cards from his sideboard and starts shuffling. Tyler takes a little longer to sideboard and ends up bringing in his Kataki’s and Jotun Grunts, taking out Molten Rains and one if his Isamaru's.

Adam sideboards: -2 Shade, 4 Duress, 4 (C+? WTF?)
+3 Deathmark, 4 Smother, 1 Needle, 3 G/B.

Adam plays. His opener contains a swamp and Silver Knight. Back it goes, and his 6 aren’t much better. Down to 5, he fans a reasonable hand. Tyler’s happy with his grip.

Adam opens with a Mire and passes. Tyler drops a Sacred Foundry and announces a Pithing Needle on Jitte. Enforcing correct play, Adam says he’d like to respond and activates his fetchland for a Godless shrine. Tyler apparently hadn’t been planning any shenanigans, and decides to name Jitte once the needle resolves.

Adam follows with a Blinkmoth Nexus and passes. Tyler cracks a Flooded Strand into a Plains and drops Legionnaire. Adam Echoing Decays it while Tyler is safely tapped out at end of turn. He untaps and drops a Spectral Lynx, leaving mana open to regenerate. Tyler spends his turn dropping another land and double-suspending Rift Bolts.

Adam swings with the Lynx dropping Tyler to 13, then plays out a Confidant. Tyler chooses to commit to the burn plan and sends both Bolts at Adam, dropping him to 13 before passing.

Adam lays a Nantuko Shade and swings. Tyler Lightning Helixes Adam at the end of turn, leaving Adam on 8 and himself on 12. He draws for the turn and passes, holding Char and Blistering Firecat on 3 land.

Adam flips a Vindicate off the Confidant and falls to 5. He swings with all his men, dropping Tyler to 6, and goes to Vindicate a Sacred Foundry to cut Tyler off double red. Tyler chars him at the end of turn, leaving Adam at one and Tyler at 4.

Tyler untaps and thinks: with two lands in play, he holds Kataki and Blistering Firecat. He stares down a Shade, Lynx and Confidant – lethal damage on the next swing as he can only play the one blocker. He eventually drops the Kataki and passes.

Adam does some quick calculations and announces it’s basically a coin flip for the Confidant – roughly half his deck is Moxen or other mana sources.

He flips… Withered Wretch.

Arms in air, hurrahs from Tasmanians, great game, so on.
Tyler and I agree I have to go to Japan with him and my budget defenestrates itself.

Fade-Out

Crazy tournament, yeah? We hang around for hours. Everyone plays more casual games, trades and even some multiplayer kicks up in the background. I whip out my foiled Battle of Wits and Tim and I duke it out for a while. A couple of spectators comment on my decks’ incapacity to win before turn 30 but it’s clearly about flinging as much bling on the table as possible. Phules.

Drinks? Sounds like an idea. We shamble down to Sandy Bay, the local eatery, pubbery and nightclubbery. We order Pizzas and sit around sharing filthy jokes and random deck ideas for half an hour. Someone with initiative asks where our Pizzas are, and the staff tell us they’ve been waiting for ages. Apparently walking over to our table is too hard for them.

We try and find a reasonable pub. Crawl from one to the other searching for talent but all we find is my exceptionally attractive ex-girlfriend serving at one place. All the guys fall over at once looking at her and we seem very undignified, so after losing at pool to some Asians (is there anything they can’t do?!) we nick off. Spazmonkey clearly pwns her. Ash spends the entire time complimenting me on my choice of attractive, Level 1 Pro Club girlfriend.

Two more pubs and then we end up in Mobius, a smallish underground club where the floor smells like seaweed and the carpet dissolves your shoes if you stand still for too long. Tim busts the funkiest boogie I’ve seen since my years on tour with a dance company. The rest of us feel awkward compared to such a majestic display and watch some drunk chick table-dancing for a few hours. My wisdom teeth explode with pain fairly early on in the evenings so the proceedings glance by in a bit of a blur.

I pike close to midnight and sleep for a good eighteen hours.

Sif PTQ. Lucky Monday’s a public holiday. I eat an entire chocolate cake and drink Southern Comfort and stay in bed all day.

OMG.

Mainlanders rock. I saw examples of the most gracious play I’ve witnessed in a tournament from each of the visitors. I’m not going to embarrass them going into details, but I was blown away with the sportsmanship, cheerfulness and general good feeling exuded by every visitor. You’re all very welcome to come again.

Um. Just don’t win.

What else?

Team Tasmania is coming to Nationals pumped this year: “Tasmania- lowering the nations’ rating.”

Give me all your foiled Battle of Wits. I need more than 1.

The co. is still the best player in the world. He told me so yesterday.

The Touch is the best song in the world, closely followed by:
Under the Sea – The Little Mermaid
Have some Fun with the Funk – Aaron Carter
Black Ice Cream Song – The Mountain Goats
The German Pokemon Rap
Love Generation – Ministry of Sound
The Trumpet Shall Sound – Handel’s Messiah

But nobody likes my music anyway.

I’ll let you all know how Japan goes.

Reanimating the reanimated re-animator By Geoffrey Sheldon-Anderson

Kye has thrown down the gauntlet. So here I am the worst possible person to write an article picking it up and slapping him back in the face with it. That will teach him for throwing down a chain mail glove Any way I thought about what kind of article I should write and I decided to do one of those deck primer articles, with a difference. So anyway enough of me babbling on in the boring and inane intro, time for the boring and inane primer.


The evil ones mono black re-animator

(Who didn’t see that coming?)


Well lets start of with the deck list shall we or maybe not, maybe you should just guess the deck list and try and figure out what I run and you know what it would just be easier to post the deck list.



12 Swamp
4 Tainted Field
2 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Peat Bog
1 Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

21 Land

2 Undead Gladiator
1 Akroma, Angle of Wrath
1 Angel of Despair
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Bringer of the Black Dawn
1 Laquatas' Champion
1 Razia, Boros Archangel
1 Simic Sky Swallower
1 Visara the Dreadful

10 Creatures

4 Buried Alive
4 Dark Ritual
4 Diabolic Edict
4 Exhume
4 Zombify
3 Dimir Machinations
3 Funeral Charm
3 Shred Memory

29 Other spells


Now I guess its time to explain the card choices. I warn you all now this is very in depth stuff.


LAND

SWAMP
See told you I was going in depth. Anyway swamp taps for black enough said.


TAINTED FIELD

Ahh, the first questionable card choice. Well if you don’t see the synergy with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth then get your seeing eye dog to lead you to it. Also helpful for those stalled games were a stupid leyline of the void is in play. How you ask? Well it allows me to play some of my big bombs like Akroma and AoD.


TERRAMORPHIC EXPANSE

Hmmm why would I have this in a mono coloured deck? Could it be used to thin the deck out, I think it might just do that.


PEAT BOG

This was in here since the first build and I just can’t think of anything I would rather have in that land slot.


SHIZO, DEATH’S STOREHOUSE

Fear on Akroma, need I say more?


URBORG, TOMB OF YAWGMOTH

It’s got Yawgmoth in the name so you know it’s good. Also allows expanses to tap for mana which is always good


CREATURES

UNDEAD GLADIATOR

What can’t this glass cannon do? He beats for 3 draws me cards and is a discard outlet to boot. He just screams draw more cards then your opponent whilst filling your graveyard.


AKROMA, ANGEL OF WRATH

Flying, First Strike, Trample, Haste, Protection from Red, Protection from Black, Attacking does not cause Akroma, Angel of Wrath to tap. 6/6. There needs be no more said on the topic.


ANGEL OF DESPAIR

A 5/5 flyer that vindicates when it hits the board hell yeah!


BOGARDAN HELLKITE

A 5/5 flyer that shoots 5 damage into the face of something or someone. Seems like a good choice to me.


BRINGER OF THE BLACK DAWN

I am starting to get a little tired of the ground pounder. Even with the vampiric tutor every upkeep, it’s starting to feel a little tired.


LAQUATAS’ CHAMPION

6/3 regenerator that says When I enter play kill me instantly or you lose.


RAZIA, BOROS ARCHANGEL

Another 6/3 but this one happens to have haste, vigilance, flying, and a nice little redirection ability to throw off the opponents combat math.


SIMIC SKY SWALLOWER

6/6 flying trampling Sean Connery from the untouchables. Only massive firepower can drop him.


VISARA THE DREADFUL

Another 5/5 flyer, this time we are looking at a continuous creature killing machine.


OTHER SPELLS

BURIED ALIVE

Deck Thinning I hear can be good; it allows me to have a better chance of drawing something good. Not to mention putting 3 big beaters into the graveyard is a good thing in this deck.


DARK RITUAL

Lets do the math here B = BBB. Anyone who did maths in primary school knows that doesn’t work. But I'm not going to be telling wizards that there math skills need improvement.


DIABOLIC EDICT

Target player SACRIFICES a creature. Very important for those annoying times when somehow, just somehow there is a darksteel colossus on the other side of the board.


EXHUME

2 mana for a completely unbalanced reanimation spell for both people. Assuming they have a creature in the yard in the first place.


ZOMBIFY

Yeah it sucks and needs to be replaced with necromancy.


DIMIR MACHINATIONS

3 CC + Transmute = Tutor for Buried Alive and Necromancy (when I get them)


FUNERAL CHARM

This is actually an interesting card in my book. 1 mana for instant speed discard is good not to mention the fact that it also works as a kill spell or a pump spell or as a way of giving evasion.


SHRED MEMORY

2 CC transmuter so I can get exhume and edict also comes in handy when dealing with another deck that likes the yard or if you just had to go and put a decent creature in the yard.


MOVING ON

Ok so now that we have covered the card choices maybe we should do some more primer type things like match breakdowns or something.

Actually no we won’t. Instead of telling you why you would play this I will instead tell you when to play this.

Re-animator is the kind of deck that can be good in the right hands and environment. It needs a player who knows how to exploit the interactions in the deck to his advantage. Not to mention this won’t be winning any major tournaments any time soon. This is the kind of deck you take to place where most of the power cards in legacy are owned by only one or two people. Where the chances of facing them in the first 2 or 3 rounds is small. Against an environment where everyone is running Force of Will and other powerful cards forget this and run something with more bite. This is just a fun deck that happens to have won most of the tourneys it’s been played in.

One thing about re-animator that you need to know is what makes a keepable hand. 2 land minimum and a reanimation spell is keepable. Don’t bother with any other hand unless it has 4 Dark Ritual, 2 land, Shred Memory and Dimir Machinations. Even then I would not keep that hand. And seeing as how that is 8 cards I don’t see anyone getting that opening hand anyway.

Now once you have your opening hand this is how the deck works. Bury Akroma, Razia and Hellkite first. Then reanimate Akroma and smash. If they kill her then bring out Razia. If they don’t bring back Hellkite and deal that last bit of damage without having to enter combat. I have actually had a couple of games where I have managed to kill 3rd turn beause of an awesome opening hand. Some of them have been first turn Akroma 3rd turn Hellkite and some have been 2nd turn Akroma and Razia. That’s not to say that will happen every game but it does occasionally happen.

Now at this point I bet you are all thinking why should we care? Well my eternal rating is probably higher then yours (1711). At least if you live in NSW (6th). Now why is it higher then yours? Well Re-animator and knowing where to play it. Now I should probably give a run down on match ups but guess what, legacy is a format where the top decks make up less of the meta at your average tourney then actual food content in Maccas. So instead I shall know tell you about some of the most memorable matches I have had with re-animator.


Last Round SGC Dual Force tournament

Vs Petr Joura

This is one of the most memorable for not only being the second round that re-animator would win but also for the laid back way that we flipped a coin before each match to see if we could predict the winner. The coin flipped in my favour 2-1 and that’s how it went down. Although I would not go doing this at a tourney again as it could be seen as randomly determining the winner but we did play the games to the best of our ability, and besides we weren’t exactly in contention for top 8. Petr came away with the coveted wooden spoon.


Legacy tournament Dubbo 07/01/07

Round 1

Vs Josh Ronan

This is one of my more memorable matches. As the funniest thing to ever happen to me in a game happened it was quite frustrating at the time. I mulliganed to 4 and kept the same non land hand I had been getting all along. The funny bit is that neither I nor my opponent really got to do anything for quite a few turns. I managed to stock my hand and start to fill my graveyard before getting my first land. In the end he won that match when he top decked his final combo piece and just went off. Although he did this at the last possible moment as he was dead on my next turn. I got my revenge by winning the round.


Round 2

Vs Daniel Micallef

Me and Daniel have been mates since yr 5 or 6 so we go way back. This was the first time he had shown up to a magic tournament in quite some time so we both had fun facing each other. Anyway the best part of this match was that he managed to knock me down to 2 life on his first turn. I came back with a first turn Akroma and he couldn’t get a trampler or any burn to deal those last two points to me


Round 5

Vs Mr D.

Easily the funniest start to a round ever. As usual did the small talk and asked how Mr D had gone today. Found out he was playing up as I was undefeated at this point and he had lost a round. So I turn to Angus our TO, better known around here as Dubbo_mtg, and ask him who else is undefeated at this point? Turns out no one, I can safely ID into first. I of course offer it to Mr D and he says nah he wants to play. I found out why within seconds. As he had built his deck specifically to defeat me, and beat me it did. But in the end after tie breakers I still ended the day in 1st place


Dubbo Vintage 20/05/07

Tourney 2 Round 2

Vs Josh Ronan

Hey Dubbo has vintage tournaments. It only took about 4 months of me begging Angus for it so I could use Yawgmoth’s Bargain, Vampiric Tutor, Necropotence, Mana Vault, and Channel. Lo and behold I end up 2nd in the first tourney. He ran a second tournament and what was easily the most overpowered first turn play all day cost me the match. Swamp, Dark Ritual, Mana Vault, Lotus Petal, Yawgmoth’s Bargain. 15 cards later I have almost all my land and a few other cards that aren’t going to help. Although I did finish 3rd this time.

Shortcuts – Understand the philosophy of PG section 51

There's bound to be questions about the new Shortcut Guidelines. We had more than our share of questions while writing this section; certainly, you're expected to have a few of your own. The conclusions from our debates are reflected in the result, but that may not be apparent to judges and players everywhere. This article will attempt to address that, presenting a detailed analysis of Section 51.

Before we dive in, there's one basic, underlying concept we need to emphasize. This new section does not mean we need to closely monitor the correctness of everything the players say and do. This new section provides a guideline for handling misunderstandings. As long as the players are communicating clearly, we don't need this section; when a dispute about shortcuts occur, this section will help judges unravel the tangles and get the game back on track.

Alrighty then – on to the second new section in the Penalty Guide...

51. Shortcuts

The first question comes up before we even get into the first paragraph. Namely, "what is this section doing in the Penalty Guidelines?", or "Doesn't it belong in the Floor Rules or somewhere?" Yeah, it probably does. The thing is, we been workin' on the PG, all the live-long year. We'll give the UTR and MFR a good workover, too – but not soon enough for stuff this good.

A shortcut is an action taken by players to skip parts of the technical play sequence without explicitly announcing them. Shortcuts are essential for the smooth play of a game, as they allow players to play in a clear fashion without getting bogged down in the minutia of the rules.

Well, nothing too new or exotic here. We all use shortcuts, and have since we first learned to play games. You couldn't enjoy most games without them – much less complete a match within 50 or 60 minutes.

Most shortcuts involve skipping one or more priority passes to the mutual understanding of all players; if a player wishes to demonstrate or use a new shortcut entailing any number of priority passes, they must be clear where the game state will end up as part of the request.

And BOOM just like that, we hit you with a big one. There's a lot of foundation in that sentence; let's look a little closer.

One or more priority passes – yep, shortcuts skip ahead, even way ahead. Untap, Draw, play a land, say "Go" – you just skipped something like 13.71 priority passes. (The exact number is known only to a few "special" people, all of whom are locked up in Gleemax's secret chamber deep beneath Wizards' offices.)
mutual understanding of all players – well, we probably all know that shortcuts aren't much good if players all think they're in a different phase or step after the dust settles. Two things implicit here: first, all players agree to the implementation of the shortcut; second, all players agree where the shortcut will take them.
demonstrate or use a new shortcut . . . where the game state will end up. This is really stating that you can't just make up shortcuts without clueing in your opponent(s). That should be obvious – but obvious doesn't preclude clear statement in the rules.
Oh, and – any number of priority passes – we're just reinforcing the concept that shortcuts can be simple or complex, in terms of how much is skipped – but we're going to treat them equally.

Wow – one paragraph done already! See how easy this is gonna be?
A player may interrupt a shortcut by explaining how they are deviating from it or at which point in the middle they wish to take an action.

This is really simple. Once you've established a shortcut, you stick with it – until you don't. And when you don't, you just have to say so.

If the players are confused by the use of a shortcut, they should be backed up to the beginning of the shortcut and no penalty should be issued (though they should be reminded to play more clearly).

That's a simple, direct guideline for handling a common misunderstanding. There may be cases where either player – or both – gives away more strategic info than they'd like. That's unfortunate – but it's not a reason to deviate from this. That happens when players charge ahead recklessly, each of them thinking they know what the other is thinking – and both are mistaken.

Avul Hurry: "Attack you with my Grizzly Bears, and your Planeswalker with my Hill Giant."
Rod Rushit: "Sure . . ."
Avul: "OK, so you've got no one that can block, I'll Giant Growth my dude, you take 5?"
Rod: "Whoa there cowboy, I'm playing this here Foriysian Interceptor and blocking both!"
Avul: "What? Wait! JUDGE! ... He said 'sure'"
Rod: "I said 'sure' to your attacks, dude . . ."
Joe Judgerson: "Well, we back up a bit; Avul's declared attackers, since that's where you got confused; Avul, you have priority."

(players in unison, if not perfect harmony)

Avul: "But now he knows I've got a Giant Growth!"
Rod: "But now he knows I've got Foriysian Interceptor!"
Joe Judgerson: "You both need to be clear in the future."


ote that the judge didn't assess any penalty, he just determined where the players got out of sync with a shortcut, and rewound to that point. This wouldn't apply if the game progresses beyond the shortcut, as that implies the players accepted the result of the shortcut. Note also that the players didn't represent anything as a shortcut – they may not even recognize it as such. That often happens with miscommunication – one player proposes a shortcut by virtue of skipping ahead, explicitly or implicitly; the other player can agree, disagree, or be confused. It's the judge who recognizes it as a shortcut, applies the wisdom from Section 51, and makes everything all better again.

Essentially, that covers a lot of the confusing attempts to mess with the timeline of a game. And this next sentence wraps that up nicely.

A player is not allowed to use a previously undeclared shortcut, or to modify an in-use shortcut without announcing the modification, in order to create ambiguity in the game.

Until you establish a shortcut, there is no shortcut. And again, once you establish a shortcut, you stick with it – until you say otherwise. But even more important: in order to create ambiguity in the game – that's the key concept in our first "Thou shalt not!" Players use many bluffs to try and gain advantage. We acknowledge that's part of the game, and Section 50 of the PG addresses many of the boundaries.
What we're trying to say here is that players should not mess with shortcuts to confuse their opponents (nor themselves, for that matter).

Now, what to do with such a player? Apply the new penalty from the new Guide? Well, there isn't one. We added a new penalty because of Section 50:

137. Tournament Error – Player Communication Violation

and the definition of that new penalty includes:

A player unintentionally violates the Player Communication guidelines (see section 50).

No mention in there at all of section 51 and these Shortcuts. A further search of the whole Penalty Guide doesn't refer to Shortcuts. So what is the penalty for violating this?

Let me repeat: there is none. It's enough to explain to the player that their intent to create ambiguity via shortcut shenanigans is unacceptable – and to refrain from doing so again. (If they continue to ignore that last instruction, then you may have an instance of Unsporting Conduct.)

A player may not request priority and take no action with it. If they decide they do not wish to do anything, the request is nullified and priority is returned to the player that originally had it.

Very simply, this solves that rather nasty stolen priority trick. A classic example of this very "cheesy" trick:

Ned Naive: "Done with combat, so in my second main . . ."
Carp Cheeserman: "Hey, can I 'Bolt' you now?"
Ned Naive: "Uhh . . . sure?"
Carp: "OK, you passed priority to me, I'll pass too – guess it's your end of turn!"

Yeah . . . that just ain't right. We all know that isn't right; now it's in writing. We remain in Ned's second main phase, Ned has priority, and Carp has been told that his intent to create ambiguity via shortcut shenanigans . . . oh, wait, we've covered this, haven't we?

Certain conventional shortcuts used in Magic are detailed below. If a player wishes to deviate from these, they should be explicit about doing so. Note that some of these are exceptions to the policy above in that they do cause non-explicit priority passes.

Again, we aren't trying to detail the exact shortcuts players must use; we're just establishing the precedent for some already common shortcuts, and detailing a few that are infamous for the trouble they've caused. This isn't an exhaustive list, but it is the list that we are comfortable with as pre-established, common to players everywhere, and safe for assumption.

The statement "Go" (and equivalents such as "Your turn" and "Done") moves the turn to that player's end step and passes priority to the non-active player. Opponents are assumed to be taking actions at that point unless they specify otherwise.

Someone suggested – even requested – examples. Sounds like a great idea:

Eddie Everyplayer: "Untap ... draw ... play a land ... go"

That's one of the most common turns in Magic – and probably the most common shortcut, too. Sure, there's colloquial variations on 'go' (I've been called "goat head" by any number of mumbling opponents), language differences, physical gestures that may be more common in some play groups – but it's the same, simple concept.

So, what's a common example of deviating from that shortcut? How about that Onslaught block staple, Astral Slide?

Eddie's opponent, Sid Sliderman: "Wait, Eddie. During your second main, I'll cycle this and Slide that out . . . are you still done? OK, it comes back and, unless you've got anything in your end step, it's my turn?"


A statement such as "I'm ready for combat" or "Declare attackers?" moves the turn into the Beginning of Combat Step and passes priority to the non-active player. They are assumed to be acting then unless they specify otherwise.

This is also one of the most common shortcuts in use, and one of the first to get "official recognition". Let's consider a counter-example, illustrating how players tried to abuse this:

Sham Shady: "Combat?"
Ned Naive: "Let's tap that Hill Giant first."
Sham: "OK, we're still in my first main phase, then, so I'll play Ball Lightning, then I'll attack! Muahahahaha!!!"
Ned: "uhhh . . . Judge? Can he do that???"

Well, not any more. That's been true for at least a few years.

Whenever a player adds an object to the stack, they are assumed to be passing priority unless they explicitly announce that they intend to retain it. If they add a group of objects to the stack without explicitly retaining priority and a player wishes to take an action at a point in the middle, the actions should be reversed up to that point.

This has caused a lot of well-scratched heads, looks of perplexed puzzlement, constant consternation . . .

But really, this is how players play the game. In the Comprehensive Rules, 408.1c tells us that when a player "plays a spell or ability, or takes a special action, the player again receives priority". Like many (most? all?) shortcuts, this one contradicts the rules – but does so in a way that is universally understood.

It's actually the exception that a player plays a spell or ability, and wants to respond while they have priority. Usually, when something is played, priority is passed implicitly – usually with nothing more significant than a pause, a look at the opponent, or a hand gesture. If anything, this shortcut is more important for what it doesn't allow – namely, hesitating after you play something, fishing for a reaction from your opponent, and then claiming to have kept priority and act with the knowledge of your opponent's reaction.

"No attacks" or similar statements during combat are an indication that the active player has passed priority in the end of combat step.

This usually comes about like this:

Abe Average: "Combat?"
Alice Average: "Uhhh, tap that big bugger first . . ."
Abe: "Yeah, yeah . . . no attack, then."

Abe is in his second main phase, unless Alice has reason to interrupt the shortcut. This shortcut isn't that much of a stretch; consider 308.4: If no creatures are declared as attackers, finish the declare attackers step, but skip the declare blockers and combat damage steps. All we're adding to that is the implied pass during the end of combat step.

If a player announces an X spell without specifying the value of X, it is assumed to be for all mana currently available in their pool.

Inspired in part by a recent judge discussion, this is less about the way everyone plays, and more about the way we want the game played.
Sham Shady (has 10 lands untapped): "Tappity-tap-tap-it-all . . . Fireball for the win!"
Dave Decent (who's at 6 life): "I'll Mana Leak that."
Sham: "Sure, I'll use 3 of my mana for the Leak, Fireball resolves for 6, you lose!"

Very few judges would allow that – ideally, no one would – but now it's clearly stated.

A strict interpretation of 409.1b tells us that the value of X has to be announced – but if a player shortcuts past that, X defaults to whatever mana they had in their pool.

Players are assumed to have paid any cost of 0 unless they announce otherwise.

Another shortcut inspired by recent discussions, and frequent questions about Thick-Skinned Goblin ("You may pay 0 rather than pay the echo cost for permanents you control."). A player who doesn't clearly state she's paying 0 as the echo cost for something is assumed to have paid that echo cost.

As you might imagine, this required a bit of discussion; we reached this conclusion primarily because it's what most players would expect, and what is most likely to have happened. If a player has reason to not pay an Echo or Cumulative Upkeep cost of 0, they're going to announce that clearly, just because it is so unusual.

A player is assumed to have assigned all trample damage possible to the defending player unless stated otherwise.

For trample, it's been observed – over a dozen years or so of experience – players will assign lethal damage to the blocker(s), and the rest to the player. Like the other shortcuts, we're just recognizing what's already established.

This occurs most commonly like this:

Ozzy Obvious: "Attack with Giant Warthog." (5/5 Trample)
Abe Average: "Block with my Grizzly Bear."
Ozzy: "Damage on the stack?"
Abe: "Sure, then I'll Giant Growth my Bear so it survives . . . I take 3?

At this point, Ozzy would probably like to claim that he assigned all 5 to the Bear, but he didn't say that, so he can't.

Wait, wait – what about Rhox, or Thorn Elemental (You may deal its combat damage to defending player as though it weren't blocked)? Would we default to assigning all the damage to the defending player? We can't establish such a precedent for Rhox or Thorn Elemental; it's not nearly as common an effect as is trample, and you may need to kill the blocker more than you need to damage the defending player. That example just needs clear communication, period.

A spell or ability that targets an object on the stack is assumed by default to target the legal target closest to the top of the stack.

Remand: (Counter target spell. If that spell is countered this way, put it into its owner's hand instead of into that player's graveyard.)

Need we say more? Yes? OK, OK. . . consider this exchange:

Bolt you.
Counterspell.
Rewind!
Pact in response.
Remand?
Remand!

Yeah, it gets that messy, sometimes – and it might be important to know if that Pact was countered, or if the Remand that followed it targeted the original Counter, or something else and will either player's spell go back to their hand, will the Rewind untap any lands, etc. Now, applying this shortcut, we get the following defaults from that exchange:

Bolt you.
Counterspell. (the Bolt)
Rewind! (the Counterspell)
Pact in response. (the Rewind)
Remand? (Pact)
Remand! (Remand)

The head to which damage is being assigned in Two-Headed Giant is undefined by default. If it is relevant, it is up to the team that knows it may be relevant to ask for clarification or to propose an alternate shortcut.

This is interesting – it's not a shortcut. Quite the opposite – this is clearly stating that there is not an established shortcut for this. More than anything, we want players to establish this themselves at the earliest opportunity.

Tom Thoughtful: "Hey, guys, good luck this match! Oh, by the way – when we deal damage, it'll be to your primary head if we don't say otherwise."
Carl Catchezon: "Uhh, yeah ... same here."

Unfortunately, what usually happens is more like this:

Team Forgetful: "Attack with these seven guys, you can't block . . . we win?"
Team LastHope, A player: "I'll morph up our Weathered Bodyguards, he'll take all the damage."

Now, Forgetful hasn't specified where the damage is being assigned, and LastHope is assuming it's to their A head. Unfortunately, that's not the default, and instead we have to back up (to the beginning of the confusing shortcut) and have Forgetful clearly state where the damage is assigned.

Neatly enough, that harkens back to one of our first examples, where the players will object with "But now they know about the Bodyguards!" Just like in a previous example, they failed to be clear, and now additional information is available – unfortunate, yes, but neither significant nor exceptional.

One more interesting point, somewhat illustrated by this last topic, and somewhat implicit from everything else we've said – shortcuts that aren't clearly stated in here should be established in some manner before they're used.

The list of shortcuts is not exhaustive. It is not intended to be, nor become, exhaustive. It is intended to provide clear examples of the philosophy we want our judges to use as their guide, when you encounter unusual situations that don't match any of the listed shortcuts.

Well, we certainly hope you've enjoyed this rambling run through the Shortcuts. More than that, we hope that it makes a lot more sense now than before. And if not, then your questions become our top priority!

www.wizards.com

A Tale of Two Leagues (in one)

Umm… so we're into the Final Four of this TCGpprentice thing, right? Then why were there only three articles last week? What happened to Fletcher Gates? It turns out that between nine-hour shifts at work and circling the wrong deadline on his calendar, he completely lost track of the assignment. And so we come to the easiest elimination of them all.




It's the easiest in the sense that I really have no choice on this matter, but it's still a very hard one emotionally because I think we all liked Fletcher a lot. Like many of the departed competitors, it's safe to say that we haven't heard the last from him. Jeremy, Robin, and Zaiem move on safely to the next task, which is to write an article about a “game issue,” basically something about Magic, but not specifically about decks, cards, or playing the game. These would be articles that I've been known to write, like on the suckiness of white and video replay. Some people love these articles as they highlight things about the game that we don't necessarily think about from day to day. Others hate them because they don't offer any strategy to get better at the game. Regardless, they are an important part of a well-rounded writing repertoire. Stick around this week to see what our candidates write about in terms of the game outside the game.

…

…

What do you mean that's not enough material for my article? Okay, fine. How about if I join a MTGO Lorwyn release league. Will that make you happy?

Things start off slowly, by which I mean the server is lagging. I know that's like saying there's oxygen in the air, but this is unreal lag. Like it takes the selling bot five minutes—five actual minutes!—to transfer over the sixteen tix for the tournament pack.

Sealed articles always Vex me because of the amount of space the deck construction takes up. Unfortunately, there isn't really a good solution to this problem. People like to see the entire card pool and “build it themselves,” so here you go. Build it.

1 Aquitect's Will
1 Austere Command
1 Axegrinder Giant
1 Black Poplar Shaman
1 Blind-Spot Giant
1 Bog Hoodlums
1 Briarhorn
1 Captivating Glance
1 Chandra Nalaar
1 Changeling Berserker
1 Deeptread Merrow
1 Dreamspoiler Witches
1 Elvish Eulogist
1 Elvish Harbinger
1 Faultgrinder
1 Favor of the Mighty
1 Fire-Belly Changeling
1 Flamekin Brawler
1 Fodder Launch
1 Footbottom Feast
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Ghostly Changeling
1 Giant Harbinger
1 Giant's Ire
1 Gilt-Leaf Ambush
1 Goldmeadow Stalwart
1 Hoarder's Greed
1 Hornet Harasser
1 Inner-Flame Acolyte
1 Kinsbaile Balloonist
1 Kinsbaile Skirmisher
1 Kithkin Daggerdare
1 Kithkin Greatheart
1 Kithkin Healer
1 Lace with Moonglove
1 Lairwatch Giant
1 Lash Out
1 Lowland Oaf
1 Merrow Harbinger
1 Merrow Reejerey
1 Moonglove Extract
1 Moonglove Winnower
1 Mulldrifter
2 Nath's Elite
1 Neck Snap
1 Nightshade Stinger
1 Paperfin Rascal
1 Peppersmoke
1 Pollen Lullaby
1 Ponder
1 Protective Bubble
1 Rootgrapple
1 Runed Stalactite
1 Scarred Vinebreeder
1 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
1 Shimmering Grotto
1 Skeletal Changeling
1 Smokebraider
1 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Spiderwig Boggart
1 Springjack Knight
1 Spring Cleaning
1 Summon the School
1 Surge of Thoughtweft
1 Thorntooth Witch
1 Tideshaper Mystic
1 Triclopean Sight
1 Vivid Grove
1 Wanderer's Twig
1 Weed Strangle
1 Wellgabber Apothecary
1 Windbrisk Heights
1 Wizened Cenn
1 Woodland Changeling

The first thing I do is a rarity sort to see if I have any bombs. Not that all bombs need be rares, but this pool certainly bears that out as I have Austere Command and Chandra Nalaar. I also notice some near bombs in Merrow Reejerey and Summon the School, a combo amongst combos. With the help of Bene and Eirik, I come to a build that utilizes both bombs and has a small splash for Nath's Elite and the ridiculous Briarhorn.

1 Forest
7 Mountain
6 Plains
1 Austere Command
1 Axegrinder Giant
1 Briarhorn
1 Chandra Nalaar
1 Changeling Berserker
1 Fire-Belly Changeling
1 Giant Harbinger
1 Goldmeadow Stalwart
1 Inner-Flame Acolyte
1 Kinsbaile Balloonist
1 Kinsbaile Skirmisher
1 Kithkin Greatheart
1 Kithkin Healer
1 Lash Out
1 Lowland Oaf
1 Moonglove Extract
1 Nath's Elite
1 Neck Snap
1 Runed Stalactite
1 Shimmering Grotto
1 Surge of Thoughtweft
1 Triclopean Sight
1 Vivid Grove
1 Wellgabber Apothecary
1 Windbrisk Heights
1 Wizened Cenn

Due to the lag, it takes a long time for me to get my first match, and when I do, it is all bugged out. The program keeps opening the match, then closing it, open, close, open, close. This goes on and on making for a Pokemon-style seizure-causing flashing. I have trouble navigating anywhere because the match screen keeps popping up to the front. And when I try to start a web browser, the minimized MTGO pops open every time the game loads every other second.

Eventually it stops and takes me to the sideboarding screen. I go back to the league room and see that I won game one, probably due to my opponent's inaction if he was facing the same seizure screen as me. That's the best die roll I ever lost. Having lost game one, my opponent has the choice of play or draw in game two, and again unable to do anything he times out of that game as well.

That's officially the dumbest match I've ever played, but I'm not about to turn down a free win.

The next one isn't so easy. Against SorbiusX's white-black-blue deck, I get Kithkin Greatheart equppied with Runed Stalactite to stick and crush his Wispmare (?), Oaken Brawler, Mulldrifter draw.

In game two, I get an aggro Kithkin draw with Skirmisher, Healer, Wizened Cenn, and Changeling Berserker. He slowly stabilizes with Shriekmaw and O-Ring. I Rebuild with a Giant army of Harbinger into Axegrinder facing down his Changeling Hero. I try to get him with Triclopean Sight when he blocks my Axegrinder, but he counters with Peppersmoke. When he Footbottom Feasts his Shriekmaw, I feel the game slip out of my grasp.

He gets what has to be the nuts for his deck as he curves out with Judge of Currents, Merrow Reejerey, and Summon the School. I get some loose Kithkin beats going, but there's no way I can race him gaining four life a turn and making two additional tokens. Eventually he just crushes me to bits with his army.

Maybe it's just my karmic punishment for my free win. Undeterred, I enter another duel with Shadowhearts who gets his own nuts with a Lys Alana Huntmaster and a murder of Elves. I know that “murder” is the word for a group of crows, but it seems appropriate here as he has the capability to activate a turn six Mosswort Bridge, but just runs me over with his Elves without revealing his hideaway card.

Round two goes better for me. He gets a turn one Goldmeadow Harrier, but taps out every turn, letting me sneak in damage with Loafing Oaf, Kisbaile Balloonist, then Changeling Berserker. When he taps out yet again for Vigor, I finish him off by throwing my Berserker into the sky with Loafing Oaf and loading up with pump from Inner-Flame Acolyte and Surge of Thoughtweft. I love throwing changelings with the Oaf.

Shadowhearts apparently keeps a one-land hand here with Wanderer's Twig and two Wren's Run Vanquishers. I put on my racing boots with Inner-Flame Acolyte and Kisbaile Balloonist. When he crashes in with both Vanquishers, I use my sideboarded Pollen Lullaby and win the clash with Briarhorn, which prompts him to scoop.

I open my game against LotusEater with Windbrisk Heights, hiding a Wizened Cenn. That will make for a nice little combat trick as I curve out with Firebelly Changeling, Kithkin Healer, and Balloonist. He Neck Snaps the Balloonist and blocks Healer with Ghostly Changeling, but sure enough, Wizened Cenn does his pumping thing, and the game ends next turn with a Lash Out on his newly played Goldmeadow Stalwart.

LotusEater gets a nice opener as he gets out Wren's Run Vanquisher and Knight of Meadowgrain, two of the harder to deal with early drops in the format. I build with Loafing Oaf (which I realize is Lowland Oaf, but I keep calling him this. Sorry for the confusion), Kinsbaile Skirmisher, and Inner-Flame. They all have to get in there for a suicidal attack on his Ajani Goldmane, who he did not use to crush me with the second ability. Actually, he didn't even use the first ability. Thanks for the chance, LotusEater. I don't get much more than an Axegrinder Giant after that, while he drops a Timber Protector, equipping his Meadowgrain with Runed Stalactite. How am I supposed to beat a 4/4 lifelink, first striker? Oh, and it is indestructible.

Game three is anticlimactic. I get stuck on the three lands from my opening hand he goes Godzilla-in-Tokyo on me with Imperious Perfect and Lys Alana Huntmaster. I don't mind losing games like this that much. Magic is a random game and you will have games you lose to not drawing this or that. For me, game two was a little more frustrating because he tried to give it to me with the Ajani misplay.

My next opponent, Gridbug, beats me up in the early/mid game with Battlewand Oak, even getting me with a Triclops (Triclopean Sight). I make a bad misplay that turn, as I should have played Chandra and finished off the Battlewand with two points of damage, but instead go with the Giant Harbinger into Axegrinder plan. The Battlewand keeps on beating me up. He makes a nice play of Lace with Moonglove on his Harpoon Sniper to kill my Axegrinder as deathtouch isn't just combat damage. We keep trading spells back and forth and accumulate a ridiculous amount of lands. Enough so that he can play a Wren's Run Packmaster (with no Elves to champion) just to pump out two Wolf tokens on an empty board. That's ten mana, and the game as I can't keep up with his Wolves. I mean, I have to Lash Out one and Austere Command another. Embarrassing.

Game two is one of those non-games again as I mulligan to four. The five card hand has two lands, but also Giant Harbinger and Axegrinder, which makes it more like a three card hand. Another Imperious Perfect does some smashing.

So I end the official five matches with a horrible 2-3 record, with one win being the free seizure win. I decide it's time to switch things up. I initially liked the Merfolk build, but Bene and Eirik convinced me that I didn't have enough Merfolk to make Summon the School a true bomb. Also, no Silvergill Dowser.

3 Forest
7 Island
4 Plains
1 Aquitect's Will
1 Austere Command
1 Briarhorn
1 Deeptread Merrow
1 Elvish Harbinger
1 Kinsbaile Balloonist
1 Kithkin Daggerdare
1 Kithkin Healer
1 Merrow Harbinger
1 Merrow Reejerey
1 Moonglove Extract
1 Mulldrifter
2 Nath's Elite
1 Neck Snap
1 Paperfin Rascal
1 Runed Stalactite
1 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
1 Shimmering Grotto
1 Summon the School
1 Tideshaper Mystic
1 Triclopean Sight
1 Vivid Grove
1 Wellgabber Apothecary
1 Windbrisk Heights
1 Woodland Changeling

I contemplate having a red splash instead of green, but I don't really like the notion of splashing for a double color spell like Chandra, and Briarhorn seems just as good, if not better than, Lash Out.

League action, take two! I open my match against UghGrand with a mulligan, and stall on three lands for two turns (again all in my original six) with a Neck Snap and Briarhorn in my hand. To add insult to injury, I draw my fourth land on my land turn and it is the cipt Windbrisk Heights. I don't know if playing the Snap and Briar could have gotten me out of my hole had I been able to play them, but it would have interesting to find out.

In game two, I try to throw the game away, running my Regis (Merrow Reejerey) into a badly telegraphed Briarhorn (it could be Neck Snap too, I suppose, as he is blue-green-white). I have a Neck Snap under my Windbrisk Heights, but no additional white mana source to activate it. Fortunately, my merrow have done enough early damage to allow the islandwalking Harbinger to finish things. Game three is more of the same, fast merrow beats with Regis tapping down potential blockers.

Emunst is my next victim, err… opponent. He brings a lethal BWU deck filled to brim with flyers, or so it seems. Marsh Flitter, Kisbaile Balloonist, and Mulldrifter make my ground-based army look bad, and his Goldmeadow Harrier stops my Nath's Elite. I'm on the defensive the whole game, trading my Balloonist for his, them using Briarhorn on my Mulldrifter to kill his Flitter. Now it's just his Mulldrifter, but it is equipped with Runed Stalactite and able to regenerate from his Black Poplar Shaman.

The game is so complicated that I need to reset with a new paragraph. I think that Austere Command is my only out. Of course, it isn't because Black Poplar can regenerate. Instead of my Command, I draw Merrow Harbinger with Summon the School already in hand. That changes things. I play the Harbinger getting Reej and Summon up a School. On his turn, Emunst puts me to the test by tapping a Merfolk with Harrier. This is one of only four Merfolk I have in play (the fourth being Paperfin Rascal) and the move forces me to tap them all to regrow the School. This leaves me completely open and a leftover Goblin token, Skeletal Changeling, and the Poplar join Mulldrifter to attack me down to two. Basically, I'm dead on the board. I only have one flying blocker for the Mulldrifter and he can Harrier it down.

Undeterred, I play Reej and attack for 11 with Nath's Elite, Paperfin, and Harbinger. It's the first damage I've dealt to him all game. Not only does this put him within striking distance next turn, but the three attackers also activate Windbrisk Heights, which has been sitting there since turn one. I use it and play… Sentinels of Glen Elendra, aka another flying blocker. I even have enough mana to play School and untap my Paperfin Rascal to further solidify my goal-line stand. It works and Emunst scoops. Whew.

Game three is another early Reej blowout. He is forced to Crib Swap my islandwalking Deeptread Merrow, which still leaves me with a 2/2 Merfolk token. Wellgabber Apothecary, a highly underrated card, allows my army to keep attacking without concern. It's all over when Sentinels of Glen Elendra picks up a Stalactite and the Reejerey bonus.

Dyedvob is my next opponent. I keep a five land, Stalactite, Moonglove Extract hand. I'm not sure why. It works out well enough I suppose. My first action play is a Kisbaile Balloonist. The following turn I blow away a Cloudcrown Oak with Briarhorn on my Balloonist. Fearing my potential five power worth of attackers, he O-Rings my Balloonist, but I make it five anyway with a quick equip of Stalactite to Briarhorn and a Merrow Reejerey. I play Aquitect's Will, draw Merrow Harbinger off it, and complete the chain with Summon the School. Yeah, insane. Despite my friends' concern of “not enough Merfolk,” I seem to be getting there an awful lot. Merrow Harbinger is the glue as getting either Reejerey or Summon to complete the combo works out nicely.

I keep another slow hand in game two and he punishes me with Wren's Run Packmaster. I've got to stop keeping these bad hands that can't go anywhere. In game three, he makes a questionable play. I've got Windbrisk Heights in play and he chooses not to Moonglove Extract one of my three creatures before I can attack. So he blocks a 3/3 Paperfin with Masked Admirers and I make him pay my activating Heights and dropping Briarhorn.

Despite that, he stabilizes with Thorntooth Witch and the recurring Admirers, which helps him build a small army of Harpoon Sniper, Jagged-Scar Archers, Oaken Brawler, and Goldmeadow Harrier. I slow roll the Austere Command, which prompts his “UNFNBELIEVABLE. how many fkn times can i play against that godam card.”

After the reset, Kithkin Healer and Wellgabber Apothecary dominate the combat phase. Really. He shows Final Revels and O-Ring off of successive clashes, so I again slow roll my Merrow Reejerey until the coast is clear. He has to O-Ring a Runed Stalactite and Reejerey wearing a Triclopean Sight trumps his Revels.

Topgun53 loses game one quickly when I trump him on successive turns with Briarhorn and Triclops. Game two starts better for him; Harrier, Galepowder Mage and Veteran of the Depths Threaten to own me, so again it's time for Austere Command to save my butt. He obliges my plan and drops an extra Skeletal Changeling for me to eat (I attack with my Woodland Changeling first to make him tap out to regenerate).

He claims he got the read and held back. I get a little nervous about this as he taps some lands to play…

Plover Knights? I laugh inside, then I laugh outside when I get him with Sentinels of Glen Elendra plus Briarhorn. After eliminating his Plover, the game is elementary.

I think I am going to own The Goblin King when I mulligan into a hand that gives me Deeptread Merrow, Paperfin Rascal, and Summon the School. But he's got a nice evasive draw of Squeaking Pie Sneak, Avian Changeling and Thieving Sprite. I get him down to six and start rejoicing. He attacks back with his entire unblockable team and takes me down to five. Uh oh. Yep. He has Fodder Launch.

He has a nice tech play in game two. After I Merrow Harbinger a Reejerey to the top of my library, he plays Drowner of Secrets and mills it away. I can't Recover from that. Fodder Launch is key for him again, as is a Weed Strangle that gains him some much needed life.

I end up going 4-1 on the Rebound with Merfolk. I guess I should have stuck with my gut and not let my friends convince me. Not that it's their fault. I liked the red build as well. I mean, c'mon, Chandra. But in retrospect, it's not my style of deck. Reejerey tricks are much more up my alley. Not only can you tap down their creatures. I have also tapped lands to play around Neck Snap, untapped creatures to use as blockers, and untapped lands to generate extra mana for more plays. I love versatility and Merrow Reejerey is my new favorite Swiss Army Knife.

Sorrow’s Path

“You sat in a chair for how long?”
City Champs was a grueling experience. None of the City Champs events were in Seattle; they were in far-off suburbs, requiring many hours of sitting in traffic. Taking time off was suicide, as I found out when I took a month off, only to find myself in tenth place by a wide margin. I had to kick it in overdrive, driving over 200 miles a week to play Magic. I had to go 3-1 or better in each of those events to claw back into top eight. There were days when I wasn't feeling well, but I had to go and draft or I would be out. In one event, I went 2-0-1 drop because I was physically unable to play another round of Magic. It was a physically and mentally exhausting experience to get to the top eight for the area. But after all that effort, I succeeded and was invited to the top eight for the area. The winner of City Champs got an automatic invite to Nationals.

I did well that day, making it to the finals in a field against seven very good players. I lost game one, but pulled it out to win game two. Heading into game three, I was thinking, “If I win this next game, I go to Nationals in my first season of competitive Magic.” I mulliganed into a shaky but somewhat keepable hand. My opponent had an amazing draw, and those watching the finals assured me that there was no mistake I made that would have mattered. But I lost.

And that was it. I was so close. I could taste it. But I didn't do it. I was devastated. I was wracked with pain. All I could think about was that third game in the finals and how awful it felt when I lost, waves of pain and humiliation and suffering washing over me. Unable to do anything else, I sat in my chair and stared.

For twelve hours.

Fast-forward a couple of weeks later to Regionals. As the runner-up for City Champs, I got two byes to Regionals, a luxury that was exclusively mine. Starting out 2-0 with perfect tiebreakers set me up with a dream situation for making top eight. I won my first two matches to start out 4-0, and then it all came apart.

In round five, I had a favorable matchup, but mana issues arose at the wrong time in both games. In game two, I lost despite hitting a Persecute for all five cards in his hand. I drew absolutely nothing over the next six turns that affected the board in any way, and he killed me.

Two losses meant elimination from top eight, so I had to win out until I could draw in.

Round six was against Pickles, as a friend had scouted for me. I resolved a turn two Dark Confidant, which helped my chances immensely. Dark Confidant revealed the following cards with the corresponding life totals:

Reveal Mortify (17)
Reveal Ghost Council of Orzhova (13)
Reveal Temporal Isolation (11)
Reveal Faith's Fetters (7)
Reveal Crovax (1)
At one life and with six white cards in hand, I revealed…
Martyr of Sands (0)

Crovax was a one-of in my deck. My opponent played two spells that game, countering Faith's Fetters on my land and Ghost Council of Orzhova.

In game two, I resolved a turn two Dark Confidant. Bob did it again:

Reveal Ghost Council of Orzhova (16)
Reveal Mortify (13)
Reveal Castigate (11)
Reveal Mortify (8)

Bob died chump-blocking Teferi, and the next turn my opponent swung with Phyrexian Totem and Teferi for eight.

And that was it. Regionals was over for me after starting 4-0. My friend, whom I had convinced to run essentially the same deck, won Regionals. He made one last-minute change by putting one Liege of the Pit (!!) in the singleton slot occupied by Faith's Fetters. He never flipped Crovax or Liege of the Pit all day.

I went home and sat in that same chair.

For two days.

“I'm a failure.”
“A better player would have top eighted with a 4-0 start.”
“I'm an embarrassment to myself, to my friends who somehow tolerate me polluting their testing group, and to the Seattle Magic community.”
“Martyr of Sands?!”
Two months later, I went to GP: San Francisco. I did poorly, scrubbing out in both the Grand Prix and the following day's PTQ. I played awful, abysmally bad Magic in the PTQ. I spent hundreds of dollars in airfare, hotel and food to lose. And I had a pretty good time.

What was different?

Changing my mindset
Initially, I had a plan to deal with this. I hated losing, so to me, the solution was obviously to improve my play and stop losing. This didn't work. I did improve my play, and it's something that I constantly strive to do (as should every Magic player), but no Magic player wins every match every time, so this was met with utter failure. If anything, it made things worse because I felt like I wasn't achieving anything. “I'm still losing; I'm not improving,” I would say to myself. Despite the fact that I was improving, to me the net result was the same; I was a loser, and therefore I'd accomplished nothing. This only made things worse, though it was entirely unnecessary.

I sought out advice. A friend pointed me in the direction of Noah Weil, who was a really helpful resource. Over time, I slowly began to internalize what he and others told me, as well as things I've figured out for myself.

The thing about advice is that sometimes it seems really obvious; you may know cognitively that it's true, but without internalizing it and making it part of who you are and how you think, then it doesn't do you any good. Studies have shown that even though certain ideas may be “common sense,” having someone remind them of the ideas serves to reinforce and strengthen the ideas. If we all thought and felt logically, we wouldn't have irrational emotions.

You don't have total control over the outcome of games
Magic contains an element of luck. Far too often, people blame luck for losses when it was something else that was the deciding factor, but the fact remains that luck exists in Magic. Mana issues contribute to it. Your opponent may get that one topdeck they need to win. Dark Confidant may flip ten consecutive non-land cards in a deck running twenty-two lands (I'd like to know the odds of that happening). It happens.

There's a delicate balance between identifying what is truly luck and what are actually mistakes masquerading as luck. I tend to err strongly on the “skill, not luck” side of things, as it forces me to evaluate my plays in order to cull out mistakes and address them. But this can be dangerous when taken too far. After Regionals, I still believed that my Dark Confidant-fueled loss was due to my own mistakes, even though I was unable to identify them. Those watching the matches assured me that it was simply a matter of spectacularly bad luck, but I didn't want to believe it.

But how do you prevent the pendulum from swinging too far the other way? My goal is to constantly improve as a Magic player, and if I run into mana issues due to a bad mulligan decision, then I should acknowledge that and realize that I'm mulliganing incorrectly. One way is to look at the overall trend, and not just what happened in one specific game. If I get manascrewed in one game in particular, then that doesn't really mean much. If I get manascrewed over a period of time, then there may be something that's causing this pattern. It's really hard to detach yourself emotionally from the game you just lost, but I've found it helpful to take a deep breath, write down what happened, and look at it a couple of weeks later.

When genuinely bad luck happens, there's nothing you can do about it. It's best to move on.

There will always be more Magic
Every time I lost, I felt like there was a sense of finality, especially after a Constructed tournament for which I'd tested a great deal. All that testing had gone for naught, and it was all over. I was never able to look beyond the day of the tournament itself, harping on the fact that I'd worked hard for something and didn't win.

But there's more Magic. There will be PTQs. There's one next week. And in a few weeks after that. And some months after that. And there's a Grand Prix nearby in my neighborhood. And more PTQs and more Grand Prixes and on and on, ad infinitum. And I can keep playing until I die, or until Wizards of the Coast goes out of business. There is no finality. And whether I realized it or not, the experience I got was valuable and I was able to apply it in an abstract sense to future tournaments. It's an ongoing process, and as long as I take lessons from each step of the way, every tournament is a valuable one.

I needed to stop thinking of it as a series of isolated stops, with each tournament's result representing either success or failure. Instead, viewing it as an open-ended progression helped take out that feeling of despair.

It's not just about winning
Perhaps it's clichй, but it's so true. It's so easy to get into that binary mindset of winning/losing and not getting past it. Looking at my City Champs experience, I initially viewed it as a failure. In retrospect, this couldn't be further from the truth.

Prior to City Champs, there wasn't much of a Magic community in Seattle. People went to their various card shops and did their various things, but I never got the sense that there was a core group that worked to help each other out. There was no feeling of a team, save for very small, isolated test groups. City Champs changed that. Because we were traveling and seeing the same people day after day, people from far-off locations were given the chance to make new friends. Isolated pockets throughout Seattle began to blend together, and within six months we had a unified community that seemed genuinely interested in helping each other. I've felt like a big part of that community, forging close friendships with many of them, and becoming a much better player in the process. Were it not for City Champs, I'd still be in my isolated pocket, not knowing some of the amazing people I've met, and I would be much worse off as a result.

Despite not going to Nationals, this can hardly be construed as failure. I'm a much better player and a person as a result, and I've had a chance to contribute to something bigger than my own individual interests.

And hey, even though it's not all about winning, the winning's nice. By befriending better players, I've become a much better player in the process, and yes, that means winning more. So I get to have my cake and eat it too.

Dealing with depression
Just because I've found and tried to take to heart some helpful advice doesn't mean it's all happy fluffy fuzzy bunnies for me. I still struggle with it, and there is no special button to press. It's a process.

Focus on the positives
About twenty-four hours ago, I lost in the semifinals of a PTQ. I was hundreds of miles away from home, and I'd spent essentially three days on this trip, only to come close – and then fall short of my goal of winning a PTQ. It's the closest I've come to winning a Pro Tour slot.

I could focus on the failure to win the PTQ, which is my natural instinct. I could second-guess myself, beating myself up for not drafting better in the top eight, wondering how I could have failed so miserably (the semi-finals were a bit of a blowout), and come home and sit in that same chair. But instead, I forced myself to push those thoughts out and I made a mental list of the positives. It's the best I've done at a PTQ yet. I put myself in some bad situations earlier in the day, then had to play out of them in order to win, which I did. I learned a lot about the format. And a lot of people would be quite happy to make top eight at any PTQ. I was fairly content within an hour or two after my loss.

Take your mind off it
When I got home, I forced myself to think about other things than the PTQ loss. That chair wasn't going to get anything out of me this time. I immersed myself in Denver Broncos football (my favorite thing in the world, even more so than Magic). I went outside for a walk. If I found myself getting dragged down in those negative feelings, I immediately stopped what I was doing and found a way to distract myself. And it's helped.

Socialize with someone
After the loss, my friend and I found a nice pizza/pasta place near the PTQ venue, went to dinner, and just talked. Unlike Regionals and City Champs, I didn't go straight home and mope. There were no earth-shattering revelations or any such things over dinner, but getting it out and discussing what happened felt like a big relief. I didn't feel like I was being consumed by the event. Instead, I had a sense of perspective and was able to deal with it a lot more easily. When we got back to the hotel from dinner, I was in a pretty good mood. My friend was a big help – having pleasant company to hang around with was really, really nice.

As you might imagine, this was a very difficult topic for me to write about. Writing about anything leaves you open to scrutiny, and there's a certain sense of vulnerability that comes along with being published on a website such as TCGplayer.com. Talking about something that's so personal and so deeply emotional intensifies that a hundredfold, and it's a terrifying experience. But I do so with the hope that this helps the Magic community, just as others in the community have helped me. Magic is a great game, and it's a shame when it's the catalyst for such destructive and self-consuming feelings. It doesn't have to be that way.

by Zaiem Beg

One Pool, Three Decks

The story of a little bug begins at an innocent first birthday party for my girlfriend's niece. Some anonymous guest, hoping to get some delicious baked treats and a snapshot with the adorable baby, casually saunters into the party and pours some pop into a plastic container. Presumably, after partaking in said eating and picture-taking, the guest then places the unmarked container next to another unmarked container filled with the same substance. My girlfriend's sister-in-law, mistaking the anonymous guest's cup for her own, then drinks the vile serum.

Carnage ensues.

First the sister-in-law, then her cousin, then my girlfriend.

Then me.

Oh, what violence the 24-hour stomach flu hath wrought! The queasiness! The chills!

The Lorwyn Release Events? Sign me up for League #1064499, please!

I suppose being sick has its perks. Missing three classes and a lab ain't so bad when you can join a Sealed League. Especially when you go 5-0 in that League the same day. Especially when the pool is so damn interesting, you can build three different builds out of it before your day is through. Here's the pool:

White -
Summon the School
Favor of the Mighty
Dawnfluke
Goldmeadow Dodger
Harpoon Sniper
Hillcomber Giant
Judge of Currents
Kinsbaile Balloonist
Kithkin Healer
Oaken Brawler
Veteran of the Depths
Wellgabber Apothecary

Blue -
Broken Ambitions
Scattering Stroke
Glimmerdust Nap
Zephyr Net
Spellstutter Sprite
Ethereal Whiskergill
Faerie Harbinger
Faerie Trickery
Inkfathom Diver
Mulldrifter
Pestermite
Sentinels of Glen Elendra
Surgespanner
Wings of Velis Vel

Black -
Boggart Birth Rite
Weed Strangle
Peppersmoke
Black Poplar Shaman
Bog Hoodlums
Boggart Loggers
Hornet Harrasser
Hunter of Eyeblights
Nectar Faerie
Nightshade Stinger
Dreamspoiler Witches
Footbottom Feast
Shriekmaw

Red -
Hurly-Burly
Blades of Velis Vel
Needle Drop
Adder-Staff Boggart
Axegrinder Giant
Blind-Spot Giant
Caterwauling Boggart
Changeling Berseker
Giant Harbinger
Glarewielder
Lowland Oaf
Soulbright Flamekin
Stinkdrinker Daredevil

Green -
Woodland Guidance
Spring Cleaning
Sylvan Echoes
Elvish Branchbender
Elvish Eulogist
Gilt-Leaf Seer
Warren-Scourge Elf
Fertile Ground
Battlewand Oak
Cloudcrown Oak
Elvish Handservant
Garruk Wildspeaker
Lignify
Seedguide Ash
Woodland Changeling

Other -
Horde of Notions
Deathrender
Moongloove Extract
Wanderer's Twig

As you'll notice, almost every color is playable, with White being the clear weakest link. What I always do with my Sealed pool, before I do anything else, is cut away everything but the stuff would almost certainly play if I were playing that color. For Lorwyn, I include cards that are playable if I have the necessary tribal interactions. After this sifting is complete, I go and see if the other colors have those tribal interactions. If they do not, I scrap those cards during the next step of my pool evaluation process. So here's the color breakdown (cards that are only playable if the necessary tribal interactions are there are in parenthesis):

White - 7 (9)
(Summon the School)
Harpoon Sniper
Hillcomber Giant
(Judge of Currents)
Kinsbaile Balloonist
Kithkin Greatheart
Kithkin Healer
Oaken Brawler
Veteran of the Depths
Oblivion Ring

White is clearly the weakest of the colors, with only Oblivion Ring, Kinsbaile Balloonist, and the Summon the School to get excited about. Looking at the blue cards, the School is not going to see play because Surgespanner is the only exciting Merfolk in the pile. This cuts Judge of Currents, and with no tribal interactions or exciting synergies to speak of, we cut white.

Blue - 8 (10)
Ethereal Whiskergill
(Spellstutter Sprite)
Broken Ambitions
(Faerie Harbinger)
Faerie Trickery
Mulldrifter
Pestermite
Sentinels of Glen Elendra
Surgespanner
Wings of Velis Vel

Ah, the Wings! My favorite card in the format. Personal bias aside, blue has a lot of power, if not a lot of depth. A total bomb with Surgespanner, a solid team of fliers with Mulldrifter on top, and two playable counterspells. I consider counters to be very important tricks in Sealed, much more so than Draft, so two good ones is a real incentive to play blue. The depth just isn't there, so we can't base ourselves in blue, even though it is a likely second color.

Black - 8 (11)
(Boggart Birth Rite)
Weed Strangle
Peppersmoke
Boggart Loggers
Hornet Harrasser
Hunter of Eyeblights
(Nightshade Stinger)
(Nectar Faerie)
Dreamspoiler Witches
Footbottom Feast
Shriekmaw

Aside from stuff like Lignify, Zephyr Net, and Glimmerdust Nap, these black spells and Oblivion Ring are our only playable removal spells. This gives us a real strong incentive to play black. Fortunately, Dreamspoiler Witches, Peppersmoke, and Shriekmaw are all splashable. Also conveniently, our only Vivid land is black. Unfortunately, the color is not very deep at all. The Birth Rite gets back nothing, there is no internal curve or synergy in the color. This black is like an upgraded white; odds are we'll just splash for its removal.

Red - 9 (11)
Blades of Velis Vel
Adder-Staff Boggart
Axegrinder Giant
(Blind-Spot Giant)
(Caterwauling Boggart)
Changeling Berseker
Giant Harbinger
Glarewielder
Lowland Oaf
Soulbright Flamekin
(Stinkdrinker Daredevil)

Very nice red. Lots of solid guys. Sadly, aside from the Blades, that's all we have. However, the guys all have a nice curve and a solid internal synergy. The Stinkdrinker teams nicely with the army of Giants. Our most bomby non-Shriekmaw creature, Changeling Berskerer, is also in this color, with a Harbinger to find him. Admittedly, it is off Curve, but whatever. I really like the raw, explosive potential of the red in this pool. Glarewielder and the Berseker are solid playmakers. Again, however, we don't quite have the makings of a deck. We have a lot of second colors.

Green - 7 (9)
(Elvish Branchbender)
Fertile Ground
Battlewand Oak
Cloudcrown Oak
(Elvish Handservant)
Garruk Wildspeaker
Lignify
Seedguide Ash
Woodland Changeling

That's all five colors. No solid starter yet. We have our unadulterated bomb of the pool, Garruk, in this color, giving us a super strong incentive to play him. While Green is our most plentiful color, it is also the one with the least depth. So much crap in this color. Woodland Guidance, Sylvan Echoes, and Elvish Eulogist? We do have Garruk, however. And in a pool that is more likely to win off of power than consistency, Fertile Ground is a major help.

Other - 4 (5)
Vivid Marsh
Deathrender
Moonglove Extract
Wanderer's Twig
(Horde of Notions)

All playable stuff, and two cards to help us splash. Deathrender, while a build-around me card at best, is also a beatstick even if you can't abuse it with multiple Warren Pilferers. Horde of Notions is unplayable chaff. However, with Shriekmaw and Mulldrifter in the pool, along with a strong possibility of a double splash, it's almost tempting...

The First Deck

I took my first iteration of the deck through round one before scrapping it and trying something new. My initial deck building process was to Squeeze as much consistency out of the pool as I could, and then shore up the weaknesses with off-color splashes. Since Red and Blue are my deepest overall colors, I decided to start working with them. The two colors had a lot of nice synergies, too: they both had Changeling instants and the Harbingers to go with them, red had guys and blue had tricks. It seemed like a solid match. After some tweaks for the curve, here is what the first build looked like:
Red -
Soulbright Flamekin
Stinkdrinker Daredevil
Blind-Spot Giant
Lowland Oaf
Changeling Berseker
Glarewielder
Axegrinder Giant
Blades of Velis Vel

Blue -
Pestermite
Surgespanner
Sentinels of Glen Elendra
Faerie Harbinger
Mulldrifter
Wings of Velis Vel
Faerie Trickery
Broken Ambitions
Glimmerdust Nap

Black/Other -
Dreamspoiler Witches
Shriekmaw
Moonglove Extract
Deathrender

Land -
1 Vivid Marsh
2 Swamp
8 Island
7 Mountain

I decided to go with 18 land in this deck since the curve starts on turn three. I feel this deck has the highest overall card quality, but it is probably the weakest deck. Put simply, the deck is schizophrenic. It appears to play the control game, but aside from Mulldrifter, Shriekmaw, and the two counterspells, all its guys were built to smash face. Glarewielder isn't the most impressive five-drop when you started your curve on turn three with Moonglove Extract.

Even though I won the first match I played with this deck, I wasn't happy with it. While the deck wasn't lacking in individual card quality, it was lacking in focus. The cards did not form a cohesive deck, so it was really hard to play towards a cohesive strategy. Sometimes, just laying cards that are better than your opponent's cards will work. That is, until you get to the point where their cards are just as good as yours.

The Final Deck

So where do we go to fix the issue? What swaps can we make to decide on a cohesive strategy? Well, one way to do it is to fully cement ourselves in the control role. Of all the color combinations best suited to do this, GU seemed to be the ticket. Here was my second attempt.
Blue –
Pestermite
Surgespanner
Sentinels of Glen Elendra
Faerie Harbinger
Mulldrifter
Wings of Velis Vel
Faerie Trickery
Broken Ambitions
Glimmerdust Nap

Green –
Woodland Changeling
Fertile Ground
Battlewand Oak
Garruk Wildspeaker
Cloudcrown Oak
Seedguide Ash
Lignify

Other –
Dreamspoiler Witches
Shriekmaw
Footbottom Feast
Oblivion Ring
Wanderer's Twig
Moonglove Extract
Deathrender

Land –
1 Vivid Marsh
1 Swamp
1 Plains
7 Island
7 Forest

I know, I know. Just looking at that mana base is making me sick all over again. Despite the fact that I added a color, I actually trimmed back a land with this build. Why? Because the extra land was cut for Wanderer's Twig and a Fertile Ground made it into the deck as well. This deck also has a lower curve, with more than twice the two- drops while cutting a six-drop and holding the top end relatively constant. For this deck, I feel the overall power level has skyrocketed, thanks to the addition of Garruk and Oblivion Ring, even if individual card choices are weaker than the ones in red.

This is the deck I played for the other four matches in my Sealed League. The mana, surprisingly, was never an issue. Despite needing GGUUB to operate efficiently and GGUUBW to cast all its spells, the magic that is Vivid Marsh and Fertile Ground got me there. Each card showed up at least once per game, and if they didn't, I naturally drew into the needed basic (or Mulldrifter found it for me). The only time I struggled on colored mana was needing UU once for Surgespanner, but thankfully I had Garruk to untap some lands for me.

You might say I got lucky, and maybe I did. But I think that superior deck building, with an eye towards balancing power with consistency, helped me maximize the luck when it came. The most important improvement that this deck has over the previous one is a more focused game plan. In fact, I can almost justify playing the Zephyr Net in this deck over the Oblivion Ring if the mana makes you uncomfortable. Thinking of it now, the Zephyr Net probably deserved a slot anyway, maybe even over my beloved Wings of Velis Vel. This deck is an outright control deck, hoping to either lock the game early with a Surgespanner backed with removal, generate hordes of card advantage through Deathrender, Shriekmaw, and Mulldrifter, or play to the long game where Garruk can blow people out. This build gives me the best chance to outplay my opponent, as well. It's not just a collection of quick or fat guys to throw at my opponent in the hopes that they bring his life total to zero before I have to make a difficult play. Instead, the selection of cards gives me lots of subtle opportunities to get an edge in tempo or cards. This build also maximizes my removal suite. As we all know, removal is a scarce and precious commodity in Limited formats, especially Lorwyn. Even though I am playing two of the cards I feel are just awful removal spells, Lignify and Glimmerdust Nap, I feel they are necessary. Hell, I even want to Squeeze Zephyr Net in. I will rue the day when someone resolves Wispmare, or even Spring Cleaning, against me. ‘Til then, though, I will take whatever control cards I can for this build.

The Alternate Deck

Even after all that logical thought, the Timmy in me couldn't help but bring the deck-building full circle. If I already tried UR and GU, why not RG? In Sealed Leagues, you can play five matches a week. These count towards your main score. Every match you play after that builds up your tiebreakers. For these matches, I decided to try out the GR version of the deck. So far, I am 3-2 with this build. While that is clearly worse than the 5-0 I went with the blue cards, against some decks, the red cards were a clear beating. The stream of red fat backed up by Garruk is simply too much for most blue-based Sealed pools to handle. This is great to know because now I have a very strong sideboard option that can turn some matchups around. Here's how the RG version looks.

Green –
Elvish Handservant
Woodland Changeling
Battlewand Oak
Cloudcrown Oak
Seedguide Ash
Fertile Ground
Lignify
Garruk Wildspeaker

Red –
Adder-Staff Boggart
Soulbright Flamekin
Stinkdrinker Daredevil
Blind-Spot Giant
Lowland Oaf
Changeling Berserker
Caterwauling Boggart
Giant Harbinger
Glarewielder
Axegrinder Giant
Blades of Velis Vel

Other –
Shriekmaw
Footbottom Feast
Moonglove Extract
Deathrender

Land –
1 Swamp
1 Vivid Marsh
8 Mountain
7 Forest

This deck is clearly more aggressive and abuses Changeling Berserker to its fullest. A deck like this also turns Glarewielder into a bomb, often punching through 8+ damage and ending games out of nowhere. This build also abuses the aggressive aspects of Garruk much more effectively, more often dropping him late and using the +1 and -4 abilities in successive turns. With two haste guys and the maximum number of two- and three-drops available in the pool, why not? While this deck is clearly strong, it suffers from Timmy syndrome. Better players with trickier pools will often outplay you, not only because they're better, but because this card selection doesn't really give you too many real plays to make other than cast this guy, swing. You can get tricky with Deathrender and Blades of Velis Vel, but that's about it. With Sealed PTQs coming up, I would definitely recommend maximizing the “trickiness value” you could get out of your pool.

When building your deck, keep in mind you are doing just that: building a deck. You are not throwing a bunch of good cards of the same colors together and hoping that they will do the work for you. By arming yourself with the best tools to outplay your opponents and by building the deck with the best cohesive strategy, you give yourself the best chance of winning the most games.

I will be heading down to Daytona Beach for the Grand Prix this weekend, so if you see me down there, say hello!

And wish me luck!

-MW

City Champs *Top 4*

Last week this article was about City Champs and after speaking with representatives from the Wizards, Tournament Organizer, and player camps I was pretty excited to get cracking on the brand new season. The biggest obstacle for last year's season, and why many players wound up not following the circuit after the first month was simply that there were too many events spread over too far a distance. Compounding that problem was the fact that many stores opted to schedule their City Champs events on Saturdays, prime PTQ time. Luckily fortune is on our side this year and personally the very first City Champs tournament at the local store I game at was scheduled for this past Tuesday (November 13th for those keeping score at home).

Because Tuesday is the usual draft night at the shop the first event was scheduled as Limited. The turnout, however, was considerably larger than what anyone had anticipated. An entire extra draft pod worth of people showed up to campaign for Store Rankings points and so many extra players coupled with above average Lorwyn booster sales for the week meant the store was actually short on packs. Fortunately I still had well over a box of product with me, so we had enough to game with.

In a recent blog (which you can read here) I talked about my performance at the recent PTQ in Madison, Wisconsin. While my pool didn't seem bad, it also didn't seem that great and I wasn't sure how to build it. I wound up registering one pool, then sideboarding into another only to come home and find I had still forgotten about one card (Footbottom Feast) in my splash color that's actually very good. Sam Black, who won one of the championship tournaments at Gen Con and is a well respected pro in the Midwest, went so far as to call it the common he most wanted to open in a sealed pool. I'm not sure I'd go that far (I do love me some Mulldrifter), but I would agree that having it in your deck certainly provides you with a feeling of inevitability.

The point of all this is to demonstrate how complex the Lorwyn Limited experience is. I've done a fair amount of drafting and playing with the set since the prerelease but I still feel as though I'm learning something new each match I play. This was especially apparent in the comments I received on that aforementioned blog when David Gleicher and Zachary Schmidt both offered alternative builds to my proposed builds. Zach wanted to know if I had considered Wort, Boggart Auntie as a 3/3 fear even though I had minimal amounts of Goblins to return with her. Truthfully I had completely forgotten she had fear. David pointed out the interaction between Amoeboid Changeling and Goatnapper, which I admit I had also not seen though Changeling is so confusing that should come as no surprise. It seems every time that card is mentioned in an article it's done something entirely new and relevant.

Anyway some 24 players sat down at Critical Hit Games in Coralville, Iowa for their first crack at City Champs fame and fortune. That meant three draft pods, two of eight and one of six, and five rounds of cross-pod play, usually against local home rules but because of the special circumstances an actual necessity.

The first pack I opened was remarkably weak. There were four or five red cards meaning it was going to be difficult to take the best (Consuming Bonfire) and cut anyone out of the color. I'm loathe to draft white in general and because I was seated between two players I didn't know I was intent on not drafting green unless it was handed to me in a basket with a bow. It has been my experience, and perhaps it's only a local thing, but it has been my experience that the old adage “novice players draft green” holds true and whenever I'm seated between two players I don't know, I assume they're new to the format and stay out of the color to be safe. It's probably not the fairest thing to judge a book by its cover and all but when there's boosters on the line…

In any case the only blue card in the pack was Whirlpool Whelm, something of which I took note. I love the blue cards in draft and felt that if I took the only blue card in the pack my opponent would be less likely to go into the color both because it wasn't there and because greenhorns typically don't understand the nuances of a “weak” color like blue which make it quite powerful. That means “wasting” my first pick on a solid card but one that is not typically what you're hoping to nab pick one, pack one.

As it turned out I was quickly rewarded with a second pick Mulldrifter in a pack with the rare missing, and a tough decision on the third pack: Ethereal Whiskergill or Silvergill Douser? I think few would argue that Whiskergill is better than Douser, but the Merfolk potentially forces you to draft an archetype while Whiskergill is simply good on its own and, when combined with the Mulldrifter, potentially opens you to the possibility of drafting the Smokebraider deck. Those were the thoughts running through my mind as I flipped back and forth between the two cards before I struck on a final thought: Douser going third indicated the possibility Merfolk was open, but shipping it fourth might indicate to my neighbor that blue, and specifically Merfolk, was open for the taking. Whiskergill doesn't do that so ultimately I opted to take the 1/1 and look at the possibility of drafting a solid tribe.

Normally I don't go into a tribe so early on but there are a few signs specific tribes are open, and a Douser third pick is as good a sign as any. To be fair reading those signs is more akin to meteorology than chemistry in that you're looking at the variables you know and making predictions which are often-but-not-always correct, but there's only so much you can do. Only so much for me meant picking up three Judge of Currents in the first pack, tabling an Inkfathom Divers, and in general cutting both blue and Merfolk off from my left hand neighbor. By the end of pack one I was feeling pretty comfortable with my deck.

Things only got better in pack two. I opened a second Mulldrifter, then got passed a Sygg, River Guide. It took an intense amount of self control to not let my eyebrows shoot up into the Canada region of my furrowed brow after seeing that particular rare in the pack, but if you're not in Merfolk at the draft table Sygg really isn't worth that much to you. I managed to pick up a Harpoon Sniper, a Stonybrook Angler, and exactly when I thought to myself “hmmm…I'm low on removal” I was gifted a late Moonglove Extract and Neck Snap. I really couldn't complain, although I noticed two Paperfin Rascals I had hoped to table never made it back.

The final pack loomed and I was still short about 6 cards for my deck. I knew I was going to have to value true removal higher than everything else and I really hoped I could crack an Oblivion Ring. While Moonglove Extract and Neck Snap are good “removal,” both struggle to deal with some very good creatures that rarely enter combat. Brigid is one example while Drowner of Secrets, sure to be in the Merfolk draft of another player at a different table, was another.

In any case I didn't crack the Ring, but I did open a pack with an odd run I've never seen before. The commons consisted of two copies of the exact same four card print run. That meant that as I flipped through the pack I saw two Kinsbaile Skirmisher, two Lace with Moonglove, two Elvish Vinebreeder, and two copies of yet another unexciting common. Blech. There were no picks for me in the commons, and the uncommons featured no blue or white cards topped off by a Nova Chaser in the rare slot. Not good.

Still the pack wound up going all right for me. A late Warren Pilferers made it into my pile as my splash card, and a Springleaf Drum managed to sneak into my pile as well. That card is so good it deserves a mention on its own…

Springleaf Drum in Merfolk

During the PTQ this past weekend it seemed everyone at the site had come to the same conclusion regarding Springleaf Drum: it's insane. Not only is it a mana fixer for a format filled to the brim with opportunities to splash but it can interact with the creatures you're using to tap with it as well. At one point in the tournament Jim Hustad, a respected Madisonian who's seen some feature match coverage at the Pro Tour Level, had the opportunity to evoke Mulldrifter, put the sacrifice trigger on the stack and tap it to his Drum to get two cards and a mana for free.

No tribe takes advantage of the drum so well as Merfolk. Judge of Currents, Fallowsage, and Veteran of the Depths all immediately spring to mind as cards that directly benefit you by generating mana using the Drum. That makes the artifact ideal for allowing you to splash Lash Out, Tarfire, Warren Pilferers, etc. in your fish lists and I've found myself unhappy playing the archetype without at least one copy. And if you open Surgespanner, as Andy Hanson did at the PTQ before we were paired round 1? Then the Drum just gets nutty insane.

The Deck

1 Vivid Meadow
1 Shimmering Grotto
6 Plains
8 Island

1 Whirlpool Whelm
2 Moonglove Extract
2 Neck Snap
1 Springleaf Drum
1 Ponder
1 Wings of Velis Vel
1 Aquitect's Will

1 Sygg, River Guide
3 Judge of Currents
1 Silvergill Douser
1 Stonybrook Angler
1 Deeptread Merrow
1 Silvergill Adept
1 Harpoon Sniper
1 Drowner of Secrets
1 Inkfathom Divers
1 Warren Pilferers
2 Mulldrifter
1 Benthicore

SB
1 Ego Erasure
1 Merrow Commerce
1 Wispmare
2 Shields of Velis Vel
1 Soaring Height
1 Triclopean Sight
1 Mournwhelk
2 Hornet Harasser
1 Weed Strangle
1 Lys Alana Scarblade
1 Facevaulter
1 Oakgnarl Warrior
1 Gilt-Leaf Seer
1 Flamekin Spitfire
1 Boggart Sprite-Chaser
1 Caterwauling Boggart
1 Boggart Forager

By the end of the third pack I had that excited feeling you get when a draft you've done has gone well. Things had just seemed to go my way when I needed them to during the draft; when I felt I was short on removal? Double Moonglove and double Neck Snap. When I felt I hadn't gotten enough “good” Merfolk? Harpoon Sniper and Drowner of Secrets. And just for kicks, late in the third pick? Silvergill Adept.

Still, as I spread the cards in front of me I realized things weren't all super in Mudville. I only had a singleton Douser and Angler meaning I couldn't really mess with the combat step all that much. I was low on creatures which could reasonably attack against other creatures, a hallmark of Merfolk, and I lacked true removal for the problem threats outside the combat phase. I couldn't complain too loudly though as Benthicore gave me some fat Merfolk decks usually don't get to enjoy and the triple Judge of Currents from the first pack gave me the potential to stall the ground against aggro decks while building up a critical mass of cards which “do things” until I could Drowner someone out. It had certainly shaped up to be one of the better Merfolk decks I've drafted, but certainly not the best (and I have yet to crack Summon the School).

I wasn't sure where I stood with my manabase following the selection process. I was playing Merfolk which meant my curve was pretty low, but it did have Benthicore as an outlier. I'm a greedy greedy mage and I shave lands whenever I feel I can get away with adding one more card that “does something.” This draft, however, I felt that was completely justified. With such a low curve Springleaf Drum was as good as a land (and often better with triple Judge). Ponder and Aquitect's Will would combine to cantrip me in to additional mana, and once I hit at least three lands either of two Mulldrifters could evoke me into the resources I needed to take over a game.

Round 1 Paul Novak

Game 1: Paul won the die roll and came out of the gates with an Elvish Handservant. It was quickly pumped by Blind-Spot Giant, but I had Moonglove Extract to end those shenanigans, then started building my fish stocks. Stonybrook Angler hit, then Drowner of Secrets and Paul sat back with nothing to do, short a Giant to put his 4/3 on the offensive. I started the milling process and began turning over bomb after bomb. First Thoughtweft Trio, then Ajani, Sunrise Sovereign, and most of his removal. I started making notes of what was disappearing while Paul added a few Goldmeadow Harriers to his board. I opted to keep milling away figuring it was unlikely I would be getting through on the ground. Sure enough Paul eventually reveals a bomb I hadn't seen when he end-of-turns a Cloudthresher. Unfortunately for him that leaves me at an ample 15 life and I Snap the Elemental's Neck when it attacks on his turn. Out of steam Paul wisely packs it up before revealing the rest of his deck to me.

Game 2: Because Paul is a local player we regularly lock horns and he has a tendency to draft three color decks. Usually he has pretty sound reasoning but occasionally his eyes are bigger than his stomach, so to speak, and he winds up with decks solidly in three colors instead of two color decks splashing marquee cards from an off-color. This was one of those drafts and I because I had seen much of Paul's deck thanks to Drowner game one I knew it. He appeared to be a Giants, Kithkin, Elves hybrid but was simply playing good cards from all three decks instead of cohesive cards that played well together.

I started off on a mulligan to begin game 2 while Paul ran out another first turn Elvish Handservant. I had the trump in Moonglove Extract again, then followed up with a Mulldrifter to complement two Judge of Currents already on the board, actively being tapped thanks to my Springleaf Drum. The Mulldrifter put a slow beat on while Paul's combat step began to smell fishier and fishier as I started adding my Merfolk with defensive abilities to the board. When Stonybrook Angler hit it was all but over and Paul conceded so we could get to some Standard playtesting.

1-0

Stonybrook Angler and Judge of Currents

Cleverly concealed within the weak bodies of the Merfolk tribe is a tiny combo gifted to us by Wizards R and D to make sure the chumpy fish critters have the means of stalling out a game: Stonybrook Angler and Judge of Currents. Lots of players immediately recognize that the Judge allows you to gain a life with the Angler each time you use its ability, but I've seen a lot of players miss out on opportunities to gain massive amounts of life utilizing the Angler's other ability: untapping creatures. It's easy to overlook but at the very least the Angler can garner an additional life point for each 1U you have available on your opponent's turn. Instead of simply tapping their Oakgnarl Warrior and gaining a life, filter your mana tapping the Angler to untap before stopping their creature from attacking. You're effectively “gaining” 5 life and preventing the Warrior from blocking, plus gaining actual life for each set of two mana you have available.

And when the combat step has reached a point in which neither side can afford to attack? Don't just blindly tap one of your opponent's creatures each turn for no benefit; tap your Judge to gain one more life! Merfolk are inherently weak as creatures, they always have been. However those crafty devils at WotC R and D has made sure the tribe has the tools it needs to make up for its shortcomings.

Round 2 Gregory H.

Game 1: I won the die roll but things didn't exactly start out in my favor for this match. My Judge of Currents was trumped by an Inner-Flame Acolyte which dropped me to 16. His Lash Out hit on the clash and I dropped to 13 while losing my Judge, but a second one came to play. Still the hits kept coming for Greg. Soulbright Flamekin, Hostility, and eventually Hearthcage Giant all left me in a world of hurt with naught but a Judge of Currents, Silvergill Douser, Deeptread Merrow, and Inkfathom Divers. I did have one out, and when Greg did some counting on his turn I felt confident I would be able to capitalize.

Prior to his combat step Greg made 8 mana with his Soulbright Flamekin, then made sure all of his critters had trample, including the two 3/1 Elemental tokens. He turned everything sideways and I went into the tank. My plan was simple: block not-Hearthcage Giant then sell the fact I “didn't realize” you could sacrifice any Elemental to the Giant to make it huge. I did exactly that putting myself into a position to drop to 6 if he didn't go all in and probably lose, but to be at 7 if he did and likely pull it out. Sure enough he started saccing and after we got done reshuffling Hostility I hit him with the bad news, Snapping the Giant's neck, untapping into Drowner of Secrets, and decking him in short order while Healing Salving myself each turn.

I think it's safe to say I got a bit lucky in that game. I'm not sure why Greg didn't consider the possibility of Neck Snap when I had at least four mana open and he was doing a substantial amount of damage to me while trading favorably for most of my board, but that oversight on his part gave me the foothold to get back into the game. Suffice to say that trick was certainly not going to work twice against him.

Game 2: Greg opened on Ashling the Pilgrim and I actually had to swallow a knot out of my throat. The legend threatened to wreak unconscionable havoc on my team if I wasn't careful, and I needed to find an answer fast. Fortunately for me my Whirlpool Whelm was sitting on top of my library, waiting for me. That would allow me to reset the Pilgrim just prior to Greg hitting six mana and critical mass, then hopefully I could draw into a Moonglove Extract.

In the meanwhile I began deploying creatures making Silvergill Douser and Harpoon Sniper. When I hit four mana I made Judge of Currents then passed, intent on Whirlpooling the Pilgrim. Greg made Cloudcrown Oak and I bounced his Pilgrim, winning the clash with Mulldrifter. The Drifter yielded me Moonglove Extract to answer the re-played Pilgrim, and from there it was pretty basic as my creatures began making favorable attacks while Greg was forced to chump losing threat after threat to a combination of Harpoon Sniper and Silvergill Douser.

2-0

Round 3 Raine

Game 1: Raine won the roll and opened on a Tideshaper Mystic to begin with. He couldn't hear the inner groan at the thought of playing the mirror match, but it looked like that was what was to be. My hand seemed good for the mirror; a Silvergill Adept promised to keep me ahead of my opponent in the card count and a Deeptread Merrow was actually going to cause problems for him on the ground. Initially that's how things played out with Raine getting in for a few using his 1/1 while I bashed back with an unblockable 2/1. When he played a Plains revealing we were playing a true mirror match things promised to get interesting, and soon enough they did.

A Summon the School hit play for Raine, and he was in a healthy enough position to begin recurring it. I had managed to draw a glut of land but kept the Merrow swinging in each turn, hoping to turn things into a race. Silvergill Douser for me prevented his Merrow Harbinger from dealing damage in the red zone, but I very quickly got Schooled and an Oblivion Ring on my Douser sent me to my sideboard for game 2.

Game 2: I boarded in a Wispmare for Aquitect's Will hoping to nab Raine's Oblivion Ring if it came up. During the draft I had hoped to Snag a Counterspell or two, and was regretting not having been able to do so a great deal. Raine had managed to pick some up, and I knew I would have to be mindful of them when resolving some of my spells.

Things started off well for me with an early Judge of Currents giving me an edge in life. Raine came back with Streambed Aquitects but I continued to stay ahead in the race thanks to Springleaf Drum and Stonybrook Angler. Eventually Raine tapped out to play Merrow Harbinger and I managed to resolve Drowner of Secrets. In the mirror match I consider that card to be one of the most important elements of the Merfolk deck (and consider it very strong on its own), and game 2 against Raine demonstrated why. He was left trying to get through on the ground while I went to town on his library, free from the meddling of blockers and life gain. My Judge made sure I was gaining 5 life or so each turn meaning Raine was attacking for only 1 or 2 damage, or 1/10th of my beginning win resource (life) while I was milling for 3-5 cards each turn, or approximately 1/7th of his (cards in library). It isn't hard to determine which of those two numbers is greater.

Game 3: I run out turn 2 Deeptread Merrow while Raine makes a Drowner of Secrets. Sensing an opportunity I play my own, and it's my two Merfolk to his singleton. He makes matters worse for himself by playing a Mulldrifter, potentially saving me two Drowner activations in the race to the bottom of our decks. After untapping he plays his sixth land and Oblivion Rings my Drowner. I had seen that play coming, however, and was prepared with the trump: Wispmare. Unfortunately for me Raine had a second trump in the form of Faerie Trickery.

My heart sank.

The Merrow tried to islandwalk a game of it, but the math from the previous battle works out again in the final, albeit it in Raine's favor. I gained oodles of life each turn using my Judges of Currents, but his army supporting Drowner was simply too much.

2-1

Sideboarding

Through the first two rounds of City Champs week one I did zero sideboarding. That isn't to say I didn't look to see if there might be something worth bringing in, simply that I couldn't find something relevant and left my maindeck as it was for the second and third games. Not being able to sideboard in a ‘new' draft format is a sign to me that one has not yet mastered the nuances of the environment. It amazes me to no end at PTQs when players can go an entire match without touching their sideboard in an effort to at least see if there's something they should bring in against their opponent. If checking but not bringing anything in is a sign of not understanding the nuances of an environment, not even bothering to check is surely a lack of understanding the nuances of drafting in general.

Of course, some cards in the board are easy to figure out. Wispmare, which I sideboarded games two and three against Raine, is great against Oblivion Ring, Forced Fruition, Fertile Ground, Epic Proportions, Glimmerdust Nap, etc. and the 1/3 flyer attached is actually the booters. In fact, the Japanese players value the card highly enough to run copies main, as Kenji Tsumura and Kazuya Hirabayashidid at the recent Grand Prix-Kitakyuushuu. Other cards are not so easy to see or understand; Shields of Velis Vel is a great example. Merfolk are usually weak and the number of X/1s you wind up playing within that tribe is often high. For that reason a card like Peppersmoke or heaven Forbid Hurly Burly can absolutely wreck you if you're unprepared. The Shields help counteract those cards and potentially Thundercloud Shaman as well. It is these slightly more nuanced cards which are difficult to find as you figure out a Limited format and as a result, for the first time in probably two years I played two straight matches of Limited without sideboarding anything.
Game 1: Luke won the die roll and came blaring out of the gates with a turn 3 Blind-Spot Giant. I had a lowly Silvergill Adept which put me into Springleaf Drum and promised to enable a turn 4 Inkfathom Divers. Before we got there, however, Luke made a second Blind-Spot and bashed me to 16. The Divers hit play as expected revealing a medium-powered set of four cards on top of my library. On Luke's return attack they happily traded for one of the Blind-Spots though the other got through putting me to 12. Post-combat Luke mainphased a Giant's Ire but had no other threats to play. For the moment he seemed out of steam and I seemed to be at just 8 life.

That quickly changed as I peeled my Judge of Currents, stacked to be on top, then utilized it with Springleaf Drum to play Drowner of Secrets. With that combo on the board my life total quickly swung back around and Luke could do nothing but offer up a Glarewielder a few turns later while being milled to death. I felt a little guilty about being the benefactor of some very good fortune as Drowner activation after Drowner activation revealed sauciness while Luke could do nothing but draw lands. By the end of things he had revealed Tarfire, Heat Shimmer, double Lash Out, and scariest of all a Thundercloud Shaman.

For the final games of the match I decided to board in a Shields of Velis Vel over my Aquitect's Will in the hopes the instant could catch his Thundercloud Shaman and/or a potential Hurly Burly for the save.

Game 2: Luke opened on Fire-Belly Changeling which I answered with Judge of Currents. He seemed content to charge in with the firebreather, pumping to do maximum damage while I simply made Silvergill Douser and started undoing said damage. Eventually an Inkfathom Divers joined the party though Luke complicated matters with a Thundercloud Shaman. If I recall correctly I had a Moonglove Extract for his Changeling in response, then Shields to save my team. Unfortunately he had a Heat Shimmer the following turn and my only out was to Whirlpool Whelm the Shaman to counter the Shimmer. That meant he was going to get a free replay so I bashed with my team to drop him to 12.

After the Shaman went off again I was able to rip Mulldrifter complementing my Inkfathom Divers and that gas netted me a second Judge of Currents which allowed me to maintain a high enough life total to get through in the air.

3-1

Round 5 Chris

Game 1: Chris managed to win the die roll but came out of the gates pretty slowly. I managed to draw Springleaf Drum in my draw step for a turn 1 play, then followed up with Judge of Currents. That quickly led to a Mulldrifter on turn 4 while Chris simply had a Glarewielder to bash me to 18 with the help of Fertile Ground. A second Judge joined my side of the table and I started to set myself up to win a long game from simply drawing a ton of cards off of Mulldrifter. The first reset came at the hands of Whirlpool Whelm with damage on the stack against Mulldrifter. That replay netted me the other ‘Drifter and that drew me into one final rebuy using Warren Pilferers.

Chris meanwhile had been adding the occasional Elemental to the board, indicating he was playing the Soulbright Flamekin deck with Ceaseless Searblades and Inner-Flame Igniter to create a critical mass turn in which a whole host of activations created a dead opponent. He even had the Caterwauling Boggart to make sure his creatures got there. Unfortunately for him I was way up in the card count and hit Drowner of Secrets with double Judge. That turned into a nightmare for him as my life total quickly rocketed to 50+ while his library slowly dwindled. Interestingly enough while he was being milled I saw precious little targeted removal, which boded quite well for me for the second game.

Game 2: The second game saw Chris start on a mulligan but still manage to get an early Glarewielder, this time from Smokebraider instead of Fertile Ground. I have an early Judge of Currents which is joined by a second and then both are joined by Drowner of Secrets. In a normal situation that would probably be game over but Chris puts together Ceaseless Searblades, Inner-Flame Igniter, Flamekin Brawler, and Smokebraider to make life difficult. Even gaining 6 life each turn I was still in a potential spot to lose if Chris managed to critical mass his Searblades.

Unfortunately for him he was stuck without a second color for much of the game and when he finally did try to go big on the 2/4, I had the Neck Snap ready. At 29 life and gaining nearly 10 each turn I managed to exhaust the remaining cards in his library for a hard fought victory.

And that was that. Thanks to the loss to Raine round 3 the final record for the night was 4-1, good for two Store Ranking points. The tournament itself was a blast, and I'm excited about the City Championships tournaments to come. The truly exciting thing is seeing more and more Lorwyn Limited, learning each time I sit down to draft/sealed deck. It seems very apparent Wizards of the Coast has done a good job of making this Limited format engaging, challenging, and most importantly fun.

-Bill Stark
Assistant editor, TCGplayer.com
billtriesagain@hotmail.com

1st Place North Carolina States Report

For starters, here’s the list I played here at NC champs in highpoint, attendance 194:

Blink Riders

4 Momentary Blink
3 Avalanche Riders
4 Riftwing Cloudskate
4 Lash Out
4 Mana Tithe
4 Coalition Relic
4 Lightning Angel
3 Seige-Gang Commander
2 Disintegrate
2 Aven Riftwatcher
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
4 Nimbus Maze
4 Shivan Reef
2 Battlefield Forge
4 Island
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Plains
2 Mountain

SB
3 Aeon Chronicler
1 Avalanche Riders
3 Cryoclasm
2 Teferi's Moat
1 Fortune Thief
2 Return to Dust
2 Aven Aiftwatcher
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury

My roommate Ryan and I show up, after almost not being able to find a ride to highpoint from State (that would have sucked….). Thursday night of that week I was reviewing some of Shaheen Soorani’s blink riders lists from old standard and Yokohama, and threw it together. Gotta throw a big thanks out to him while I’m here.
Anyway, Lash Out was my new lightning helix that just so happened to kill creatures and planeswalkers, all while “scrying” through my deck. Mana tithe helped with the curve, surviving to my bombs, and coalition relic quickly replaced prismatic lens/azorious signet for the same reason… that card is just sick, especially in this deck.
Back to the tourney, after receiving jokes about how horrible my list is from friends from back home, the shindig gets under way promptly. Props to the judges and shuffle-up events for another awesome one by the way, not even a single re-pair and 8 rounds were over by 8 pm. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Round 1
John Campbell with r/b/x elementals

Game 1 I play, start out with a riftwing suspended, relic + mana tithe on the next turn, and aven riftwatcher + blink backup from there. Easily win on 20 life.

Game 2, he keeps a mana-lite hand relying on smokebraider. That thing is dangerous, so I disintegrate it for 1. He stalls on lands for a few turns, but plays a harbinger getting smokebriader when he hits 3 mana. Following that he plays it and another harbinger getting the 4 mana 5/3 hasty champion elemental. Im holding lash out, wait until the end of his draw phase and lash out his smokebraider so he cant clash the 4 drop to the bottom. Now hes drawn dead, and I can ride siege gang ftw.

1-0

Round 2
William bingham with g/b elves

He’s playing the exact star city list. Game 1 he finds very quick beats on the play and I am dead fast when I don’t draw a 3rd land after I keep 2 land + relic on the draw.

Game 2, I simply play a riftwing cloudskate off of suspend and have 3 mana tithes. He kept a low land mana elf hand which didn’t work out because of this. Cloudskate goes the distance. I intentionally do not play my relics or teferis moats here though I could have, so he doesn’t have a reason to bring in disenchant effects

Game 3, my draw is bad but I manage to hang in there long enough to drop teferis moat on green with a cloudskate in play and blink in hand (so I can bounce my moat if he attempts to kill it). The look on his face indicates that he didn’t board in any kind of removal for it, and he concedes when I drop a lightning angel.

2-0

Round 3
Erik Lundbald playing U/b/w Faeries

This is a very interesting deck, and Erik is a cool guy that I’ve always seen at the top tables but have always dodged having to play. Game 1 he uses his life total as a resource while developing enough mana through storage lands to drop teferi and have cryptic command backup. He then begins to chain the mana short faeries through championing one into the other and vensering, quasi pickles locking me. Thus, im tapped out every turn and succumb to beats. Finally get to go to the control package out of board.

Im on the play and my hand is 4 lands, cryoclasm, avalanche riders, blink. KEEP. He concedes 3 minutes later.

Game 3, I finally see a mana tithe in my opener against him. Turn 3 I drop a relic, he charges a storage land for a second time. Turn 4 I drop another relic and he responds with teferi when I don’t have 2 mana up. DING, counter. The look on his face says it all, he was relying on that play. I drop avalanche riders the next turn when he has to tap 3 lands to charge and remove a counter, to pull from eternity my cloudskate. He never recovers.

3-0

Round 4
Peter Akeley with G/R beats

I’ve gotten to be good friends with the UNC team from down the road, and know that they are all playing r/g beats of a more resilient variety than we tested, 2 of them with maindeck beacon of destruction and troll ascetic and the like. I ‘m on the play, and mull into the 2 land + relic opener again. Bad news, as I again don’t draw the 3rd land in time. I quickly scoop to board.

Game 2 I play a fast lightning angel when he has a slow-ish start when he pays echo for his mogg war marshall. I don’t block his 1/1’s so my angel doesn’t get incinerated, and easily win.

Game 3 is very close, even after my life total reaches 26 from aven riftwatcher tricks. Im playing offense because of this, but run out of steam with him at 7 and he’s gaining momentum. I take a gargadon hit before I can untap to riftwing it back to his hand. I drop precariously low to 4, but draw teferi’s moat. He doesn’t have the immediate answer, which allows me to disintegrate him out 2 turns later.

4-0

Round 5
Tyler Mollencompf playing nearly the same g/r beats

Tyler is one of the other team UNC kids, and I had to play him in the finals for PTQ Yokohama here. Funny story, as I am now again playing a r/w/u deck (scepter chant before), and he is playing a r/g beats list again. Unfortunately for the stage, this one is very anti-climatic as game 1 he mulls on the draw and keeps a 1 land hand. I find a quick avalanche riders and were on to game 2.

Char isn’t legal. Double lightning angel. Enough said.

5-0

Round 6
Ken Du with G/w aggro

How lucky, my best matchup and im 5-0. he has a troll ascetic. I have a turn 3 relic, turn 4 morph akroma + blink in response to his crib swap. I purposely don’t leave Blue mana up so that he thinks I misplayed a vesuvan shapeshifter and he bites. Akroma very quickly ends the game in chunks of 10.

He has a fast start, and drops a garruk early. I riftwing it back to his hand when it un-suspends, since he chose to untap lands. He replays it, this time making an elephant. I lash out the elepant, win the clash, and kill his garruk with the 3 damage. Talk about efficient. The card I reveal is another riftwing, while he has another garruk on top. I draw the riftwing and cast it, being able to finally take the offensive. He plays the garruk, and I rip another lash out off the top. Wash, rinse, repeat. I win the insuing damage race thanks to an aven riftwatcher.

6-0

Round 7
Ryan Gerleve with g/r beats

ID

Ryan is my roommate here at NC State, and is 5-0-1 at this point. This puts us in a tricky situation, as if we draw he has to win his next one to make top 8. We go with that, and he does end up beating g/b elves in the next round thanks to martyr of ashes.

6-0-1

Round 8

ID with my opponent that I would eventually face in the finals.

6-0-2, finishing the swiss in 3rd.

Top 8

Quarters playing Chris with G/R elementals

Chris is the last of the UNC crew, playing a very different G/R list than the others. One maindeck heat shimmer? Well, they told me it was janky, but the man top 8’ed!

Game 1, I get a fast lightning angel and take damage instead of blocking with her to race and avoid having her incinerated post combat. Siege gang easily provides enough blockers for this.

Game 2, he gets down an early goyf and swings with it and a treetop village into my lightning angel. I think hes bluffing the incinerate, so I block the village. Im correct in my assumption, and he never really recovers when my riftwing comes in to further tempo. I play siege gang, he plays timbermare, and I blink after. He scoops to that.

Semis against Steven Grueshaber and goyf rock

He plays, and has the thoughtseize into auger of skulls into stupor draw, but only a treetop village on offesnse after. I have no hand but do have 5 mana in play. Rip avalanche riders to deal with treetop village, but he finds a goyf the turn after I pay echo. Draw and cast a riftwing, continue pressure, draw a land and take a goyf hit, then draw a venser. The tempo is too much and I swarm with 2/2’s.

Game 2 I lash out his turn 2 auger and he has no stupor to follow it up with. My mana base is horrible, with 3 pain lands and a nimbus maze, but I take the hit and drop a lightning angel, expecting it to get slammed with some kind of shreikmaw, deathmark, anything. It doesn’t, and actually goes the entire distance. He must have just drawn a ton of lands, because by the time he found a relavant play I had already found siege gang commander and had a full stacked hand.

Finals vs. goyf rack

Game 1 wasn’t a good sign. He wrecks my hand early before I can muster much defense, and then plays 2 goyfs. I know I’m dead after that, so I quickly scoop and move to the 2nd.

I notice his list is land-lite so I board in avalanche riders #4, chronics, 1 return to dust, and teferi’s moats. He’s packing extirpate, so I take out a blink and some other random 1-ofs. This game doesn’t go smoothly. Here’s the situation late: Im on 4 lands and 2 relics, no cards in hand, no board, and 13 life. Im staring down a huge tarmogoyf, an elephant token, and 2 Oona’s prowlers… I count my mana and decide that the only way I’m going to be able to do anything is to just rip siege gang commander, so I charge the relics and pray. Well, I rip the siege gang! After nearly jumping out of my seat, I go into the think tank. Block goyf, before damage shoot a prowler, absorb 6 to go to 7 life. He cant kill my commander, so I know I can make some more profitable blocks and live to dig deeper into my library. Block block, shoot shoot, untap, draw. He has no cards in hand now, and I then procede to rip teferi’s moat off the top! Yes, ok, my deck now officially loves me. I play it on green, and stabilize. 2 turns later I have an aeon chronicler suspended to start the flow of cards, and rip a second moat and play it also on green, just in case. Disintegrate for 8 to his dome ends it some turns later.

After that come back, game 3 ends in slightly faster fashion. He runs his auger of skulls into my mana tithe on turn 2, and doesn’t have the stupor on turn 3. I just play relics and bide my time, holding a full grip of powerful cards. Charge up, play siege gang with blink back up, blink in response to his attempt to kill, all the while he’s stuck on 3 lands. Untap with 6 tokens and the mega man, all the while with double venser in hand, and this game is over very very fast. Blink with red brings it home!




matchups:

G/R aggro: ive seen 2 versions, one very fast with keldon mauraders and inner-flames like my roommate ryan gerleve top 8’ed with and the other one with an elemental theme. This is generally a 70/30 is your favor, even better if they are the elemental version which is so much more susceptible to mana tithe and bounce. A quick lightning angel wins races, lash out is awesome esp vs treetop village, and siege gang is just I win. Bring in riftwatcher, thief, and moats, drop avalanche riders and the akroma.

Blue based control and teachings: They have to deal with your threats one at a time, so make them. If you manage to get an avalanche riders online, you’re golden. There are really 2 routes to victory, tempo or single threat bombs. Use relics to play around early counters, red akroma ftw if it actually goes that long. If they are trying to 1 for 1 you on threats, they will lose to blink alone. Cyroclasm + aeon chronicler + 4th riders come in for lash outs and choice of other cards that change per matchup, return to dust comes in against teachings.

Goyf rack/rock: Played this twice in the top 8, its annoying but not bad. They start on turn 2, which means mana tithe is so good. Watch the sad faces when u counter auger of skulls/tarmogoyf while u were on the draw, even better on stupor. Better yet, hit them with lash out. You have so many bombs that you recover well after discard, as long as huge goyfs don’t eat you alive you’ll be fine. Chonricler and moat come in, out a blink if u think extirpate is coming in, as well as random other 1 ofs, as generally your whole deck is good against them. Return to dust for rack if they play it.

g/b elves: Lash out or disintegrate a mana elf if able on turn 2, mana tithe their 3 drop if you have it obv. If u can do either of these things, the bounce will clean up the rest. They don’t have much removal, so any guy you draw is sick. Siege gang will single handedly win this matchup, with or without blink. Board the same as for g/r

g/w, doran, and other midrange: you cant lose this matchup, seriously. A single riftwing cloudskate is enough to slow them down, much less anything else you do. They often can’t even handle akroma, so you board in the extra one. They really have no board for you, so enjoy the free win.

Other tempo decks: your bombs are just better when you play red. IMO, blinking a siege gang is so much better than blinking a mystic snake, as you can just win the game instead of being so reactive all the time. Lighting angel just wins occasionally too, she is just so efficient.

Deck is insane in the meta-game, I really wish more relevant tournaments were coming up so I could play it again. IMO, mulldrifter isn’t very good, as you really need blink to make it worth much. Is it better than aeon chronicler in the board? If you have any suggestions, comments, randomness, testing here in North Carolina, etc. post them in the forums or in email/AIM. Thanks for reading and maybe I’ll be around for some limited action ptq’in next weekend in highpoint.

Davin Frankosky

States Report: & U/w Primer

As you probably guessed by the title, I will be talking about Wu control today. This being probably my third or fourth article ever, I will try not to lose you guys. On the same note, I would appreciate any responses on the forums. Moving on, before the release of Lorwyn, or for that matter, the spoilers on MTGsalvation.com, I had been telling my playtesting partner that I would definitely be playing teachings.

Then…
Gaddock Teeg

As I read the card the second time, I could hear Mark Rosewater giving of an evil genius laugh saying, “Burn Baby, burn!!!” I guess R&D is really serious about making control worse, hence the burning. Now, I am not saying that teeg shuts down control, I just didn’t really feel like preparing for champs just to have it ended by one card at the wrong time. Gradually as more cards like Oblivion Ring and Ajani Goldmane were spoiled, I started contemplating a new version of solar flare. I started out with some initial lists, but they all had the same problem, the mana base. They would either take too much pain or be too unstable. I am sure that some variant will appear in the future, but the advantages of the third color just weren’t good enough.

Then the idea struck me, why can’t solar flare be a two color deck. The idea of solar flare is to play the best cards in the colors it plays. By playing two colors I can get the similar power with more consistency. After coming up with the idea, I quickly got together a decklist that looked like this.
4 Desert
1 Urza’s Factory
4 Adarkar Wastes
3 New Benalia
3 Nimbus Maze
5 Island
5 Plains

2 Razormane Masticore
1 Crovax
2 Aeon Chronicler
1 Triskalevus

4 Wrath of God
3 Ajani Goldmane
3 Sacred Mesa
3 Foresee
2 Tidings
3 Coalition Relic
4 Condemn
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Mind Stone

Some of the card choices are odd, but it was a first draft of the deck. I began running it through a mini-gauntlet of Rg goyf, Gbw aggro and Gb rack. Typically when I come up with a new idea I like creating a deck or list of the decks that it has to either beat or have a chance against. Later in testing I added Wg kithkin and teachings to the old-fashioned gauntlet. The deck wasn’t bad, but it didn’t really have the umph that I was looking for. The Tidings were too often uncastable by teeg or showed up too late and were a win more card. The deck’s mana base was also shaky. After about two to three weeks of testing, I finally refined the deck to what I eventually brought to states.

2 Aeon Chronicler
3 Ajani Goldmane
2 Crovax, Ascendant Hero
1 Purity

2 Coalition Relic
4 Condemn
4 Foresee
1 Loxodon Warhammer
3 Mind Stone
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Prismatic Lens
2 Sacred Mesa
2 Story Circle
4 Wrath of God

4 Adarkar Wastes
2 Calciform Pools
2 Flagstones of Trokair
2 Mouth of Ronom
3 Quicksand
2 Snow-Covered Island
4 Snow-Covered Plains
2 Tolaria West
1 Urza's Factory
3 Vivid Meadow

Sideboard
1 Academy Ruins
3 Detritivore
1 Oblivion Ring
3 Porphyry Nodes
4 Quagnoth
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Story Circle
1 Triskelavus

There are a lot of differences between the previous list and this list, but what I really changed was the mana base and the numbers in the maindeck along with adding a sideboard. The only non-repetitive add-in (like Prismatic Lens are like Mind Stones) were Loxodon Warhammer and Story Circles. For card evaluations, I am going to do something a little different, instead of just go through each card, I am going to divide it into categories which gives makes it easier for sideboarding.

Aggro cards
4 Condemn- This was an obvious add in for a white based control deck. I don’t think I would run any less because they deal with almost any creature including the hard to answer Treetop Village.
4 Wrath of God- Again, another card that gets the shoo in.
2 Story Circle- Originally I hadn’t thought of this, but upon browsing various forums, namely the Brainburst.com forums, I found this. It seemed to be the perfect answer to burn or creatures like Treetop Village or Troll Ascetic. It also has a tendency to make opponents play more creatures which gives you a better trade when Wrath of God shows up. It stinks against control most of the time, but otherwise is good.
1 Loxodon Warhammer- Again, I stole this idea from the internet. I found this particular idea when I saw a decklist that top 8ed three Premier Events on Magic Online. Although it was a solar flare deck from pre-rotation, I stilled decided to try out the singleton Loxodon Warhammer the deck had. I tested it and when I drew it, it was almost always amazing. About three days before states, I was talking to some of the playerss from team SLUT (The players from Salt Lake, Utah) that I know and they told me to take it out. I can say that after playing it for State Champs, I made the right choice in playing it. If it lands against aggro with a decent creature equipped, it just wins the game. Against control, it can keep you out of range as well. With lots of good life gain going out of the format, this becomes one of the best new options.
3 Quicksand- these used to be Deserts, but Deserts were really only good against Gr with Mogg War Marshall and fairy decks. Quicksands turned out to be much better as you only need to draw one in order to take out a two toughness creature, not to mention you don’t take damage.

Aggro/control cards
1 Purity- Purity doubled as a nigh unkillable (kill for good that is) threat against control and a giant flying beast that makes aggro cry. I initially ran two, but found that one was the correct number as there were other cards to run and there is always one in play, in your hand, or in your library.

2 Crovax, Ascendant Hero- Again, a card that serves dual purposes. It shrinks aggro armies and makes Sacred Mesa pegasi larger as well. The only downside is that it is not good against kithkin agro due to the pumping of all white creatures. Crovax Is also hard for control to answer apart from countering it or making you discard it to Haunting Hymn.

3 Oblivion Ring- Essentially a Vindicate for non-land permanents there was no way that I could afford to not play this. Against aggro it was straight up removal and against control could disrupt mana sources and remove other permanents from the game. The only down side was having to fight Oblivion Ring wars with other decks running it, i.e. Oblivion Ring your Oblivion Ring to bring back my Oblivion Ring which will remove your other Oblivion Ring… make sense of that without reading it twice.

3 Ajani Goldmane- When everyone was saying that the white planeswalker was bad, I was shaking my head. I just ordered a playset while they were dirt cheap. It is at least a 7 point life gain spell against aggro and if left unanswered can just win the game against aggro. Against control, it can easily live long after it resolves and both power Sacred Mesa and make avatar tokens. Unfortunately, most control these days run cryptic command which can bounce the avatar tokens.

2 Sacred Mesa- This is probably one of the best control cards in standard at the moment. It can stall aggro out pretty well and at the same time be a great win condition. If it resolves it can really give teachings decks fits as well. It is basically everything control looks for in a win condition.

Control
2 Aeon Chronicler- For a good while in playtesting this had been out of the decklist, but I found that I really needed it in order to be able to cast a draw spell or body against Gaddock Teeg aggro. It also doubled up as a 3+ card draw spell against control because most teachings decks don’t run pull from eternity any more. Did I also mention that Loxodon Warhammer makes him a beast.

4 Foresee- Compulsive Research isn’t in the format anymore and this deck still needed more draw power. Foresee is nice because of the scry 4 and it also costs only a single blue, which makes it easier on the mana base. I originally played around with Tidings, but it turned out Foresee was just better.

Other
3 Mind Stone/2 Prismatic Lens/2 Coalition Relic- Like the solar flare decks of the past, this deck wanted to have an acceleration spell turn two which is why I run five. Too bad that the mana fixing is not as good as in the past though. Coalition Relic is also too powerful not to play. The other advantage of using the combination of the three is that they offer late game draw power and also allow for more colors in the sideboard.

25 land mana base- There isn’t much too see here; the usual Urza’s factory andTtolaria West with Mouth of Ronom that many control decks play nowadays. Vivid Meadow is probably the oddest card here so it needs a little explaining. I originally had this as Boreal Shelfs, but most of the time I didn’t need the blue from them. After finding this, I just changed it to meadow which also allow the sideboard to take on more colors.

Matchups and sideboard
Aside from working on my play in general, in the last three constructed seasons (Extended, Block, and now Standard) I have devoted a lot more time to developing my sideboards. At least half, if not more of your games are going to be played sideboarded. Instead of just reposting the sideboard below and again talking about card selection, I think it is best to discuss matchups and the cards for that matchup. So…

Rg Goyf- There are tons of version of this deck, but our version had a minor goblin theme and ran cards like Garruk Wildspeaker and Greater Gargadon with Siege-Gang Commanders. Originally this was unfavorable, but after refining the decklist, it posted a 5-3 record. This was in a large part due to fixing the mana base and adding Warhammers and Story Circles. Also it is important to know that those results are with the final list and that I didn’t include all the games against the deck. So although it seems like a small sample, which it is, there is more backing to saying it is a good matchup. During this match I was left wanting more protection against troll ascetics and treetop villages as well as more cheap removal after sideboarding, meaning cards like Porphyry Nodes and Story Circles. The hard part came in deciding what to cut for this matchup. Eventually I came up with this
-1 Mind Stone
-1 Foresee
-2 Coalition Relic
+3 Porphyry Nodes (I hate spelling that)
+1 Story Circle
The nodes deal with creatures and at the same time give either card advantage or tempo while Story Circle helps out with burn and hard-to-deal-with green creatures. I took out the card draw and mana spells because I am already lowering my curve and nodes compensate for the card advantage

Gb Tarmorack- Originally I thought this would be a lot bigger at states, but I was relieved to find otherwise. At least that was the case at Idaho States (Which is notorius for low attendance. We had 54 players this year). This matchup was bad pre-sideboard due to the nature of discard against control. I believe that it the deck had something like a 1-3 or 1-4 record. Seeing this, I fired up gatherer and quickly found Dodecapod and Quagnoth as cards to lessen discard’s impact. At first I ran Dodecapod, but then found that I just wanted to keep my hand size up so Quagnoth got the go. Same as before, here is the sideboarding.
-3 Ajani Goldmane
-1 Prismatic Lens (not mind stone because it can draw you a card)
-1 Purity
-1 Coalition relic
+4 Quagnoth
+1 Story Circle
+1 Oblivion Ring
The Ajani goes out because it is often just killed by The Rack or you aren’t able to defend it effectively. The Purity goes out because it is very easily killed and there is no burn to worry about. Quagnoth’s are obviously coming in and Oblivion Ring gives an answer to The Rack or any aggro threat. Finally the Story Circle deals with almost all of their creatures. They better hope they packed enchantment removal. The nodes don’t come in because they don’t run too many creatures and there is not much else to take out for them.

Wg aggro
The testing showed that the two important factors in game one are Gaddock Teeg and the die roll. Of the games with the final list, it went 3-2 going first and 2-3 going second. For this matchup I wanted just more removal that could take care of Gaddock Teeg and creatures in general, thus
-2 Crovax, Ascendant Hero (They just don’t work well against white creatures)
-1 Ajani Goldmane
-1 Prismatic Lens
-1 Coalition Relic
+3 Porphyry Nodes
+1 Oblivion Ring
+1 Story Circle
The Crovaxes go out because of white creatures and a goldmane goes out because you generally only need to have one and drop it after stabilizing in this matchup to win. There is no burn to take it out either. The nodes come in and so do the other anti-aggro cards.

Teachings
I hate to say it, but this matchup depends quite a bit on what modifications your opponent is running and their play skill. While playing this matchup the number one thing is knowing how to play around counters. For example wait to cast Mind Stone until the opponent is either tapped out or you have two mana after casting a spell or paying for Rune Snag. Try to make as many of their counterspells dead. The best thing is to run them out of Cryptic Commands (Which I did in three games I played during states) then force through Sacred Mesa. This will be a long game so try to keep up the pace and make sure your opponent does as well to have a good shot at finishing a second game. Here’s the sideboarding
-4 Condemn
-3 Wrath of God
-2 Story Circle
-1 Loxodon Warhammer
+4 Quagnoth
+3 Detritivore
+1 Academy Ruins
+1 Sacred Mesa
+1 Triskelavus

First thing, the nice thing about this, is that they won’t expect it unless they have seen your sideboard. If they boarded out Damnations then Quagnoths are game many times. Unfortunately, not many players do since they help immensely with keeping a Sacred Mesa army at bay. There is still one Wrath of God left to deal with an out of hand board and to add the 4th removal spell. The Detritivores really help to limit mana and adding more problem cards for them makes it hard to Extirpate all of them. I didn’t do much testing on this because there was no one that knew how to play the deck well besides me that I had access to. The two players that could were to busy with school or life to get testing in. I tested about 4 games solitaire and it just helped to get an understanding of what teachings is trying to do in standard (I played it in block to 10th at a PTQ, out of Top 8 on tiebreaks, and day two of Grand Prix-San Fransisco) rather than a win percantage.

There are a ton of other decks to test and all kinds of versions of each deck so I decided to take the sane approach for a 2-3 person team and test a limited amount of matchups that best represented what would be popular and harder for this deck.
Since this article is already pretty long, I have decided to break it down into a two article series. In the next article I will give an overview of the tournament itself and how it went in general.

As for the tournament itself, like always, I woke up at about 7:30 AM and got myself together. After eating breakfast and stopping quickly at a coffee shop I was off to the tournament site. I was surprised/disappointed that the tournament organizer hadn’t been able to get the larger room that we usually have for premier events. Instead there was a rug show and we had to play in a room about half as small. For those that don’t live in Idaho, our events almost always start about an hour after they are supposed to. Play started at about 11:15. Just over 50 players showed up so I expected nothing less than a top 8 or be out on tiebreaks unless I played multiple top players in the swiss.



Round 1- Wild Pair

As I check the pairings I find that I am paired against Ashton at the lower tables. He plays at the local shop. When he sat down he groaned because the last 3-4 times we had played he had lost. I had seen him registering his deck but only saw Whitemane Lions and Rune Snags so I was guessing an aggro deck; I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Game 1

I kept a decent hand after mulling to six. After seeing him play turn one Birds of Paradise and turn two Coalition Relic I had no idea what he was playing. When he finally tapped out to play Wild Pair I knew I would be in for a rough time since I couldn’t draw my Oblivion Ring. I proceeded to play around and fight all four of the Mystic Snakes in his deck that were fetched by Whitemane Lion. I did resolve a Story Circle for blue though in all the madness of Counterspell creatures and bounce spells. The critical play came when he end of turn casted Dust Elemental with two Wild Pair in play, returned it first, then searched for a Numot, the Devastater and an Intet, the Dreamer. He attacked and I cast Condemn on Numot. He in response case Whitemane Lion, and in response to all three triggers, I cast another Condemn on Numot. He then played Venser on Condemn so I replayed it. It finally resolved and I cast my third Condemn on intet. I believe that is how it played out, but I do remember there being a Dust Elemental returning at least one dragon to his hand. In the end he conceded after he ran out of threats.

Sideboarding

-1 Loxodon Warhammer

-1 Crovax Ascendant Hero

+1 Oblivion Ring

+1 Story Circle

The sideboarding just adds the fourth oblivion ring for wild pair and story circle for his dragons. I am fairly sure that is what I boarded out.

Game 2

He didn’t have much action this game and I basically resolved a Sacred Mesa and rode it to victory. There is not much to write on this game, due in part that I don’t remember it as well as the first game.

2-0, record 1-0



Round 2- UB Control w/o mystical teachings

Game 1

I remember seeing my opponent around but don’t know him very well. We both keep our initial seven and start a game that we would never finish. So much happened in this matchup that it is hard to give a good game review. For a good part of the game he was fighting Sacred Mesas and finally did a bounce and counter sequence. Near the end of the game I had exhausted all his Rune Snags, all his Cryptic Commands, and two or three Fairy Trickeries. When time was called I was on 1 life. The turn before I had decided to use my life total to kill another factory token by double blocking it with sacred mesa tokens instead of taking none but letting it live. I managed to stall out the game for the five turns necessary by using Quicksands to take out Shriekmaws and the rest of my tokens. It was unfortunate that we didn’t get to sideboard because I had some fairly mean stuff like Quagnoth and Detritivore in my sideboard.

0-0-1 (we agreed to a 1-1-1 tie to improve tiebreaks though), record 1-0-1



Round 3- Gb Elves

Game 1

I kept my initial seven that were comprised of at least one Oblivion Ring and one Wrath of God. In this game, I kept her stalled for a while but cast Wrath a little too early. She (yes, I was playing girl) kept on laying creatures and the game basically came down to her having four or five 1/1 tokens (due to a Crovax Ascendant Hero I had played), an Imperius Perfect, Wren Run Packmaster, and Garruk Wildspeaker. I was fortunate that she forgot about garruk for about three turns as it gave me some breathing room and gave me ample time to kill it with a Sacred Mesa token equipped with the Loxodon Warhammer I had drawn. I called the head judge and asked for a ruling as to whether or not I would gain life for dealing damage to a planeswalker and he confirmed that I would. Sometime in the game I had also played an Ajani Goldmane which she miraculously left untouched. This allowed me to pump out an avatar token and equip Warhammer to it. Soon after she attacked with three 1/1 wolves and a 1/1 elf token. After briefly double checking that the elf didn’t have any other abilities I blocked with the avatar token which was a 20/20 at the time. This boosted my life total up to 43 and in doing so the avatar token as well. On my turn I just swung in with my avatar token and two 2/2 pegasi. She didn’t have enough toughness to stall my 45/42 trample lifelink avatar token so it went to game 2.

-1 Foresee

-1 Mind Stone

-1 Ajani Goldmane

+3 Porphyry Nodes

The sideboarding for this was simple. I had seen that she had Extirpate in her sideboard because her sideboard was face up when she sat down at the table so I was a little worried.

Game 2

I kept a decent hand and soon found out that she was mana screwed at one land



Aside: Just a thing about mulligans, there are very few circumstances that I would keep a one land hand. You would need to most of the time draw at least two lands to get in the game. If you are on the draw, there is about a 40-45% chance of drawing a land on the first draw (at least in this deck) and a chance of 20-35% of drawing two lands in a row. Not very good odds. Basically, don’t keep one land hands unless you can live with drawing one land in the next 2-4 turns.



Now back to the game. She cast a topdecked Llanowar Elves turn two and I cast a Porphyry Nodes to keep her mana down along with her tempo. This game went quick because by the time she drew land it was already too late due to my Sacred Mesa.

2-0, record:2-0-1



Round 4- Rg Goyf

Game 1-

I keep a marginal hand that has action on turn three in form of Oblivion Ring and some other things. After dropping a Mountain and a Mogg Fanatic he passes the turn. Then I realize this will be a little harder. The next turn he drops a Kavu Predator letting me gain a life with Grove of the Nurnwillows and attacks me back down to twenty. I Oblivion Ring his Kavu Predator the next turn and he Incinerates me and casts another Predator. I clear the board with Wrath and he casts a Garruk and untaps two lands to play a huge Tarmogoyf. He manages to get me down to 3 with no threats on the board. He is unable to draw the last burn spell he needs and I stabilize with life gain.

Sideboard

-1 Mind Stone

-1 Foresee

-1 Coalition Relic

+3 Porphyry Nodes

I am fairly sure that’s how I boarded but it may be a card or two off. I do know I boarded the nodes for sure though.

Game 2

I find myself with an interesting hand to start the game off. I have four lands, one prismatic lens, one coalition relic, and one oblivion ring. In the end I decide to ship it back. I find myself with a better hand after mulliganing and we start game 2. He opens with a suspened Rift Bolt. He plays a second turn Seal of Primordium while I continue to develop my board position. After a brief fight over a threat the game gets interesting. He taps out to cast a Mana Barbs on turn 4. This would be a problem for me if it weren’t for the fact that I was holding the one Purity in my deck. He then attacks with Treetop Village which I take one to Condemn. My life total is now 10. He passes the turn and I go down to 3 taking a pain from Adarkar Wastes and Mana Barbs to cast Purity. He had two cards in hand, so I figured they would have to be Rift Bolts or Incinerates and that he would also have to top another one. He drew and just sacrificed Seal of Primordium targeting his Mana Barbs. After I attacked he just conceded and showed me two the last two cards in his hand, Mana Barbs.

2-0, record: 3-0-1



Aside: After seeing what happened to him that game, and also seeing him sideboard, it just served to confirm what I had thought before, sideboarding can dilute your deck. There aren’t too many times when you want to be taking more than about five cards out for sideboarding, especially in aggro and control unless it serves a similar role. Decks often don’t function the same way after such a large change.



Round 5 UB creature-based control

Standings were posted before the round so I was able to find out who I was playing even before the pairings went up. I quickly asked my teammates if they knew what my opponent was playing and they told me a UB control deck with stuff like Sower of Temptations and Deserts.

Game 1

I mulled a one lander then drew a hand of a condemn, oblivion ring, another spell, a prismatic lens, mind stone, and land. In the end I decided to keep this despite what I said earlier. However, it was not a decision that was not thought through. I did the math in my head to back it up. Since I had one land in my hand, hence twenty four in the deck, and two draws to get a land I figured there would be about a 70% chance of hitting the land I needed. I got this number from figuring that there is about a 40-45% chance of hitting one of 24 cards out of a 54 deck then square the difference of that and 100% for the odds of not getting a land which turns out to be about 25-30%. Then I had to think about what I could improve to by mulliganing, assuming that I hit my land. The answer was not much, since I would draw about the same amount of mana sources. The odds played out exactly how I had planned and I drew my land on the second draw. I cast Mind Stone which he countered and a Prismatic Lens the turn after which he also countered. I also played the land I had drawn. I was able to get back in the game since he had a very slow start. He played out two Sower of Temptations which fought over Purity. With the help of a Loxodon Warhammer, the Sowers were able to get me to low life. I was able to pull it out by using both of my Mouth of Ronoms to kill his Sowers and force a Sacred Mesa through for the win. With about ten minutes on the clock we shuffled up for game two.

-2 story circle

-1 purity

+3 quagnoth

After looking back, I am very unsatisfied at how I sideboarded. Since there were ten minutes on the clock I knew my opponent would be trying to get a quick win. All I needed to do was stall him out and force a draw (Not by cheating of course). Here is what I should have done.

-2 aeon chronicler

-1 purity

-2 crovax ascendant hero

-1 loxodon warhammer

-1 mind stone

+3 porphyry nodes

+2 quagnoth

+1 story circle

+1 oblivion ring

This way I don’t let my opponent back in with Sower on my creatures. It also lessens the chances that he will resolve a threat that can win the game and keep it on the board. Anyway, this is how the game played out

Game 2

I mulligan a one land Urza’s Factory hand and keep my second. Throughout most of the game my opponent keeps on trying to rush me. I just keep a decent pace due to a very unpleasant past experience in which something much worse than a match deciding mistake happened; I have since decided only to play superfast when I truly need to. He plays a turn four Sower of Temptations which I Wrath. He then plays a second one and I Oblivion Ring it. I believe this was a mistake as it opened him up to Cryptic Command end of turn with counter backup afterwards.. I had another Wrath of God in hand that I should have used. The real mistake came when I suspended an Aeon Chronicler for 1 only to have it take by a Sower of Temptations end of turn because Oblivion Ring was bounced by the aforementioned Cryptic Command. I managed to find a Quagnoth but it only delayed the inevitable as my Chronic under his control was a 5/5. My last ditch Wrath of God was countered. As we were shuffling for game three time was called so the match ended in a draw. This is what I call an error in execution a game plan. I knew I wanted to stall out, but I didn’t take the right actions to insure that.

1-1-1, Record 3-0-2



Round 6- Gb removal.dec (not really, but that’s what I like to call it)

For this round I was playing someone that I knew from a city about an hour and a half from the tournament site. I had looked at his deck two rounds before so I knew it would be easy because his deck was geared very much towards aggro, something that I was not. It seems that every time I have seen him at states he is playing rock with a bit of removal, hence the name of removal.dec. His record was 3-2 so I asked him if he would concede but he told me that if he was going to concede, it would not be until at least after the we played it out. I couldn’t argue with that, it’s how I would do it. Then at least about 50% of the time the person who is asking you will win and you don’t have to make the decision on conceding or not.

Game 1

From the life totals it looks like he did not even deal one point of damage to me. He played a turn one Thoughtseize but I don’t remember what he took. Soon after I played a Story Circle naming green and after about a turn more he just scooped.

-1 Prismatic Lens

-1 Loxodon Warhammer

-1 Ajani Goldmane

+3 Porphyry Nodes

Again the sideboarding was fairly straight forward. The Warhammer went out because of his removal and the Ajani instead of Foresee because I knew he had Stupors. In his sideboard.

Game 2

He plays a turn one Thoughtseize and the turn after plays two Thoughtseizes. Over the course of the next turns he played the last thoughtseize as well. I somehow was able to draw out of it with the help of mind stone and foresee, kill all his creatures and get a threat to finish the game. After the game he told me he probably would have conceded anyway.

2-0, record, 4-0-2

At this point I was fairly happy about making the top 8 the second year in the row and was hoping to get deeper in the tournament this time. After a brief wait the, top 8 got underway.



Quarterfinals- UB not sans mystical teachings

My opponent for this round would be against a friend. I had played him once before at a JSS (not MSS, it was a JSS back then) in the finals and won. Back then he was playing GW Glare and I was playing Greater Gifts. I guess the tutor decks were switched this time.

Game 1

Since he had not seen my deck in action, I decided that I would act like I had several counterspells even though I didn’t. I was probably able to buy several turns from an inevitable Haunting Hymn backed by Cryptic Command and Pact of Negation in the process. After that he cast end of turn Teferi and Triskalevus that swung twice. When damage was on the stack to bring me to four, he extirpated my Sacred Cesa to take a look at my deck. I decided that it would be best not to concede because I had Wrath of God to clear the board. When I played it on my turn, it resolved after trike brought me to one because of the tokens. He then played EOT Grim Harvest for Triskelavus and killed me on his turn.

-4 Condemn

-3 Wrath of God

-1 Loxodon Warhammer

-2 Story Circle

+4 Quagnoth

+3 Detritivore

+1 Sacred Mesa

+1 Academy Ruins

+1 Triskelavus

Game 2

My starting hand was comprised of about six mana sources so after a little of deliberation I decided to keep. I drew an Aeon Chronicler which drew me into Detritivore which I suspended soon after. He played Teferi that I couldn’t deal with before my creatures would have come into play. I eventually cast oblivion ring on it. We both laughed as we made jokes of the removed from game zone.



After a lot of playing around counters the board position funneled down into two critical turns. Rahim, my opponent, had three cards in hand, Teferi in play, and was at 1 with nine mana sources. I had twelve mana sources including an Urza’s Factory, Quicksand, and Mouth of Tonom and an Urza’s Factory token. I was also at 8 and had an Oblivion Ring, Crovax, Ascendant Hero and Sacred Mesa in hand. He attacked with a Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and I decided to take it going down to five. At the end of the turn I created a factory token. On my turn I declared my attack phase and the factory tokens as attackers. He then flashed in a Triskelavus and Slaughter Pacted a token. I decided to Mouth of Ronom the Triskelavus making him create two tokens and block the factory token with one. This put me at six lands untapped and at 5. The exchange left him with a slaughter pact upkeep to pay, Teferi, and a triskalevite token. I had to decide between casting Sacred Mesa or Oblivion Ring first to survive. When I cast Oblivion Ring he cast Pact of Negation on it. As I surveyed the board, I also noticed I had tapped my Quicksand. This left me dead on the board even if though I had a resolved Sacred Mesa because of the four damage from his creatures and a sac of the token. This is a mistake that has been bugging me since. After analyzing the situation thoroughly and thinking of every possible outcome on what he could have done with Pact of Negation, I figured out that had I played the Sacred Mesa first, I would have won the game. He would have not been able to kill me and I could have played Crovax, Ascendant hero the turn after to prevent Grim Harvest on Triskelavus from killing me. In the end, it was a play mistake, but it is not one I could have obviously prevented. I gave him the chance to draw the exact combination of four cards to win the game (Slaughter Pact, Pact of Negation, Triskelavus, his 3rd Cryptic Command (to bounce my Oblivion Ring), and Triskelavus.) by playing Oblivion Ring first, For most people, they would complain about his luck, but I am more upset about my mistake. At the very best, I know for next time and even if I had won, I would have to win game three as well.

0-2, Final Record 4-1-2

Overall states was a good tournament that certainly taught me many things. Of course, I will learn from the 2-3 mistakes that I made that I explained. That is probably the only light side to making a mistake in a tournament, you will probably never do the same mistake again. I hope that you guys have enjoyed the article and will put it to good use. With a PTQ coming up, don’t be surprised if you see another article from me in the near future.
 
Pedro Rodriguez

Staxw For Extended

Staxs is a deck played to much success in Vintage. Staxs is a control deck which uses Uba Mask, Trinisphere, Smokestack, tangle wire and many power nine cards for accel to create a “lock” on your opponent were they don’t have any permanents or draw any cards. Here is a sample list played by Robert Vroman at the 2006 world championships.

Artifacts
1 Black Lotus
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet 1Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
3 Null Rod
4 Smokestack
1 Sol Ring
4 Tangle Wire
1 Trinisphere
4 Uba Mask
1 Duplicant
1 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Goblin Welder
3 MountainLands
3 Barbarian Ring
4 Bazaar Of Baghdad
4 Mishra’s Workshop
2 Rishadan Port
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
1 Tolarian Academy

I loved this deck idea so much I decided to try and convert it to extended. This is the list I came up with.

Lands
4 [DIS] Ghost Quarter
1 [GP] Stomping Ground
3 [OD] Barbarian Ring
1 [DIS] Blood Crypt
2 [GP] Steam Vents
1 [TSP] Academy Ruins
4 [TSB] Gemstone Mine
2 [MR] Blinkmoth Well
4 [RAV] Watery Grave
1 [TE] Stalking Stones

Creatures
4 [PCS] Simian Spirit Guide
3 [OD] Braids, Cabal Minion

Spells
3 [7E] Howling Mine
3 [8E] Ensnaring Bridge
3 [MR] Talisman of Dominance
2 [TE] Static Orb
3 [DS] Trinisphere
4 [MR] Thirst for Knowledge
3 [FD] Crucible of Worlds
4 [JU] Burning Wish
3 [CHK] Gifts Ungiven
2 [CHK] Uba Mask

Sideboard
SB: 3 [MR] Chalice of the Void
SB: 3 [7E] Duress
SB: 1 [TSB] Tormod’s Crypt
SB: 1 [CHK] Cranial Extraction
SB: 1 [TO] Devastating Dreams
SB: 1 [9E] Wildfire
SB: 1 [PS] Hull Breach
SB: 1 [GP] Shattering Spree
SB: 1 [PCS] Damnation
SB: 1 [MR] Dampening Matrix

The deck runs on the lock with Uba Mask and Ensnaring Bridge so that your opponents can’t attack you. Here are the card uses and the explanations for putting them in the deck.

Lands
Ghost Quarter- Hates on nonbasic lands especially tron and when coupled with Crucible of Worlds makes for a very good combo
Barbarian Ring- Provides red land and once you reach threshold it is one of your primary win cons when combined with Crucible of the Worlds
Academy Ruins- Gets back your artifacts if your opponent destroys them
Gemstone Mine- Provides color fixing
Blinkmoth Well- Taps static orb so that you can untap all of you permanents instead of just 2
Stalking Stones- Man land one of your primary win cons

Creatures
Simian Spirit Guide- Adds land so you can hit the turn 1-2 Trinisphere or any of the other 3 mana artifacts
Braids, Cabal Minion- Is your Smokestack although not as powerful it still kills your opponents stuff and with crucible out u never run out of things to sac into it. It can also win the game by swinging with it.



Artifacts
Howling Mine- Card drawing you can use Blinkmoth Well so that only you draw the extra card. Also this gives you the ability to mill your opponent if you set up a lock with Uba Mask, Braids, and Bridge.
Ensnaring Bridge- One of the most important cards in the deck. This card keeps you alive. When combined with Uba Mask your opponent will never be able to attack again.
Talisman of Dominance- Mana fixing is its only use
Static Orb- Another very important card in the deck, this is one of your “lock cards” that prevents your opponent from untapping while you sill can by tapping it at the end of their turn with Blinkmoth Well.
Trinisphere- This is another “lock card”. This card makes the game extremely difficult for your opponent when you have Braids out by making everything cost 3 when your opponents can’t get any lands to stick.
Crucible of Worlds- Is a very important part of the deck. It allows you to combo with Barbarian ring to kill off your opponent.
Uba Mask – This is the coup de grace card in your deck. This and Ensnaring Bridge say your opponent can never attack you. This also says your opponent doesn’t draw any more cards.

Spells
Thirst for Knowledge – Thirst is your basic card draw, which is important in this deck so you can find Gifts or your artifacts.
Burning Wish- This allows you to tutor out cards useful for any situation with your Wish-board.
Gifts Ungiven- Gifts is what makes this deck possible. If you cast and resolve Gifts the possibilities are endless. But you are usually going to get Ancient Ruins, Crucible of the World, Uba Mask, and Ensnaring Bridge. This allows you to set up your lock with Mask and Bridge. If you already have 1 of these cards get a Static Orb, Trinisphere, or a Burning Wish.

Sideboard
Chalice of the Void- Useful against combo decks or aggro
Duress- Good against control
Tormod’s Crypt- Aggro Loam, Tog, anything that uses the graveyard
Dampening Matrix- Scepter Chant, Tog, Madness, King of the Castle
Wish Board
Cranial Extraction- Tooth, Combo, and Aggro Loam
Devastating Dreams- LD and creature removal
Wildfire- LD and creature removal
Hull Breach- Enchantment and artifact hate
Shattering Spree- artifact hate
Damnation- Creature hate


Match ups
TEPS- This is an easy first game if you can get an early braids or Uba Mask. Also Cranial Extracting Mind’s Desire hurts them so they have to wish for it and 1 copy usually isn’t enough to go off with. If you have Trinisphere out as well it is pretty much un winnable for them because they can use cabal and Rite of Flame with out having 2 extra mana open. Trinisphere also affects dark Water Egg and Lotus Bloom.

Sideboarding- -3 Ensnaring Bridge they have no creatures so whats the point
+ 3 Duress Hurts the Combo pieces and gets early accell

No Stick/ Scepter Chant- A hard match to be sure. You just have to play around their counters and get a Shattering Spree with wish and hope to get a braids and/or a static orb out.

Sideboarding- -3 Ensanaring- Bridge Again no creatures
-3 Howling Mine- We don’t want them drawing anymore cards
-1 Trinisphere- Pretty much everything in their deck costs 3+
+3 Duress- Hates on Scepter and Counters
+3 Chalice of the Void (set it for 2)- Hates on Scepter
+1 Dampening Matrix -Hurts Scepter

Aggro Loam- A very hard match up that I am not very confident about. In this match you need to get Cranial on Life from the Loam and Hull Breach on Seismic Assault. This deck makes me want to run Pithing Needle for Assault. I’m not to concerned about their creatures because of the Mask/Bridge combo.

Sideboarding- -3 Trinisphere- All of their cards cost 2-3 and they have so much many they can afford to pay the extra
+3 Duress- Hates on Assault

UW Tron- This is one of the easiest matchups you will face in the Tier 1 decks. Ghost Quarter+ Crucible of the Worlds wreaks them. As does Braids and Shattering Spree in the sb. But beware that if you allow their mana base to stablize they will wreak you with Sundering Titian.

Sideboarding -3 Trinisphere- Everything they play costs more than 3 except for the 7-9 counters
+3 Duress- Gets rid of counters

Borros Deck Wins- This is a hard match to win unless you can get crucible out early then go Wish for Wildfire/Devastating Dreams FTW. Once you cast Fire/Dreams you should be able to recover quickly with Crucible and play Braids to keep them low on resources. Watch out for their burn. A turn 2 Trinisphere also goes a long way to help in this match.

Sideboarding- -3 Howling Mine- We don’t want them drawing more cards
+3 Chalice (set for 1 or 2) Gets rid of 80% of their spells

This deck has so many different directions that it can turn. I believe this deck can be fitted to beat any deck. You could add white for vindicate and prophesy nodes. It can also add cards such as Sundering Titan or Mindslaver for some added kick if necessary. The decks Sideboard is also easily changeable. Your can make a wish board specifically for your meta or stay with the general list that I have here. This deck can crack the meta open and I hope you give this a whirl because you will be surprised at what it can do.

Extended Tournament. Top 8 Decks.

1st place UW/Tron by D4rk3z Record: 6-0-0
Main Deck :
4 Tolaria West
3 Urza's Tower
3 Urza's Power Plant
3 Urza's Mine
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Skycloud Expanse
1 Petrified Field
1 Academy Ruins
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Plains
1 Sundering Titan
3 Gifts Ungiven
3 Remand
4 Condescend
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Wrath of God
1 Decree of Justice
3 Repeal
3 Azorius Signet
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Chrome Mox
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mindslaver
1 Engineered Explosives
Sideboard:
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Mindslaver
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Exalted Angel
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Sphere of Law
2 Threads of Disloyalty


2nd Place UWGCombo by center425 Record: 5-1-0

Main Deck:
3 Gemstone Mine
1 Starlit Sanctum
4 City of Brass
2 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
4 Windswept Heath
1 Flooded Strand
3 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Outrider en-Kor
4 Narcomoeba
1 Thermopod
1 Shivan Hellkite
4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Dread Return
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Steelshaper's Gift
4 Chrome Mox
4 Shuko
4 Living Wish
4 Eladamri's Call
2 Gaea's Blessing
Sideboard:
1 Gemstone Mine
3 Starlit Sanctum
1 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Outrider en-Kor
4 Daru Spiritualist
1 Kami of Ancient Law
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Ronom Unicorn
1 Flametongue Kavu

3rd Place GWB-AggroControl by Headbanger | Record: 4-1-0

Main Deck:
3 Forest
1 Plains
3 Swamp
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Windswept Heath
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
3 Treetop Village
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Loxodon Hierarch
4 Eternal Witness
3 Cabal Therapy
3 Chainer's Edict
2 Smother
4 Pernicious Deed
4 Vindicate
4 Thoughtseize
Sideboard:
1 Smother
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Ravenous Baloth
3 Krosan Grip
2 Ronom Unicorn

4th place Affinity by Sandmann1 | Record: 3-0-0
Main Deck:
3 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod's Crypt
4 Cranial Plating
4 Chromatic Star
4 Thoughtcast
4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Ornithopter
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Frogmite
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Great Furnace
2 Glimmervoid
2 Darksteel Citadel
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
Sideboard:
3 Engineered Plague
2 Welding Jar
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Pithing Needle
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Pyrite Spellbomb

5th place 5color-Control by arbor

Main Deck:
Sideboard
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Forest
1 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
1 Steam Vents
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
1 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Academy Ruins
4 Dark Confidant
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
3 Trinket Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Tormod's Crypt
4 Chrome Mox
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Counterbalance
2 Stifle
4 Counterspell
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Threads of Disloyalty
4 Thirst for Knowledge
Sideboard:
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
3 Engineered Plague
2 Loxodon Hierarch
2 Putrefy
3 Ancient Grudge


6th place RW-Aggro by KeySam
Main Deck:
Sideboard
4 Lightning Helix
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Wizened Cenn
2 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
4 Goblin Legionnaire
4 Savannah Lions
1 Temple Garden
2 Windswept Heath
1 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Flooded Strand
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Char
4 Incinerate
4 Final Fortune
Sideboard:
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Ronom Unicorn
3 Gaddock Teeg
4 Umezawa's Jitte

7th place GWu-Aggro by therooster

Main Deck:
Sideboard
3 Chrome Mox
4 Armadillo Cloak
4 Glowrider
4 Troll Ascetic
4 Meddling Mage
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Llanowar Elves
4 Loxodon Hierarch
4 Aven Mindcensor
3 Gaddock Teeg
4 Windswept Heath
2 Treetop Village
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Breeding Pool
4 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Forest
2 Plains
4 Thorn of Amethyst
Sideboard:
3 Kataki, War's Wage
4 Krosan Grip
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Ronom Unicorn

8th place Endruring Ideal by Batutinha
Main Deck:
Sideboard
4 Ancient Spring
3 Sulfur Vent
3 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
3 Sacred Foundry
1 Plains
4 Tinder Farm
3 Windswept Heath
1 Pernicious Deed
4 Seething Song
4 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Solitary Confinement
1 Honden of Seeing Winds
3 Enduring Ideal
4 Orim's Chant
4 Pentad Prism
4 Burning Wish
2 Dovescape
3 Form of the Dragon
4 Lotus Bloom
Sideboard:
1 Enduring Ideal
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Cranial Extraction
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Vindicate
1 Pyroclasm
1 Morningtide
3 Boseiju, Who Shelters All

www.magic-league.com

Lorwyn Sealed

Lorwyn's Magic Online release is sadly still in the future so I've decided to take a look at a Lorwyn Sealed Deck which should be particularly relevant for the upcoming PTQ season. It was a bizarre experience for me, writing this. I had to crack actual packs open and then update it all manually. I've been very spoilt by the ease that Magic Online brings to the game.

In retrospect, I think this is a really fun pool. It doesn't bring with it the difficult choices that I hoped to bring to the table. There is no real clash between colours or tribes. But there are difficult deck building decisions to be made and for that, this brings a lot of spice. I am getting ahead of myself, though. Here is the pool we have to work with today:
Lorwyn Sealed Deck Pool

Cardpool

75 cards
1 Cenn's Heir
1 Crib Swap
1 Dawnfluke
1 Goldmeadow Harrier
1 Judge of Currents
1 Kithkin Greatheart
1 Neck Snap
1 Oaken Brawler
1 Soaring Hope
1 Wellgabber Apothecary
1 Wispmare
11 white cards


1 AEthersnipe
1 Aquitect's Will
1 Benthicore
1 Broken Ambitions
1 Captivating Glance
1 Faerie Harbinger
1 Fathom Trawl
1 Forced Fruition
1 Glimmerdust Nap
1 Paperfin Rascal
2 Pestermite
2 Ringskipper
1 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
1 Zephyr Net
16 blue cards


1 Secluded Glen
3 Shimmering Grotto
1 Vivid Meadow
5 land cards 2 Black Poplar Shaman
1 Boggart Birth Rite
2 Dreamspoiler Witches
1 Liliana Vess
1 Mournwhelk
1 Nath's Buffoon
2 Nectar Faerie
1 Peppersmoke
1 Scarred Vinebreeder
1 Warren Pilferers
13 black cards


1 Consuming Bonfire
1 Faultgrinder
1 Giant's Ire
1 Goatnapper
2 Hurly-Burly
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Lash Out
2 Rebellion of the Flamekin
1 Soulbright Flamekin
1 Stinkdrinker Daredevil
1 Tarfire
13 red cards


1 Gaddock Teeg
1 multicolor card 1 Battlewand Oak
2 Elvish Eulogist
1 Guardian of Cloverdell
1 Imperious Perfect
1 Jagged-Scar Archers
1 Lys Alana Huntmaster
1 Nath's Elite
2 Oakgnarl Warrior
1 Rootgrapple
2 Treefolk Harbinger
13 green cards


1 Herbal Poultice
1 Runed Stalactite
1 Springleaf Drum
3 colorless cards


Initial Steps

Here are a few things worth noticing when you look at a Lorwyn Sealed pool (many relevant to any format). First off, it is worth looking at what colour fixers the pool has so you know how flexible you can be. If you have none then you know you will almost always be forced to play two colours with poor filler cards instead of splashing. If green (as it tends to) has a wealth of fixers, then multi-colour decks become worth looking at and when you look through each colour you will be noting which cards are inherently splashable.

The next biggest step is to try and see where you can maximise interaction. Some cards are made so that they are much more powerful if they are combined with others. This is especially the case with Lorwyn and the tribes. When you scan over the whole of the pool, before you delve into the colours, it's a good idea to have at the back of your mind those cards which have the potential for greatness if the rest of the pool complies. The two things that stood out to me in this pool were the two Dreamspoiler Witches meaning I'll be on the look out for instants if black proves deep enough, and the three Shimmering Grottos. This pool really has the potential to splash cards.

As far as tribes go, this pool contains almost no synergy. Apart from the aforementioned Dreamspoiler Witches there is nothing. A few Treefolk Harbingers with nothing worth finding. The only theme that we can push is Faeries for the Witches and Peppersmoke.

Finally, in Sealed it is often correct to fight the kiddie-urge that swells up inside when you see your bombs, and beginners often make the mistake of using these as the highest priority of deck construction. The good news is that for now, we want to identify our bombs so we can think about whether or not we can include them as we peruse through the other colours. The only real bomb in this pool is Liliana Vess, with a nod in the direction of Imperious Perfect. Taking this all into account, let's take a look at the colours.

White

Crib Swap
Goldmeadow Harrier
Neck Snap
Oaken Brawler
Wispmare

These are the only cards that do anything, and Wispmare and Oaken Brawler are already scraping the barrel. This leaves us with Goldmeadow Harrier and the two removal spells. The Harrier isn't the best splash card, but I've seen worse. In our pool, it will almost certainly be activated each turn off of a Grotto, so it is unlikely to make the final cut unless we are splashing just white. It should be noted that much like the superior Nameless Inversion, Crib Swap is a changeling card and can be fetched by all the Harbingers. It's likely that we'll end up splashing the removal spells unless any of the colours wind up being particularly deep.

Blue

Æthersnipe
Benthicore
Broken Ambitions
Faerie Harbinger
Fathom Trawl
Forced Fruition
Glimmerdust Nap
Paperfin Rascal
2 Pestermite
Sentinels of Glen Elendra

It is incredibly likely that we will end up playing blue. We have a couple of Elemental fatties, some nifty flash evasion creatures, a counter, a poor man's Leaden Fists in the form of Glimmerdust Nap, and some rares. It is worth noting that Fathom Trawl is incredibly powerful. If this wasn't obvious enough already, the ability to draw three spells is phenomenal. Forced Fruition is a very interesting card. I've seen it played a couple of times and it tends to win games. It often has to be backed up by counterspells, but it can be enough without. I've seen it backfire against white decks running Oblivion Ring, but that's about it. It is perfect in a deck that can slow the game down (read: Merfolk) and need a way to win in the late game. It will probably make our deck if we can meet these conditions.

Black

2 Dreamspoiler Witches
Liliana Vess
Mournwhelk
Peppersmoke
Warren Pilferers

Black makes it to exactly seven playables, but they are probably enough to begin to complement the blue. The Faerie theme becomes very strong as we can tutor up the Peppersmoke or a Witch with Harbinger and the two colours already have six instants for the Witches (seven if we are to splash the white). It also means we get to play with our bomb—Liliana Vess. Add two card advantage spells into the mix—Mournwhelk and Warren Pilferers—and we are on our way to a deck.

Red

Consuming Bonfire
Faultgrinder
Goatnapper
2 Hurly-Burly
Ingot Chewer
Lash Out
Soulbright Flamekin
Tarfire

Red has several playable cards, but nothing of any substance. There's no real need to play Ingot Chewer or Fault Grinder in a deck that is already looking to be slow and expensive. When we look at the colour by itself, we can see that there is no real curve nor creatures worth having and the only real reason for wanting lots of red is so we can play Consuming Bonfire. Much like white, there just aren't enough playables, so Lash Out and Tarfire will be added to the splashable pile, bringing the number of Witch-triggering instants to nine.

Green

Battlewand Oak
Imperious Perfect
Jagged-Scar Archers
Lys Alana Huntmaster
Nath's Elite
2 Oakgnarl Warrior
Rootgrapple
2 Treefolk Harbinger

Green almost gets off the ground in providing what the pool needs in the form of some early and solid creatures that can let the pool's massive amount of card advantage do its thing. However, there just isn't enough quality. Sure, we have the Perfect and its three Elven friends, but after that we just have some clunky Treefolk in a pool with plenty of late game. Similar things can be said about splashing the Perfect as were said about Goldmeadow Harrier as it will use a Grotto each turn to make an Elf. However, his ability is much more powerful than the Kithkin's, and Imperious Perfect might manage to make its way onto the team.

Miscellaneous

Runed Stalactite
Secluded Glen
3 Shimmering Grotto
Vivid Meadow

Gaddock Teeg wasn't made to be a Limited card, although he is fine. However, we will not be playing either of his colours so he can stay on the bench. The Stalactite might make our men large enough to actually block something so we do not get overrun, but the pool has very little to abuse any creature-type based bonuses. We will be playing all of the land. We have eight Faerie cards for the Secluded Glen, but we would play it as a fixer even if we had none. The deck is shaping up to be a blue-black-based five-colour monstrosity in order to cram enough playables into one deck, so Vivid Meadow also gets a nod to help smooth the way.

Final Tuning

With all the cards that looked like they would make the final cut assorted and laid out in front of me, a couple of final changes occurred. Both changes occurred because I was worried that the deck will get overrun early and not be allowed to make it to the late game where its machine-gunning Witches and powerful expensive cards can kick in. Pestermite is certainly the best card in this deck as it will hopefully trade for an early creature and either Fog an attack or tap a crucial land in the development stage.

The need to up the deck's early defence meant that Forced Fruition had to be cut as it was simply too greedy and I think it would be unlikely if we won any games because of it. I also cut the Runed Stalactite as three mana to give all creatures types to a guy that will probably die after combat is a little too much in my book. I replaced it with the Goldmeadow Harrier as there is little we have to do in the early game and four sources to play him off and I wanted another way to ensure that we could survive. Even if it is unlikely to come online early, it can, and, if not, then it is still going to be a strong card. Oaken Brawler and one of the Black Poplar Shamans almost made it just to provide some big butts, but the Treefolk was cut as he would cost five mana and the Shaman is just a bad card; more on the Shaman when I talk about sideboarding options.

It should be noted that this deck will mulligan a lot. Not just because it plays all five colours, as the Grottos mean it is more a two-colour deck with six cards splashed off four land. Having just typed that last sentence, to make the point that the splash is not as greedy as it looks as all the additional colours are essentially the same, I still realise that we have too many splash cards off too few land. This means that I will switch the Harrier back out for the Stalactite; and then in another fit of indecision, for one of the Poplars. I think the Poplar, weak though it is, offers the deck more of what it needs than the normally superior equipment.

This deck will also find itself taking mulligans because the opening hand does not contain a three-drop or a spell to affect the early game (like Broken Ambitions or Peppersmoke) and will probably not make it out of the starting blocks. The deck will also keep sub-par hands purely because they do contain three-drops. It is important to note how strong an effect on the subjective power level of cards the deck's fragility has had.

This deck would have gone right up till the end of the deck building time. I had to spend a little time examining the weak curves of both red and green before dismissing them completely. They, along with white, were put to one side very early as they were not powerful enough, but then when I realised the deck was so fragile I re-examined them to see if they could shore up the defence. They could not and were once again relegated to the side.

It should be noted in the photo of the final deck that I've curved almost every splashed card as costing one more because they will all be cast off of a Grotto. The Mournwhelk and Æthersnipe are also treated as spells because the deck will probably need them early if the other three drops have not been drawn. Taking photos is not quite as easy as printing the screen from Magic Online, so apologies for the quality:

Final Deck

Main Deck

40 cards
7 Island
1 Secluded Glen
3 Shimmering Grotto
6 Swamp
1 Vivid Meadow
 
1 Aethersnipe
1 Benthicore
1 Black Poplar Shaman
2 Dreamspoiler Witches
1 Faerie Harbinger
1 Imperious Perfect
1 Mournwhelk
1 Paperfin Rascal
2 Pestermite
1 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
1 Warren Pilferers

1 Broken Ambitions
1 Crib Swap
1 Fathom Trawl
1 Glimmerdust Nap
1 Lash Out
1 Liliana Vess
1 Neck Snap
1 Peppersmoke
1 Tarfire



Sideboarding options

This deck has more options than usual to face when sideboarding. First off, it can play virtually any card in the pool if it likes and this gives us some choices to make. The Hurly-Burlys can come in against decks that they are effective against. The other Poplar will come in a lot against decks with lots of two-drops, as will the one in the main be boarded out against decks without them. The Forced Fruition will come in if a match-up is very slow (although you will almost certainly be ahead in these types of game). Nath's Buffoon will also come in where necessary and the Goldmeadow Harrier might finally get to make an appearance if they have too many large bombs.

Despite its defects, I really like this deck. It has two of the key elements I want to have in a deck: card advantage (duh!) and trickiness. This is a deck where you are simultaneously given the opportunity to outplay your opponent and to make more mistakes. The deck has seven removal spells, three more pseudo ones, and around nine or ten cards that either provide or promise card advantage. To boot, it has a clever mana base and is an imaginative build from a desperate Sealed pool—not that there were too many alternative decks, but the final tuning was difficult.

What do you guys think? Would you have taken an alternative route? Cut the splash down a little and bulked one of the colours with filler? Would you have played some of the bad two-cost Faeries to make up the numbers? Do you agree with the Perfect or would you have played the second Poplar over it? (This last one is very close). Should the Runed Stalactite have made the main deck, and would you have gotten greedy with Forced Fruition?

www.wizards.com

Ravnica-TimeSpiral T2 Metagame

Well, after seeing part of what is emerging from Time Spiral I decided that it would happen for every player, and see that they are filled out, the strongest, and that a less viable to get out of kamigawa.

First off, let's enumerate the gazillion different playing deck at the moment. Let me give you overview of what they are supposed to do, and what kind of feasibility after kamigawa broken.

Aggro
Heezy Street (R / G aggro)
W / G ghazi - glare.dec
Zoo
B / R Aggro
U / G erayo ninjas
U / G snake aggro
U / R / G aggro (Mar Stompy)
B / W hand
Ghost-shell

Control
Structure and strength
Heartbeat
Tron (includes green splashes)
The masterpiece (G / W / B or rock enough)
Solar Flare (japanimator)
Magnivore
UW / X control decks

^ ^ There are many more dishes than this that can be played, in fact more than 30, but for the article lengths well, and my sanity, let's go with the most popular dishes at the moment.

That long list of good dishes, which is what made this year's magic so much fun for me personally. You can not determine the target (although for a while can), and has made the tournament demons whole lot more fun. (Facing another cover each round was the shizz - nizzle me)

Sadly, however, some of those covered are no longer viable after kamigawa turns out, so lets give balance to this list, and see what we can expect from the Time Spiral standard.

First, we will start with the Pro Tour Honolulu-winner

Heezy Street

The point of the cover is to strike down as fast as it can with creatures efficient and burn. This coverage is much more consistent than brothers Zoo is, as the basis of manna for this group rarely gives any problem. One of the best aggro covered at the moment, but not the best. At losses -

Flames of the hands of blood
Umezawa's jitte

In much intact. One loses jitte, which is huge but it was not in the main deck, which was one of the best cards in the standard, and each aggro deck will be sad to see it go. Flames blood is a very good burn spell gave this group against some card game as loxodon hierarch and shackles of faith, or any other card of an opponent who won life to put them beyond the reach of your burn. It will be sad to see it go.

This verdict of the platform loses very little, and will undoubtedly be a force to deal with in the new Time Spiral standard. The Watch out for him. Viable.



- Ghazi Glare

The group itself has changed considerably in the past year, rose from the legend bashin 'glare of a line of glare calling, a aggro glare. I will not cover all types of this group, so instead I will go with the original ghazi-dazzle.

This cover is a beast, but after being at the top, which, like most of the good dishes, are hated place, or establishing a level. He won worlds and stuck around for about 3 months, then just let the radar. In any case, the point was to accel in a coup stick, drop a glare or jitte and just win. This group, though not so popular, it is still quite good ... Well, until now. Losses -

Umezawa's jitte
Yosei, the morning star (huge, this card deck gave the game against controlish deck, and controlish means covered with the wrath of God, roofs and decks that use tons of Manna)
Hokori, drinker powder (it was a card SB in which it was pointed out over a greater good and seedborn muse and 2 more yosei's to combat glare covers, and other platforms intensive management. Therefore, the statement about yosei break "control" matchups.)
Kodama tree north
Arashi, half of the sky
Pithing needle

In general, this group loses a LOT of things they did well, and almost all of its synergy.

Verdict - Blatantly, this group is neutered. It still has potential in a aggro-dazzle way, but the legendary original, unfortunately, is no longer viable. If you get a deck with glare, as well, is not as good, just on the side charm hatred or anger play god. Problem solved. To care for other decks. Less viable Dead


Zoo

The point of this group is falling more efficient 1 and 2 drops in the game, and then burn FTW. The basis for this group is manna problems, and has been ignored largely because Heezy Street, Sea and Stompy. Losses -

Flames of the hands of blood
Isamaru, hunting konda
Umezawa's jitte

Only lost 3 cards, but the three letters are important to this group of game. It will live and kicking in TS standard, but for the most part, will not be the aggro deck of choice.

Verdict - With the loss of its most consistent 1 drop, probably most important burn spell, and the staple jitte, I think that this group is reduced to increase the radar. Less feasible


B / R aggro

In truth, but there is a definite B / R archetype, so it's hard to see if what wins and what loses. But there are two cards to be played on the deck of insurance, and the two are rotating. Losses -

Umezawa's jitte
Flames of the hands of blood

Verdict - Loses 2 important letters, but with the fact that this group is probably the least well aggro deck at the moment, I think it will get less popular, unless we get a good black letters from TS. Viable ... Only disadvantaged.


U / G Erayo ninjas

The point of this group is to drop
Erayo, Soratami ascendant
Ninja deep when
Umezawa's Jitte
Perturbando shoal
Higure still wind

Verdict-lose everything that made the cover. Dead


U / G snake aggro

Play snakes with impressive capabilities. Losses -

Not even going to go over it, where snakes in kamigawa and kamigawa is leaving ...


Verdict-lose everything that made the cover. Dead


Be Stompy

It is considered the best cover in the format now, and by far the best aggro. It's very good, but you lose a little. He also wins a lot of Time Spiral, if the wing so far is correct. So we will see what happens. Losses -

Meloku the mirror cloudy
Umezawa's jitte
Thoughts of ruin
Ninja deep when

Overall, the platform that they lose a bit viable. Moreover, without the power of jitte, I believe that this form of aggro (light or no-burn) is dead. Time will tell, but I believe that the day when the sun is more of this type arc.

Verdict-loses much they did well. Less viable Dead


B / W hand

Causing havoc in your hand, drop a jitte, swing, and never will be without cards because of Bob, or their lives because of jitte and descending. This format of the cover shaken for a while, and for a few months after Honolulu was the most played on the platform. However lost popularity because their states have a bad match against Tron, and Tron is really hot in recent months. It is still one of the best dishes, not just as played as it was before. Losses -

Umezawa's Jitte (This really is the fact that the card of this group go)
Hand of Honor
Descendant of Kiyomaro
Part of Cruelty
Shining shoal
Hokori, drinker powder (which later joined)
Verdict-Yes, this group loses its namesakes, and their cards power; Descendant, and jitte, which was why it was a better aggro. Without jitte however, the cover can not sacrifice the quality of its creatures to make an opponent discard. (Correa the jitte on a rat or grotesque and swing) Therefore, this type of arch is not much more. Dead


Ghost - Husk

Osyp Lebedowicz made this popular archetype. However, even the most, or second most popular aggro now. This group was the most played in regionals this year. The question is getting a nantuko shell on the board, and hold a promise of bunrei, and swing for the win. Losses -

Promise bunrei
Umezawa's jitte
Hand honor

- The only verdict card really important is the loss of bunrie. Without it loses its power to win on turn 4 or 5. Dead


Well, now that I have gone through all the aggro covered, and its success so far of my favorites; control decks J.


Structure and strength

This group took by assault nationals, and is, literally, as yang, while Sea Stompy was Yin. Both of the above decks was the biggest in the top 8 of the national (well, and these solar flares). The point of the cover is too gain control of the board through accountants, and the wrath of God. The big game is to play counterweight, in conjunction with the top to have free counters what your opponent plays. Full of synergy, keeps a steady supply of cards with dark confidant, and wins with meloku or dark confidant jittied. (A control platform O_o'') Very funny deck, is a blast to play and is very good ... Well, until now. Losses -

Sensei top guessing
Umezawa's jitte
Meloku the mirror cloudy

Verdict-lost two of its position to win, but the reality real tragedy is the loss of the top. Without the top, I fear that the entire counterweight shenanigans is not viable at all. This group was an explosion in the month was around, but without kamigawa, this group is Dead

Heartbeat

The issue is leaving a heartbeat of the spring, and accumulate tons of manna buy using drifts of phantasms early to fetch crops, you should download the drifts strangers with the harvest, harvest and confusion with the strange mixture, and with a win or rely The firemind or magazine, traitor to mortals. Losses -

Heartbeat spring-lost more, but none of that is relevant, without this card

As a verdict of the first combined the platform I have ever played, this had a special place in my heart, but now this in the past. Dead


Tron (green with splashes)

The point of this group is to get tron line, remove one million cards, drop a fat blue creature, and throw a demonfire in the noggin for 15 + damage. Losses -

Keiga, the tide stars
Meloku the mirror cloudy (most not even run their more)

- The verdict loses its fatty covering blue creatures, but that can easily be replaced with simic skyswallower or tidespout tyrant. This group is far from done. Viable



The masterpiece

The point of this group was to increase the manna, anger, or persecute its opponents outside hand, drop a fatty and win. He never finished cards through pyrexian scene. Most is a rock evolved. Losses -

Kokusho, the night stars
Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
Cranial extraction
Yosei, the star of the morning (from the version that was run)

The verdict of the platform loses all kamigawa endings, but all that can be replaced with angel despair, rumored akroma angel of anger, simic skyswallower, and any other U / B / G / W acids. The creatures may not be as effective, but still get the job done. Viable


Solar Flare (u / w / b control)

The point of this group is to expand management through signets, wrat board, and reactivate a fatty by zombify, or simply dropping a fatty. Use a light counterspell dresses 4 remands. Most top 8 is outside the platform ALL nationals. Not much hype however, it is not considered the best. Losses

All kamigawa legends -
Yosei, the morning star
Kokusho, the night stars
Meloku the mirror cloudy
- The eyes of ink, servant of oni
Extraction cranial
Descendant of kiyomaro

Verdict - Loses whole legend, the other creatures can be plugged into the holes, but overall, it will not be nearly as good. Less viable Dead.


Magnivore

The point of this group is rhythm. Kepp his opponent out of the earth through rebound, rain stone, and demolish. Acquired some popularity against tron, but tron is not more popular than ever, so this group has lost popularity. Losses -

Eye of nowhere

Verdict-Well, I could be called by some silly people, but this group loses a card. ONE card. Not feasible. From the mere fact that dies horribly to aggro, and that this group is particularly pace, the 2 manna rebound sorcery, it will be the death of this group. Unless we get another 2CC rebound detailing TS-Less viable; Dead

U / W / X control

These covered quite evolved with the addition of Dissention. Personally, I think that U / G / W is the best archetype of control, but you can decide for yourself.

U / W Control

The point of this group is the long game. You let the first creatures get however, use a smattering of shackles and the sentence. The big game is wrath of God, stabilize, and hold the board and win. This group is strong, and lose very little. In fact, it loses nothing but hinder. Cancel (the spiral against time to 1UU) does the same thing, except it is a difficult counter. Losses -

None. Hinder is replaced with Cancel

A verdict of the strongest type arc after kamigawa broken. Search and prepare to deal with this. Viable.

U / G / W against ghazi

Much the same as U / W, but this group has another factor working for her. - Tree City. Whether a control card breaks the game, and gives this group chump blocker turn after turn, while the excavation for a response. In my opinion, this group is the best in the format after kamigawa leaves, his only bad matchups where B / W magnivore. Both of which are not so good after TS. As will be seen. Losses -

Nothing.

Verdict-One of the dishes strongest rotation. The best of the U / W / X-type arc. Look and prepare for it. If I were you I would play. Best option.


U / W / R firemane control

Get manna online, anger, gain life with the Angels and win. This group loses nothing kamigawa really win much on the fact that skull, and pithing needle go. So watch for this group in the coming months.

- Improved verdict on the platform standard TS. Very viable; Perhaps best choice


So this is my take after TS becomes legal norm. Some of it is obvious, I know, but my hunch that his burning based aggro will become tier one aggro choice again, because not to burn the basis aggro covered not have the power to umezawa's jitte more. Likewise, the blue-based control dishes get much stronger after the rotation, and windreaver becomes much better, and the IMO is the best creature in the format after pithing needle is gone.

For those of you going to the states, here's my advice-Prepare burning based aggro. A lot of it. If your still deciding on a deck to play suggest U / W / G against ghazi, oU / W / R firemane control. These two decks roll aggro, and got something to control matchups well. If you are playing blue-based control device package of charm and hatred because leyline of lifeforce, and Defense Network are gaining in popularity.

Thank you for reading.

By Mike Nelson A.K.A. Blade

The Effects of Tier 2 Philosophy on Skill

I am playing the match Angelfire mirror. This is a fairly common deck with a very basic level (Compulsive Research, Wrath, Lightning Angel, Lightning Helix, Court Hussar, Signets, etc..) We are both at six life. I have three cards in hands, and none of us has any creatures. My opponent thirteen manna sources and three cards in his hand. He maintained an open blue in the last four or five laps, indicating my opponent that I have some sort of blue manna two instantly. My opponent is based, for its part, plays its fourteenth source of manna, and Demonfires me for six, planning to go on my right-back and do it again. [He has two Wraths in hand, so he can not go hellbent and kill me in that way.]

Stop for a minute here. This group is commonly referred to run four of Return as its sole counterspell-at least among the "netdecker" community. Is that my opponent skill expected this manna two costs a blue card that Remand? Should have thought of each such card in the rule and tried to play each (even if he knew all)? Or is the correct play only expect the obvious choice?

I do not really know, but I know that I played alongside the Odds Odds / / Ends, copied the Demonfire and sent him back to his face for the win. Is skill in deckbuilding process that I played Odds / / Ends Over Refund? Is skill that I made it clear that I had some card in his hand that could be Refund? Are Odds / / Ends even "play", or should be considered only a lucksack that won much lower in a card?

I do not think you can argue that calculating what is in the hands of your opponent is not part of the skill inherent in this game, like Poker. The difference is that in Poker you always know what 52 cards you are looking for. I do not know if I would say it's a problem, but this area of skills development is very disturbed by Wizards' new policy of "flooding the format with Tier 2 cards."

Perhaps the ability to speak here has changed. Perhaps the ability to concentrate on is not figuring out his hand, but instead of making subtle number and card so you can make changes as these works, fooling your opponent into a false conception of what is in your own hands. But you still want to know what is in his (or her).

In the past, netdecking for better or worse this simplified process for everyone. There was better covered with a more refined list and could count the number of Ode to Tourachs in their cemetery to see if it would be likely to be sustained in its wrath of God by once again without snagged away. Now, netdecking has only grown, but the typical magical player has every reason to sit down and say, "Maybe this second Bogardan Hellkite must Numot, Devastator." And I do not think you can easily say s / he 'd be Evil.

I do not want you to think that reject the Wizards' new policy here. Undoubtedly shakes and makes things players think for themselves, on their own plates and plates of their opponents. I want us as competitive players to think about how to deal with this new challenge to light, both in construction and in the platform game.


First, when building your deck, in a slot that now there is a sea of options for the card. My challenge to you is: Think For Yourself. If you are losing until after the anger and Spectral Forces Giant Solifuges but still want countermagic against blue control, perhaps Odds / / Ends actually exceed Prison for you. If you think it is more important to create the first laps and keep his hand stocked, Remand perhaps will be better. Only you can decide. I learned that this weekend at Angelfire my deck, and Teferi Boom / / Bust excess that were unnecessary in the matchups were designed to inefficiency and matchups where I wanted Hellkites and Demonfires. I do not learn from this Frank Karsten true that the excellent article on the upgrade of this group with Planar Chaos. This seems to be the primary objective of Wizards, in my opinion, with this new strategy tier two: netdecking is no longer enough.

As far as actual game, I think the best advice I can give is to calculate the hands of your opponent is not as important as it used to be. Step one is to think about what kind of things can happen, then close down as much as you can, then go with certain cards. In the example at the beginning of the article, the best thought process here is:
1. My opponent has clearly signaled that it has a blue two manna moment although it may be bluffing.
2. [Should I try to stop the game now?] My opponent has not shown any threats in the last shift, but he is constructing its part, and could easily kill me in one shift with the aim of making X creature or spell .
3. [My Demonfire received?] My Demonfire this in turn survive a Remand as well as a Mana Leak or Rune Snag. It is not going to survive an Odds / / Ends, and, indeed, you could lose in this scenario.

However, I think this makes it clear that my opponent made the right choice, given that he was going to kill me, which in turn. You may not have even thought of Odds / / Ends, but it is much less likely than the other three letters, and even then his work would have survived three out of four of these cards. You could argue his best game may have been emitted into the Wraths or at least one, and then go for hellbent next shift. In fact, what I like about this theory is that the hellbent Demonfire takes this discussion further, and only completely ignores the side of the opponent (with the hassle Commandeer exception). That play certainly strength in my hand to kill him now or face the obvious in the way hellbent Demonfire. But, in all honesty, had no reason to expect anything so closely resembling a "hard" against.

So perhaps the answer is always playing the worst possible scenario. Or perhaps the answer is a backup of a step. Maybe we should reconsider our deck construction so that it can ignore our only covered to a greater extent what our opponent is doing, or rather on the planning done. And perhaps this is a subtle instrument Wizards to keep aggro decks near the top in a control metagame, unprinted obvious powers such as Isamaru, Hound of Konda.

The purpose of my article is not to give answers, but the question to instill in his own mind: how can I cope with the effects of too many playables? I suspect that there is no answer, and I suspect that makes people Wizards R & D very happy.

By aldaryn

Lorwyn in Standard

Lorwyn is the new set on the block, rotating in as the Ravnica block rotates out. This leaves Standard in a state of turmoil until the dust clears and the best deck stands out for us all to see.

Before I start talking about possible archetypes of the new Standard, I think it best to first look at what Lorwyn offers, starting with

White

Ajani Goldsmane
The White Planeswalker seems quite bad compared to the other Planeswalkers at first glance. His first ability is lifegain which is, well, not a very good reason to play any card. The second ability is decent and I would consider just one activation of it a pretty strong swing in the aggro mirror, but at 4 mana, Ajani is just going a bit to high in the curve for a deck like White Weenie and he's unplayable when Gaddock Teeg is out (which, I would think, is one of the main reasons you have in your aggro deck anyway). His third and final ability is to win you the game, if you have (and can maintain) a high life total. I think Ajani will see some play in a Turbo-Fog style of deck if aggro decks take over the meta, but the fact that he's best against aggro, and neutralized by Gaddock Teeg, is definitely a strike against him.

Austere Command
I quite like this Command, despite it being on the expensive side. I could see this being Wrath of God five and six in some decks, but beyond that, I don't see it being played much in Standard.

I wish that it actually had a fourth ability.

Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile
Ah, if only she had Vigilance. Brigid could see some play in Standard, and definitely in Block, despite the clear printing error, due to her ability to hold off an opposing force and slip in under Gaddock Teeg.

Burrenton Forge-Tender
Mana efficient? Check.

Protection from red? Check.

Gives Red players a headache all over the world? Check.

This will almost certainly see some sort of Constructed play.

Cenn's Heir
While the Heir can potentially swing for lots of damage, you'll need at least two other attacking Kithkin to make him better than any other two-drop. Unless one of the other Kithkin is a Gaddock Teeg, that opens you up to a three-for-one from a Wrath of God.

Crib Swap
How can a card that's so outclassed by another card be considered good? Because it is Changeling, or, more specifically, it is a Knight and can be recursive through Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. (More specific decklists and discussions can be found here, and here).

Now that I've gotten that little combo out of the way, Crib Swap is still a weak card for Constructed. It is simply not worth splashing into a Haakon Inversion deck over say , which offers Boom / /Bust and Lightning Axe, both of which have more synergy with the rest of the deck (Boom and Smallpox is a nice disruption package), and help more in getting the actual combo going (Haakon in the graveyard). That's not mentioning and the Tarmogoyf, and to a slightly lesser degree, Call of the Herd, that it brings to the table.

Galepowder Mage
This guy could see some minor play in Momentary Blink decks, but he's a bit limited in his targets in that he can't Blink out a Mystic Snake.

Goldmeadow Stalwart
The new Isamaru is one of the more Standard playable Kithkin. Running it along with Gaddock Teeg means that you only have to find a few more (I'd say 8 more) Kithkin in order to make him a great one-drop.

Hoofprints of the Stag
It's a pretty decent token producer but with Sacred Mesa, and Mobilization in Standard, I don't think that it'll see much play.

Kithkin Harbringer
If this guy cost 1 less, I could see it being played as Gaddock Teeg 5-8 since it could enable a turn 3 Gaddock Teeg, but much like many other crappy cards, it's slightly too expensive.

Knight of Meadowgrain
First strike, and lifelink on a nice, mana-efficient package. Constructed playable it is.

Militia's Pride
A truly excellent token producer. Militia's Pride allows you to build up a large attack force while not overextending into a Wrath of God. Standard playable, Block playable, and last but not least, revealable by turn one Goldmeadow Stalwart for gloating purposes.

Mirror Entity
I could see this being run as a one-of in Kithkin-based aggro decks, or decks that are running a few Kithkins for the Kithkin Stalwart, due to its Changeling status which enables it to be searched for via Amrou Scout for an alpha strike.

Oblivion Ring
Not quite a Vindicate, but still very good. I see this being at least a 3-of in many Constructed White decks due to both its power and ease of splashability.

Pollen Lullaby
Like many cards with the text, "Prevent all combat damage", somewhere on the card, Pollen Lullaby is bad. However, if Turbo-Fog gains popularity due to the aggro meta, it will probably be played in said deck.

Purity
The White Incarnation basically reads, "You have Protection from red," so it'll probably be played by some Red-fearing people.

Thoughtweft Trio
A very good 4-drop in Kithkin-based aggro decks that is absolutely amazing in the aggro mirrors. Whether its better than Calciderm is up for debate, but I would lean toward running both.

Wizened Cenn
If Kithkin make it big in Standard, this guy will be with them, providing a 2-mana Glorious Anthem on a 2/2 body. His inclusion in Block is a guarantee.

Blue

Broken Ambitions
A decent counterspell indeed, providing a third "2-mana" counterspell or just replacing Delay for those that don't like it. The Clash is of little relevance, but it gives it a Condescend-like feel.

Cryptic Command
Wow, the Blue Command is . . . amazing. It's like a Dismiss that can also act as a Boomerang and/or a better Deluge. It's also the only counterspell that isn't nearly useless with an Eyes of the Wisent on the board. Four of in every Standard Blue deck. If your deck's mana-base can't support the Command, you need to spend a bit more time fine-tuning it.

Faerie Harbringer
Only as playable as the other Faeries are, and still a bit on the expensive end at 4-mana. At least it has Flash to take away a bit of the negatives of the mana cost. Unlike the other Harbringers though, it does have some synergy with Counterbalance.

Faerie Trickery
Unless there is a large rise in Faerie decks, Faerie Trickery is better than Cancel. Countering a Haakon, Stromgald Scourge, or a Call of the Herd is far more satisfying when it's actually a one-for-one trade.

Familiar's Ruse
This cheap little counterspell could see some play in Blink decks for its synergy with the rest of the deck but outside of decks that really want to reuse "come into play" effects, I don't think Ruse will be very playable.

Fathom Trawl
Tidings finally has a contender for the 5-mana, massive amount of card advantage slot. Fathom Trawl, while very powerful, loses to Tidings in my view due to control's desire to have a lot of mana sources at its disposal. Of course, some people will prefer the Trawl because it digs deeper for whatever removal you need at the moment (Damnation comes to mind), but sometimes you want those lands.

On the other hand, both Tidings and Fathom Trawl are inferior to Aeon Chronicler for two reasons: Chronicler can win games, and he can be used while Gaddock Teeg is on the board. What use is a spell that digs for removal when you can't even play it?

Forced Fruition
To use this Enchantment as a win condition, you'd have to have the “Rule of Law with Spell Burst” lock going which means that you've already won the game anyway, making Forced Fruition nothing but an overcosted Enchantment that won't help you when you're losing.

Jace Beleren
The first card that you thought of when you saw Jace was Phyrexian Arena, but that's not the only card he can emulate. As far as constructed goes, I doubt that his first ability will be used much, if at all. It's the second ability, "Draw a card," that is what makes Jace so powerful. Left alone, he can draw you three cards, netting you two cards total before dying. That's better than Compulsive Research, and Research was played in pretty much every Standard control deck that was willing to tap mana during its own turn. Granted, they couldn't attack your Compulsive Research, or Incinerate it, but it's not a total loss if they do so, as you've still gotten a two for one (or a Reviving Does). The mill ability will likely never be used since either of the other abilities is better, but it’s nice to be able to knock down the opponent's library with one fell sweep.

It should also be noted that he's one of the few good draw spells that isn't shut down by Gaddock Teeg.

He's also a nice addition to the Turbo-Fog deck that I've been barning about, due to him acting as both a Howling Mine, a win condition, and being on color with the sideboard cards that the deck will need to fight other control decks.

Merrow Reejerey
A pretty good Lord for the Merfolk, along with Lord of Atlantis. The ability to tap down potential blockers, allowing you to sneak by Akroma, Angel of Wrath, is very nice.

Mistbind Clique
This is most likely going to be the most playable Champion creature. Played during your opponent's Upkeep, it is nearly a Time Walk that is attached to a 4/4 Flier. Champion a Thieving Sprite if you want to make it extra hard on your opponent for killing the Mistbind Clique.

Mulldrifter
A decent draw spell alternative over Jace Beleren. Mulldrifter provides immediate card advantage though, and can be played at full cost to provide even more card advantage as a blocker. Has good potential to be played in Standard control decks and Blink decks.

Ponder
While a very good card, this might not see Standard play for a time due to lack of a deck that needs it. Control decks would rather have a spell that gives them card advantage than a bit of selection and combo decks seem to be going on a downward trend with Gaddock Teeg stopping an Empty the Warrens (and Dragonstorm, if the deck wasn't dead already) win, and Thorn of Amethyst stopping, well, pretty much every other way of "combo-ing off".

Scattering Stroke
A 4-mana counter that can occasionally be a Mana Drain. While it might be occasionally very strong, I would stick with the more consistent Cryptic Command, or even Dismal Failure.

Scion of Oona
This card is amazing. It's a Rebuff the Wicked (in a good color), Glorious Anthem (once again, in a good color), and a 1/1 Flier. No more needs to be said, Scion of Oona and Mistbind Clique will be the backbone of every competitive Faerie deck.

Silvergill Adept
A very nice cantripping 2/1 Merfolk. Definite 4-of in constructed Merfolk decks.

Sower of Temptation
Control Magic on wings, which is a disadvantage for once. Still, with Scion of Oona out, it'll be hard for the opponent to kill the Sower and take back their disloyal servant. While it is maindeck-able in the creature-heavy meta to come, I think this is best as a sideboard card due to its inefficiency against control.

Spellstutter Sprite
When I first (mis)read this card, I thought that it countered a spell unless its controller pays . What it actually does feels a bit underwhelming after that reading mistake, as it will most likely not be able to counter anything on turn two, and has very little chance of countering spells with a converted mana cost of four or more.

Black

Boggart Mob
Pretty good for a Champion. The Mob creates tokens to chump block or potentially sacrifice to a Fodder Launch. It's a bit high in the curve, but most Standard Goblin decks will be reaching up in the curve for Siege-Gang Commander anyway.

Eyeblight's Ending
A nice removal spell, its usefulness may decrease depending on the popularity of Elf decks. That said, it'll probably see play.

Fodder Launch
Mmm, definetly one of the stronger Goblin cards. Pitching a Goblin Token to take out a Doran, the Siege Tower, and deal 5 damage to the face is great. Definite staple in Standard Goblins.

Hoarder's Greed
While potentially a great source of card advantage, this card is just too risky, not to mention a bit on the expensive side. Imagine winning the Clash once or twice against an aggro deck and losing 4-6 life as a result. It could see some play in Black-based control or midrange decks that aren't running Blue.

Knucklebone Witch
This is a potentially huge one-drop for the Boggart tribe that synergizes well with many playable Goblins in Standard. While it will most likely die shortly after hitting play, that looks to be more of a sign of how strong it could potentially be, something that you don't generally see in the average one mana creature.

Liliana Vess
The Black Planeswalker looks to be very powerful in the control-on-control matchup due to the first and last ability, but underwhelming against every other style of deck. Against an aggressive deck, it's a bit slow to have high impact, and too vulnerable to combat damage and/or burn to use the second ability immediately, the one that you'll likely want to use in this match-up. If it started with 6 Loyalty counters, it would be a far more impacting Planeswalker, with the ability to Vampiric Tutor the turn it comes into play and survive an Incinerate. The last ability is powerful, but since Liliana offers little in terms of board control (putting a Damnation on the top of your library is about as much as she offers), she'll probably have a hard time getting to 8 Loyalty.

Mad Auntie
A nice Glorious Anthem for Goblins to go with the Goblin King is about all your going to get out of the Auntie. The "Regenerate another target Goblin" is largely useless since she's going to be the target nearly 100% of the time. Still, it's nice to have against those ever so forgetful opponents.

Makeshift Manequin
An interesting reanimation tool to say the least. The downside won't be huge when you're reanimating an Akroma, but it doesn't seem like the Instant speed that this has over Dread Return is worth the risk.

Nameless Inversion
The best spell to combo with Haakon for sure. An infinite source of removal makes it very hard for any deck to kill you, and with Haakon conveniently providing an unlimited amount of creature power. . . .

Oona's Prowler
Wow, a 3/1 for with . . . quite a bit of a downside. I highly doubt that this critter will see play in an optimal Mono-Black Aggro deck due to the high amount of playable 2-drops that already exist in that color (Nether Traitor, Dauthi Slayer, Dunerider Outlaw, and Stromgald Crusader) but the Prowler could see play in Haakon-based decks for his impact on the board, and the ability to act as a discard outlet for Haakon.

Profane Command
Amazingness in an incredibly versatile package that is both useful to aggro, control, and everything in between. Reanimating one of your creatures while offing an opponent's causes a huge board swing in the aggro matchup, or just giving your team fear and making your opponent lose life could give you the game right there. I see the -X/-X and life loss abilities being used the most with reanimation a decently close third and mass fear ability used only occasionally.

Shriekmaw
Cower in fear, the replacement for Terror has come! At the small loss of Instant speed, you have the ability to pay full price and get a decent threat on the board. This will likely see play in most, if not all Black for a while to come.

Thieving Sprite
Pretty weak by itself, just an overcosted Ravenous Rats with Flying, but with a few other Faeries in play, or when Championed by Mistbind Clique, this Faerie could be pretty powerful. Possible playing time in a / Faerie deck.

Thoughtseize
The neo-Duress is, unsurprisingly, one of the best cards in Lorwyn. Getting hit by this on turn one is game-breaking enough that the loss of 2 life is an acceptable drawback.

Is Thoughtseize better than Duress? I would say no. While the ability to knock creatures out of the opponent's hand keeps it from being strictly worse, the life loss makes drawing this in multiples very bad for you, possibly giving you dead cards in matches against aggro where every card counts.

Still, as a one mana, pinpoint discard spell in Standard, it will see play in pretty much every deck running Black.

Red

Boggart Shenanigans
This enchantment is just awful. It could see play in something like Extended Goblins, where you have Skirk Prospector and Fecundity, but as far as Standard goes, playing a combo-oriented card in a deck that has no way to abuse it is just bad.

Chandra Nalaar
I must say that while I expected the Red Planeswalker to be a bit like Jaya Ballard, Task Mage, I didn't expect her to be so similar. I guess there's not much variation that you can have for a Red Planesalker. I was hoping for a Stone Rain-like ability but Chandra is pretty powerful as is. With 6 loyalty to start with, probably 7 after she's used her ability for the turn, she's the most resilient of the group. The first ability allows you to both but your opponent on a clock but also can serve to shut down opposing Planeswalkers by never allowing them to build up loyalty counters. Her second ability gives her a degree of board control that most of the other Planeswalkers lack, allowing her to protect both herself and you. The third and final ability is insane, a one-sided Wrath of God with 10 damage tacked on, generally enough damage to kill either your opponent or take out a key Planeswalker they control.

Chandra looks to be the most playable Planeswalker so far due to her higher base loyalty, stronger board control abilities, the ability to negate other Planeswalkers while build up her counters, and the fact that she's a win condition all on her own.

Changeling Berserker
A nice, hasty Champion creature. This could see play as the height of the curve for an aggressive Red deck. He can be searched for with Flamekin Harbringer and be revealed by Flamekin Bladewhirl.

Flamekin Bladewhirl
2/1s for have always been playable (well, except for Norin the Wary) and this is no exception. There are plenty of decent Elementals that can be used to pay its trigger: Changeling Berserker, Rift Elemental (if you're running Gargadon), Sulfur Elemental, Inner-Flame Acolyte, Incandescent Soulstoke and the Flamekin Harbringer.

Flamekin Harbringer
Main Elementals that I could see this tutoring up are Changeling Berserker, Ingot Chewer and possibly Nova Chaser, which are pretty good, so it's not too bad at for a 1/1.

Incandescent Soulstoke
This card will be played in the Elemental-based aggro decks that could emerge in Standard. Works quite well with Nova Chaser, but the combo is a bit on the fragile side.

Incendiary Command
The Red Command is definitely one of the weaker Commands, although it is still marginally playable. Most of its abilities are underpowered though. It should have done 1 more point of damage on both its Pyroclasm and Giant's Ire abilities to bump it up to a more playable state. The ability to destroy a Non-Basic Land is pretty good, and gives the Command more relevance in the control match-up. On the other hand, the watered down Wheel of Fortune ability is just terrible.

Ingot Chewer
A decent Artifact removal card that can be played as a creature in the late game. This is probably a 1-of in the maindeck or sideboard of any deck running Flamekin Harbringers.

Lash Out
While Incinerate is a more versatile, and therefore better, burn spell than this, it is very possible that Lash Out will see play as Incinerate 5-8.

Nova Chaser
Not bad at all for a 4-drop but the fact that Doran makes it effectively a 2/2, and pretty much every removal spell can kill it before it gets an attack off, it probably won't see much play. If it is played at all, it will be with Incandescent Soulstoke to give it Haste.

Soulbright Flamekin
A mana engine that is just too easy to disrupt. If they have a Mogg Fanatic, or any other sort of removal spell, they can easily kill the target and make you waste a turn.

Sunrise Sovereign
With a lack of other Giants that are playable based on their own strength, this guy probably won't see Standard play any time soon.

Tarfire
If you're running Tarmogoyf, or Boggart Harbringer, use this over Shock. Otherwise, stay away from this card.

Thundercloud Shaman
The only playable Giant other than the Sunrise Sovereign and Brion, Stoutarm that I can see.

Wild Ricochet
An interesting trick to say the least, but other than Profane Command, there don't seem to many juicy targets for this card.

Green

Cloudthresher
A 7/7 for 6 that has Flash? That's insane, even if it does require a heavy dedication to Greeen. The ability to clear the air of pesky Faeries is a nice bonus as well. Cloudthresher's playing time will depend largely on how the metagame shapes up. If Faeries, or another type of deck that uses a lot of Fliers, becomes a dominant archetype, Cloudthresher will be showing up every so often in a sideboard to act as a one-sided Wrath of God.

Dauntless Dourbark
A 4-drop 5/5 that only gets better as the game progresses, pretty nice. It's a very good beatstick but the need for Forests makes this a mono-Green only card, which means it will likely see very little play. The decision to go multi-color with Tarmogoyf, or mono-color with the Dourbark isn't likely to end in the Dourbark's favor.

Eyes of the Wisent
First things first. This card is completely overrated.

Sure it completely hoses Blue-based control decks, but those are hardly going to be competitive in an environment full of aggro decks or Haakon decks with unlimited spell-casting ability. Not to mention you are probably going to be one of said aggro decks since you're running Green.

There is also a gaping hole in the counter wall now that Spell Snare is leaving Standard. You can easily slip in two creatures on the play which will force them to tap out on turn four for Damnation, the spell that you actually should be worrying about (along with Tendrils of Corruption).

In short, Eyes of the Wisent is not worth the sideboard space, or the mana that would need to be spent on it turn two, and it's certainly not worth your money.

Garruk Wildspeaker
The Green Planeswalker is quite versatile, being able to serve as both mana acceleration and a token producer. Explosive Vegetation is good, as is Call of the Herd, which along with his last ability, Overrun, makes for a solid Planeswalker. He does have a bit of asynergy with Gaddock Teeg however, which may lessen his play time in the maindeck and make him a sideboard option (likely to replace said Gaddock Teegs in aggro match-ups).

Imperious Perfect
A good Elf that gets very little support from its tribe outside of the Mana-Elves, Elvish Champion, and the Watchelf.

Masked Admirers
A nice cantrip creature indeed, giving you excellent card advantage against removal-heavy decks, despite being a bit underwhelming in combat.

Primal Command
Possibly the worst of the Command cycle, even worse than the Red one. This consists of two abilities that will rarely be used, and two abilities that are far too weak to justify the mana spent. At least the other three non-Blue Commands only had one "dead" ability.

Treefolk Harbringer
This Harbringer could see play in decks based on Doran, the Siege Tower for his ability to tutor for said beatstick, and be a strong offensive 3/3 with Doran on the board.

Wren's Run Packmaster
Pretty good for an Elf, but I wouldn't bet on him saving the Elf tribe from Tier 4 status.

Wren's Run Vanquisher
The same as the Packmaster really. It's a good card in a weak tribe.

Multicolored

Brion Stoutarm
A very powerful 4-mana Giant that could possibly see play in a post-Ravnica Angelfire deck along with Lightning Angel, and Calciderm, or any deck running /.

Doran, the Siege Tower
This 3-mana 5/5 is worth every bit of hype that it has gotten. It has strong synergy with already good creatures such as Ohran Viper and Tarmogoyf, while retaining under-costed beatstick status by itself. The Siege Tower is also on color with some of the best removal in the format, namely Shriekmaw, and Oblivion Ring, as well as Gaddock Teeg, Saffi Eriksdotter, and Mystic Enforcer.

Gaddock Teeg
An efficient 2-drop that also has a possibly game-winning ability thrown in. This guy is not to be underestimated as he can not only shut down Wrath of God and Damnation, but also several of the strongest card advantage engines in Standard, Careful Consideration, Mystical Teachings, and Profane Command. Gaddock is yet another card that is worth every bit of hype that's surrounded him, as he can single-handedly murder a control deck that has no answer for him, as well as shut down possible 4-mana spells that are run in non-control decks such as Fodder Launch and Cryptic Command.

He's a menace to the Standard format, and I mean that in a good way, in that every single deck built from now on must take into account how well it can function with Gaddock Teeg out, and whether maindeck answers must be run.

As far as whether Gaddock should be a maindeck or sideboard card, I would say maindeck. The main thing that separates him from other such hosers, such as Magus of the Moon, is that he is an [i]efficient[/card] creature that rests in a nice place on the curve, unlike the 3-mana 2/2 that I just mentioned, and other such creatures.

Horde of Notions
I actually quite like this card, but since the five colors that you need to have to cast it are harder to get than the that you need to cast Akroma, he'll likely remain unplayable.

Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
Nath is like Liliana, except where Liliana makes them discard a card every turn and then brings back a load of Tarmogoyfs, and other Green in his mana cost, which is a suboptimal control color, in my view. Only playable if you are very afraid of Gaddock Teeg.

Sygg, River Guide
Another solid 2-drop Merfolk to go along with Silvergill Adept and Lord of Atlantis. His activated ability is quite good for protecting your creatures from removal, and forcing through damage in combat.

Wort, Boggart Auntie
A good Goblin, but slightly out of range for what most Goblin decks want. She promotes a more midrange strategy of long-term card advantage, while many other Goblins want to be more aggressive. Wort could see play in a few Goblin decks, but is likely too high in the curve for most mana-bases to support.

Wydwen, the Biting Gale
I have mixed feelings about this card. In aggro-control, it's a bit inefficient, although the evasion and ability help make up for it, but keeping it alive is very mana intensive, reducing Wydwen to just a 3/3 Flier that you can't risk tapping mana to save. For control, it's underwhelming as it's a very slow clock, even if near unkillable. I would, at most, play it as a 2-of in non-Faerie / aggro-control, due to competition for the 4-drop slot with Mistbind Clique (which is better overall), and not at all in control.

Artifacts

Deathrender
While it can help cheat big creatures into play, keep in mind that you spent 4 mana to play it, and 2 more mana to equip it, mana that could have been better spent on getting said big creatures out on the board another less obvious and easy to thwart way.

Thorn of Amethyst
The best Artifact in this set, which really isn't saying much. Slows down a lot of control decks and makes generating a high Storm count nearly impossible. While it is a very good card, this will probably not see major play in Standard due to the lack of a good combo deck.

Lands

Ancient Ampitheatre, Auntie's Hovel, Gilt-Leaf Palace, Secluded Glen, and Wanderwine Hub
The Lorwyn duals are all usable if you are running enough creatures of whatever tribe each one needs.

Windbrisk Heights
Not too hard of a requirement to achieve if, much like the Mosswort Bridge, you aren't playing against a deck running Damnations. Especially easy to meet the requirements if you're running Militia's Pride.

Shelldock Isle
Somewhat playable if you intend to drag the game on for a long time.

Howltooth Hollow
Far too harsh requirements must be met for this to do anything.

Spinerock Knell
The requirements aren't that hard to meet, but any deck capable of dealing 7 damage in a turn is most likely an aggro deck, and would rather run something like Ghitu Encampment.

Mosswort Bridge
Decent chance of being played as the requirements are pretty easy to achieve against a deck that isn't running Damnation, but if you have 10 power on the table, why do you need to play anything else?

Shimmering Grotto
Not too bad for a mana-fixing Land but outshined by the "Vivid" cycle.

Vivid Meadow, Vivid Creek, Vivid Marsh, Vivid Crag, and Vivid Grove
All of these lands are playable as they are great mana-fixers for three, or even four, color decks.

As you may have noticed, aggressive decks are getting quite a few tools that are decidedly anti-control.

Teachings Control, both Block and Standard (Dralnu du Louvre) versions, will likely fall behind in the new Standard, as it is unable to stop the combined power of efficient early drops, Gaddock Teeg, and Militia's Pride. The card advantage engine must also be weakened by using Mulldrifter and Jace Beleren, or the risk of getting shut down by Gaddock Teeg when you have no answers in hand and are unable to cast Careful Consideration or Mystical Teachings is too great.

The other two control decks of ex-Standard, Angelfire and Solar Flare, are hurt more by what they lose than what aggressive decks are gaining. The loss of dual lands and Karoos make their mana bases horrid, and some of the main reasons to run the color combinations (Lightning Helix, Castigate, Mortify, Court Hussar, Firemane Angel, and Angel of Despair, just to name a few) are rotating out.

Likewise, the already inconsistent Perilous Storm will be leaving along with its draw engine, Hatching Plans, and the key cards that it needed to beat aggro, Remand and Repeal.

Which leaves Rack, and the various color combinations of aggro decks as the remaining decks from ex-Standard. The Rack feels weak in a gauntlet consisting of large fat creatures that are very resistant to Black removal, and as it can't exactly outfight the majority of aggro decks in the Combat Phase, the future looks quite grim for this archetype.

The most competitive aggro color combinations from ex-Standard and Time Spiral Block are Block UG, RG, WG, WRG, and the newly introduced WBG.

UG can be crossed off the list as it faces the same problems as GB Rack and it has even less removal to help solve the issue.

RG "Gruul Beats" is still the same mix of small creatures, Greater Gargadon, Tarmogoyf, and burn, with an emphasis on the "small creatures." With no evasion, very few ways to deal with an army of fatties, and a weaker burn suite than before due to Char's rotation, I'm going to have to say that it'll roll over to the stronger board control aspects present in WG, WRG, and WBG.

Basic WG Aggro is the most mana-consistent of the aggressive decks using those colors as a starting point. It has the ability to go on the early offensive, but can also hold its own against bigger creatures with its own Calciderm and Mystic Enforcer (Tarmogoyf is a given at this point). Overall, I feel that generic WG is sub-optimal as there are enough mana fixers to warrant adding another color for the increase in power. If it takes a more Kithkin oriented route, though, being able to run Thoughtweft Trio as another amazing creature in the aggro match-ups could be enough to bump it into Tier 1.

WRG Aggro, only loosely related to Standard's Zoo and Block's Kavu Justice, features Brion Stoutarm as the addition to the creature base, and Fiery Justice as well as other burn to improve on board control aspects while making it easier to boost up Tarmogoyfs. Whether Red adds enough to the deck to make it a viable option instead of, or even over, WBG is questionable, but a bit of reach never hurts in an aggro deck.

Lastly is WBG. It has the speed of an aggro deck, yet the power of a midrange deck due to the amazingly efficient Doran. Treefolk Harbringer on turn one into a turn three Doran isn't hard to pull off at all, and puts them on a very short clock that still gives you a bit of time to play a Gaddock Teeg on turn two, or Thoughseize their Damnation away. I think that this is the strongest of the current aggro decks, as it has the beefiest, yet most mana efficient, creature base and has an impressive set of removal that together allows it to transition smoothly from beatdown to control and vice versa.

So how do the tribes play into all of this? It's safe to scratch the Treefolk and Giants off the list of potentially playable tribes because of their very shallow card pools which only contain one or two card playable in their own right and their immensely high mana curves, although the latter offers decent board control in Desolation Giant and [card]Thundercloud Shaman[/mana]. The Elves also have a very shallow card pool, although they have more playables than either of the previously mentioned tribes. That still doesn't save them from being Tier 2 "I lose to UB Teachings without a god hand" fodder.

The Elementals have a nice mix of aggressive and combo aspects. Unfortunately, both aspects are weak. It is nearly impossible to break through a stalled ground war with the low cost Elementals as they all lack evasion and size (Flamekin Bladewhirl is the only one that breaks the curve of efficiency), and the combo with Incandescant Soulstoke and Nova Chaser is very easy to counter.

Kithkin look to be strongest as an underlying theme in a WG aggro deck as they will most likely run into problems against other aggro decks that run removal and have stronger creatures. They are playable on their own as a White Weenie type of deck, but not running Gaddock Teeg, or splashing green for him alone seems like a waste.

UB Faeries have very strong tempo creatures: Pestermite and Mistbind Clique, the best of the new "Lords" (that would be Scion of Oona), Cryptic Command, and Thoughtseize. They have a bit of competition for the best aggro-control deck title from the Merfolk, but they will most likely reign as the best aggro-control deck in the new meta as they have strong match-ups against control and can put up consistent fights against nonred aggro decks. Highly unsuggested for a Red-dominated meta.

BR or monored Goblins will have issues dealing with midrange decks without Fodder Launch, face a few problems, mainly in the mana curve. The strongest Goblins are all over the curve, starting with Mogg Fanatic and ending with Siege-Gang Commander. This wasn't really an issue for the Onslaught Goblins as they had [card]Goblin Warchief[/mana] to smooth out mana issues, but for the Boggarts, this means they have three routes.

The first route is to be a weenie deck, focusing on the low end of the curve and their speed. This route has problems against fatter creatures, which are in every single other aggro deck at this point, as it will want to run burn over Black removal leaving it with only Fodder Launch as a way to control the ground.

The second route is to focus on the high end of the curve, a more of a midrange approach to the deck. Siege-Gang Commander is good at controlling the board, and Wort, Boggart Auntie can provide a Graveborn Muse-like effect, which can give this deck the power it needs in the creature battle. Recurring Fodder Launch for a few consecutive turns is some good.

The last route is to just forget about the mana curve and stuff whatever Goblins you think are best into the deck. This leads to a rather inconsistent deck that, while it may win games, is altogether quite terrible.

Unlike their fellow aggro-control Faeries, the Merfolk actually can put up a bit of a fight against Red. Most of the Merrow do not need other Merfolk in play in order to function well. The main issue with the Merfolk is the clogging at the two-drop slot between Silvergill Adept, Lord of Atlantis, and Sygg, River Guide. Otherwise the tribe is solid, offering good two and three mana creatures to take slots in a WU aggro-control deck that can islandwalk to victory against the Faerie "mirror" and the majority of control decks. Main reasons to play Merfolk instead of Faeries are Mana Tithe, Momentary Blink, Oblivion Ring, and the better match-up against Red.

Rounding out the Lorwyn-Standard meta, will be Haakon Inversion, and possible WU or WG Turbofog. There may be a variety of Red- or Black-based control decks running large amounts of removal in order to beat the aggressive decks, but Faeries or Merfolk will keep them in check.

Overall, Lorwyn looks like it'll bring on an era of aggressive mirror matches to Standard that are heavily focussed on the Combat Phase, and complex mathematical equations that we can all have fun solving.

So how do the tribes play into all of this? It's safe to scratch the Treefolk and Giants off the list of potentially playable tribes because of their very shallow card pools which only contain one or two card playable in their own right and their immensely high mana curves, although the latter offers decent board control in Desolation Giant and [card]Thundercloud Shaman[/mana]. The Elves also have a very shallow card pool, although they have more playables than either of the previously mentioned tribes. That still doesn't save them from being Tier 2 "I lose to UB Teachings without a god hand" fodder.

The Elementals have a nice mix of aggressive and combo aspects. Unfortunately, both aspects are weak. It is nearly impossible to break through a stalled ground war with the low cost Elementals as they all lack evasion and size (Flamekin Bladewhirl is the only one that breaks the curve of efficiency), and the combo with Incandescant Soulstoke and Nova Chaser is very easy to counter.

Kithkin look to be strongest as an underlying theme in a WG aggro deck as they will most likely run into problems against other aggro decks that run removal and have stronger creatures. They are playable on their own as a White Weenie type of deck, but not running Gaddock Teeg, or splashing green for him alone seems like a waste.

UB Faeries have very strong tempo creatures: Pestermite and Mistbind Clique, the best of the new "Lords" (that would be Scion of Oona), Cryptic Command, and Thoughtseize. They have a bit of competition for the best aggro-control deck title from the Merfolk, but they will most likely reign as the best aggro-control deck in the new meta as they have strong match-ups against control and can put up consistent fights against nonred aggro decks. Highly unsuggested for a Red-dominated meta.

BR or monored Goblins will have issues dealing with midrange decks without Fodder Launch, face a few problems, mainly in the mana curve. The strongest Goblins are all over the curve, starting with Mogg Fanatic and ending with Siege-Gang Commander. This wasn't really an issue for the Onslaught Goblins as they had [card]Goblin Warchief[/mana] to smooth out mana issues, but for the Boggarts, this means they have three routes.

The first route is to be a weenie deck, focusing on the low end of the curve and their speed. This route has problems against fatter creatures, which are in every single other aggro deck at this point, as it will want to run burn over Black removal leaving it with only Fodder Launch as a way to control the ground.

The second route is to focus on the high end of the curve, a more of a midrange approach to the deck. Siege-Gang Commander is good at controlling the board, and Wort, Boggart Auntie can provide a Graveborn Muse-like effect, which can give this deck the power it needs in the creature battle. Recurring Fodder Launch for a few consecutive turns is some good.

The last route is to just forget about the mana curve and stuff whatever Goblins you think are best into the deck. This leads to a rather inconsistent deck that, while it may win games, is altogether quite terrible.

Unlike their fellow aggro-control Faeries, the Merfolk actually can put up a bit of a fight against Red. Most of the Merrow do not need other Merfolk in play in order to function well. The main issue with the Merfolk is the clogging at the two-drop slot between Silvergill Adept, Lord of Atlantis, and Sygg, River Guide. Otherwise the tribe is solid, offering good two and three mana creatures to take slots in a WU aggro-control deck that can islandwalk to victory against the Faerie "mirror" and the majority of control decks. Main reasons to play Merfolk instead of Faeries are Mana Tithe, Momentary Blink, Oblivion Ring, and the better match-up against Red.

Rounding out the Lorwyn-Standard meta, will be Haakon Inversion, and possible WU or WG Turbofog. There may be a variety of Red- or Black-based control decks running large amounts of removal in order to beat the aggressive decks, but Faeries or Merfolk will keep them in check.

Overall, Lorwyn looks like it'll bring on an era of aggressive mirror matches to Standard that are heavily focussed on the Combat Phase, and complex mathematical equations that we can all have fun solving.

Grand Prix tournament in Krakow, Poland on 2007-11-04

1st place U/W Control by Paul Cheon:
Maindeck:

Creatures
3 Brine Elemental
4 Vesuvan Shapeshifter

Enchantments
3 Oblivion Ring

Instants
4 Cryptic Command
4 Rune Snag

Legendary Creatures
2 Teferi, Mage Of Zhalfir
2 Venser, Shaper Savant

Snow Artifact Creatures
4 Phyrexian Ironfoot

Sorceries
4 Ancestral Vision
3 Wrath Of God

Basic Snow Lands
10 Snow-covered Island
4 Snow-covered Plains

Lands
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Calciform Pools
3 Nimbus Maze
2 Urza's Factory

Sideboard:
2 Aeon Chronicler
3 Aven Riftwatcher
2 Magus Of The Tabernacle
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Teferi, Mage Of Zhalfir
2 Jace Beleren
1 Wrath Of God
3 Faerie Trickery

2nd place Mono Blue Control by Amiel Tenenbaum:
Maindeck:

Creatures
3 Guile

Instants
4 Cryptic Command
3 Pact Of Negation
4 Remove Soul
4 Rune Snag
4 Think Twice

Legendary Creatures
3 Teferi, Mage Of Zhalfir
2 Venser, Shaper Savant

Sorceries
4 Ancestral Vision

Tribal Instants
4 Faerie Trickery

Basic Lands
13 Island

Basic Snow Lands
4 Snow-covered Island

Lands
4 Desert
2 Dreadship Reef
1 Tolaria West
1 Urza's Factory

Sideboard:
3 Razormane Masticore
2 Draining Whelk
2 Sower Of Temptation
2 Willbender
2 Persuasion
2 Take Possession
2 Jace Beleren

3rd place G/R Big Mana by Armin Birner:
Maindeck:

Creatures
3 Bogardan Hellkite
2 Cloudthresher
1 Hostility
4 Siege-gang Commander
3 Tarmogoyf
4 Wall Of Roots

Enchantments
3 Fertile Ground

Instants
4 Incinerate

Planeswalkers
3 Garruk Wildspeaker

Sorceries
1 Disintegrate
4 Harmonize
1 Molten Disaster
4 Search For Tomorrow

Basic Lands
4 Forest
5 Mountain

Lands
3 Grove Of The Burnwillows
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Treetop Village
2 Urza's Factory

Legendary Lands
1 Pendelhaven

Sideboard:
2 Loxodon Warhammer
3 Detritivore
1 Seal Of Primordium
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Sulfurous Blast
1 Molten Disaster
4 Mwonvuli Acid-moss


4th place Makeshift Command by Olivier Ruel:
Maindeck:

Artifact Creatures

4 Epochrasite

Creatures
4 Mulldrifter
4 Riftwing Cloudskate
4 Shadowmage Infiltrator
4 Shriekmaw

Instants
1 Grim Harvest
4 Makeshift Mannequin

Legendary Creatures
1 Venser, Shaper Savant

Snow Artifact Creatures
4 Phyrexian Ironfoot

Sorceries
3 Damnation
2 Profane Command

Basic Snow Lands
4 Snow-covered Island
6 Snow-covered Swamp

Lands
4 Faerie Conclave
4 River Of Tears
4 Underground River
1 Urza's Factory

Snow Lands
3 Mouth Of Ronom

Sideboard:
3 Pithing Needle
3 Bottle Gnomes
2 Mournwhelk
4 Thoughtseize
3 Nameless Inversion

5th place U/G Faeries by Robert Jacko:
Maindeck:

Artifacts
2 Loxodon Warhammer

Creatures
4 Birds Of Paradise
3 Mistbind Clique
4 Mystic Snake
3 Pestermite
4 Scion Of Oona
4 Scryb Ranger
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Wall Of Roots

Instants
2 Psionic Blast
1 Remove Soul
4 Rune Snag

Basic Lands
3 Forest

Basic Snow Lands
4 Snow-covered Forest
5 Snow-covered Island

Lands
3 Faerie Conclave
2 Treetop Village
4 Yavimaya Coast

Legendary Lands
2 Pendelhaven

Sideboard:
4 Thorn Of Amethyst
3 Spectral Force
3 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
1 Willbender
1 Flashfreeze
3 Lignify

6th place Mono Blue Control by David Besso:
Maindeck:

Creatures
3 Brine Elemental
2 Sower Of Temptation
4 Vesuvan Shapeshifter

Instants
4 Cryptic Command
4 Remove Soul
4 Rune Snag

Legendary Creatures
3 Teferi, Mage Of Zhalfir

Sorceries
4 Ancestral Vision

Tribal Instants
4 Faerie Trickery

Basic Snow Lands
18 Snow-covered Island

Lands
4 Desert
4 Dreadship Reef
2 Urza's Factory

Sideboard:
3 Razormane Masticore
2 Aeon Chronicler
3 Fathom Seer
3 Flashfreeze
4 Phyrexian Ironfoot

7th place Mono Blue Control by Guillaume Wafo-tapa:
Maindeck:

Creatures
3 Guile

Instants
4 Cryptic Command
3 Pact Of Negation
4 Remove Soul
4 Rune Snag
4 Think Twice

Legendary Creatures
3 Teferi, Mage Of Zhalfir
2 Venser, Shaper Savant

Sorceries
4 Ancestral Vision

Tribal Instants
4 Faerie Trickery

Basic Snow Lands
17 Snow-covered Island

Lands
4 Desert
2 Dreadship Reef
1 Tolaria West
1 Urza's Factory

Sideboard:
3 Razormane Masticore
2 Draining Whelk
4 Sower Of Temptation
2 Willbender
2 Take Possession
2 Jace Beleren

8th place Makeshift Command by Matej Zatlkaj:
Maindeck:

Artifacts
3 Mind Stone

Artifact Creatures
4 Epochrasite

Creatures
4 Mulldrifter
4 Riftwing Cloudskate
4 Shadowmage Infiltrator
4 Shriekmaw

Instants
4 Makeshift Mannequin

Legendary Creatures
3 Venser, Shaper Savant

Snow Artifact Creatures
4 Phyrexian Ironfoot

Sorceries
2 Profane Command

Basic Snow Lands
3 Snow-covered Island
6 Snow-covered Swamp

Lands
4 Faerie Conclave
4 River Of Tears
4 Underground River

Snow Lands
3 Mouth Of Ronom

Sideboard:
3 Bottle Gnomes
2 Draining Whelk
4 Damnation
2 Deathmark
3 Thoughtseize

Magical Hack – Standard in Motion by Sean McKeown

Seeing how we are now two weeks away from the State Championships, we have the opportunity to examine the Standard metagame in motion. We are on our way to the World Championships in a month’s time, give or take a little, and in addition to looking at the States metagame as it played out, we can advance it one week into the future by examining the results of this past weekend’s Grand Prix in Krakow. My traditional habits for metagame analysis involves a lot of running with numbers, but thankfully I do my math behind the scenes... I’m sure it’d be downright boring, were I to do otherwise.

States showed rather a varied metagame... and one that had a few surprises in it, as we have results that belie the Oct-1 assumption of an aggressive metagame by seeing the control decks come out more or less on top. We won’t be analyzing any one particular state, instead lumping all the U.S. states that reported results and all of the Canadian provinces that reported results into one huge atom-smashing machine to see what decks succeeded on the continent as a whole. We’d use more information if we had it and branch out beyond the continent of North America if only we could, so there will be some “regional” skewing of the metagame to favor that which did well on the continent of North America... hopefully a continent is a big enough region, though I’m sure if we could add Japanese results to what we already have that’d be a mighty big spanner in the works, as they often seem to do things quite differently.

If this has already appeared on Swimming with Sharks yesterday, I do apologize for the overlap – but hopefully there will be enough interesting nuggets in both to distinguish this week’s column from the area covered by Mike yesterday on the Mothership. These are the risks we take in writing things in advance, and with my article due late Wednesday I never get to see if I’ve stepped on any toes first. We’ll be looking at the first shock of Standard information through a few information filters, looking first at raw data then weighting the data by match result in the Top 8 to see which decks had the best penetration through the Top 8... the only means we really have of seeing the “Week One” States metagame in motion before moving on to Krakow, because we of course have had to go without the rather large volume of information categorizing all of the decks played in the Swiss and thus cannot compare an archetype’s penetration depth through the Swiss to make the final cut to elimination rounds. After examining “Week One”, we’ll do the same for “Week Two”, a.k.a. Grand Prix: Krakow, where we have the Day 2 information plus the Top 8 Decklists to work with.

Let’s jump right in and get our hands dirty:
Deck /Wins(First number)/ /Top 8's(Second Number)/
Pickles 10 36
With Momentary Blink 3 7
BG 6 48
With The Rack 2 20
Elves variants 6 36
R/G Aggro 5 35
Sadin R/g 1 16
non-Pickles Blink decks 4 38
Snow White 3 13
Teachings 2 28
BGW Doran 2 20
Merfolk 2 9
Snow Red 2 8
Mannequin 2 7
GW Aggro 2 3
Faeries Aggro 1 16
Mono-Black Control 1 11
UG Aggro 1 10
RG Big Mana 1 8
W/g Kithkin 1 7
GW Control 1 2
Turbo-Fog 1 3
B/R (Usually Goblins) 24
UW Control 11
Red Deck Wins 9
Predator 8
Mono-White Kithkin 6
Poorlash 5
UB Control 5
Mono-Green Aggro 3
RWU Control 3
Mono-Black Aggro 2
UB Madness 2
Poison Slivers 1
Wild Pair 1
Walk the Aeons 1
Big Mana Red 1
RW Control 1
UGb Kowal 1
Mono-Blue Control 1
UGB Aggro 1
UBW Control 1
Reanimator 1
BRG Control 1


We see quite a few different flavors of deck, and can branch them into “Aggro” or “Control” to give us a rough idea of how accurate the “States is an Aggro Format” belief was this year. We’ll include “Midrange” to explain all of the B/G Rock-like decks and Blink variants that have a tempo theme instead of a dedicated control stance, which is why we note the difference between the Blink decks and the Blink decks with a Pickles end-game. Just on sheer Top 8 results alone, we see 133 controllish decks, 122 “Midrange” decks (like B/G Tarmo-Rack, B/G/W Doran the Siege Tower decks, Blink decks of many colors, or Poorlash), and 172 aggressive-centric decks. The two biggest aggressive decks were R/G Aggro (which was about 50-50 ‘Red splash Tarmogoyf’ as per Steven Sadin’s build, or heavier Green for cards like Garruk, Call of the Herd, or Troll Ascetic) and Elves! (usually, but not always, B/G... we also saw some mono-Green, and Green-White). The two biggest controlling decks were Pickles decks of various color combinations and Mystical Teachings decks of even more varied designs, both of which were less well-represented at the cut to elimination than the assorted Black-Green non-Elves! decks or the non-Pickles-bearing Momentary Blink decks.

Of course, it’s very easy to quibble about what fits where, so we can’t really say that this was a field that had the largest portion occupied by aggressive decks... after all, plenty of people would say ‘if it isn’t aggressive, it’s controlling’ then try and cut a divide down the middle of the Black/Green decks (probably based on whether or not they played Damnation, which more than a few of them did) and taking the control-light Blink decks into the control deck section despite being tempo decks instead of true control decks. Instead, let’s look at the biggest winners overall.

Pickles won 10 states, which is pretty astounding for a deck that started out on nobody’s radar. These wins included a very interesting U/G build in Wisconsin, mono-Blue Pickles, Pickles with Damnation sideboard, and Pickles with White splash... some going so far as to play Wrath of God, some being content to stop at Momentary Blink, and some just for sideboard cards like Teferi’s Moat. It picked up a hefty 36 berths in the Top 8, filling the Top 8 of four and a half states or provinces all by its lonesome. The next highest number of wins could be either the assortment of Blink decks or the variety of Black-Green decks, depending on whether you drew a line distinguishing the Blink-Pickles decks as Pickles decks (as I did) or as Blink decks. Counting the Pickles-Blink decks as Blink decks, it goes up to 7 wins and 45 total appearances; not counting it, Black-Green appears next with 6 wins and 48 appearances... more than half of which included The Rack, but there was plenty of precedent for “Rackless” Black-Green decks, often including Garruk Wildspeaker instead. (Though only a few of these decks truly resembled my “Tarmo-Rock” from the Friday before States... I drew the line at including Riftsweeper and Troll Ascetic, before I patted myself on the back.)

Elves! and Red/Green were neck and neck as the “best” aggressive deck; Elves! won one more state and made one more Top 8, but they were quite close... and both quite present in the metagame, at or around the same level as Pickles in the Top 8. Things begin to fall off after that, with the interesting numbers being two wins for Teachings decks but a total of 28 appearances (... and that wasn’t counting the U/W splash flashback on Teachings deck as ‘Teachings,’ labeling it as U/W Control instead); two wins and 20 appearances for Black-Green-White mid-range Doran decks, one win and sixteen appearances for beatdown Faeries, and no wins but a whopping 24 Top 8 berths to aggressive Red-Black decks, often heavy on the Goblins and more than a few pairing Goblin token-makers and Threaten with not just Greater Gargadon but also Nantuko Husk.

It’s an interesting metagame, pretty evenly split between aggressive and controlling... but let’s rank the decks a bit differently, to bias in favor of the decks that won more. For this exercise, we’ll give a deck 4 points for winning its Top 8, 3 points for losing in the finals, 2 points for making the semifinals and just one point for losing in the quarterfinals... this will give us a skewed look at these decks in order to judge how well each deck did once it made the Top 8, which will give us some means of figuring out what did well in the metagame and what might only have been plentiful.
Deck /Weighted Points/
Pickles 83
B/G 92
Elves variants 67
R/G Aggro 62
non-Pickles Blink decks 60
Snow White 30
Teachings 49
BGW Doran 35
Merfolk 18
Snow Red 21
Mannequin 20
GW Aggro 9
Faeries Aggro 26
Mono-Black Control 19
UG Aggro 19
RG Big Mana 14
W/g Kithkin 14
GW Control 6
Turbo-Fog 8
B/R (Usually Goblins) 45
UW Control 14
Red Deck Wins 15
Predator 11
Mono-White Kithkin 7
Poorlash 7
UB Control 9
Mono-Green Aggro 3
RWU Control 4
Mono-Black Aggro 3
UB Madness 2
Poison Slivers 1
Wild Pair 1
Walk the Aeons 1
Big Mana Red 1
RW Control 1
UGb Kowal 3
Mono-Blue Control 2
UGB Aggro 2
UBW Control 1
Reanimator 1
BRG Control 2


The biggest winner, points-wise, is Black-Green... with Pickles hot on its heels. For a truly interesting comparison, and the only numerical manipulation we really have available to us from just the one week’s results, we’ll divide the number of points earned by the number of decks earning those points; the higher the number the more points earned on average for each Top 8 appearance with each deck. Keep in mind that we are using illusory numbers rather than anything “hard and fast”, so at least some of the distinction into different “classes” we will see here will be phantom numbers as well... small numbers of appearances will have very poor variances for this sort of calculation, either towards success or failure, so we’ll be cutting the calculation off right away at “any deck without at least five appearances in the Top 8s”.

Some people will tell you this is because I hate Turbo-Fog, and don’t want to own up to the fact that in three appearances they’d have earned 4, 3, and 1 point, for (8 / 3 = 2.67) on the comparison scale... a high value. In actuality, I hate arguing with Turbo-Fog players about the validity of their deck in this metagame, because I have learned ever since first attempting to explain to them that they were going to face a different metagame than anticipated in their thread discussing the deck on StarCityGames.com’s Standard forums that sometimes you just can’t beat sense into peoples’ heads. So I won’t try... nor will I try to beat sense into the heads of those advocating any other deck appearing less than five times in all the Top 8’s across the continent, saving me from having to argue with the proponents of GW Control, Mono-Green Aggro, Green-White Non-Kithkin Aggro, Reanimator, and Rites of Flourishing / Walk the Aeons combo.

What can I say, I’m all out of aspirin so I’m taking the easy route out. I’d say it works best for all of us. This did lead to dismissing decks that won 4 out of the 52 state championships, but when it comes to math we need our standards for validity, even if they are just arbitrarily chosen as “probably good enough.” Let’s look at that comparison:
Deck /Weighted Average of Points Per Top 8 Appearance/
Mannequin 2.857
Snow Red 2.625
Snow White 2.308
Pickles 2.306
W/g Kithkin 2.000
Merfolk 2.000
BG 1.917
UG Aggro 1.900
B/R (Usually Goblins) 1.875
Elves variants 1.861
UB Control 1.800
R/G Aggro 1.771
RG Big Mana 1.750
BGW Doran 1.750
Teachings 1.750
Mono-Black Control 1.727
Red Deck Wins 1.667
Faeries Aggro 1.625
non-Pickles Blink decks 1.579
Poorlash 1.400
Predator 1.375
UW Control 1.273
Mono-White Kithkin 1.167


With results like these, there’s little surprise that people are touting the “Mannequin” B/U deck as the next hot thing... it put in seven appearances and won twice out of those seven tries, including meeting itself in the finals in at least one state. Snow Red has likewise put in solid results, despite not having a “unified” decklist as of the Week One results... and, like Mannequin, it met itself in the finals in at least one state. Snow White is actually a bit of a misnomer, as something around half of the decks had a light Blue splash for card-drawing; the distinction between Snow White and UW Control was the presence of countermagic, in which case it became UW Control... a bottom finisher, amongst this group.

For those who want the reminder, Turbo-Fog finishes just between the first and second place contender on this list. And if you believe that this is an accurate description of the efficacy of that deck in this metagame, I’d simply aim to remind you that I am reasonably certain that its penetration from the Swiss into the Top 8 as a whole was generally poor; those who came expecting the heavy aggressive metagame in which Turbo-Fog would flourish often floundered against the approximately half of the field that was well prepared to clean their clocks by not playing the type of game Turbo-Fog was intended to capitalize upon. Rickard Hedlund, the Manitoba Provincial Champ who hoisted his plaque with the mighty Turbo-Fog deck, was later quoted as saying: “Being that I was the only player that won with Turbo Fog I'd say I wouldn't let my friends play with it either, unless the field had no Pickles decks”. A small sample size does not necessarily provide representative numbers of a deck’s effectiveness in the metagame as a whole... and tends to lend a bit of suspicion as to exactly why that deck was present in the Top 8 in such small numbers. It is my firm belief that Turbo-Fog is an under-performer, and the metagame as a whole seems to have thankfully moved on past the point of caring.

With this list as our rough striation for “quality of deck” for the Week One metagame, let’s move on from juggling numbers to have a look at the Grand Prix results in Krakow. Here’s the Day 2 deck breakdown, by archetype:

17 Mono-U Pickles
16 G/B "Rock" or “Tarmo-Rack”
13 Mannequin
7 Teachings
7 Red Deck Wins
7 R/G Aggro
7 U/W/x Blink
6 Elves!
5 R/G Big Mana
5 Snow Red
4 W/g Kithkin Aggro
4 U/W Control
3 Merfolk
3 U/R Sligh
3 “Sexy Planeswalker”
3 B/R Aggressive
2 U/B Madness
2 Predator
2 Mono-Blue Control
2 Mono-Black Control
1 Mono-Red aggro-control
1 Suicide Black
1 Scryb & Force
1 U/G Faeries
1 R/G Fatties
1 Reanimator
1 B/G/W Doran
1 Snow White (splash Red)
1 Mono-Green Aggro
1 U/G/b Kowal

These broke down to the following Top 8 results, after an additional six rounds of Day Two play:

Paul Cheon – 1st place, U/W Pickles
Amiel Tenenbaum – 2nd place, Mono-Blue Control
Armin Birner – 3rd place, R/G Big Mana
Olivier Ruel – 4th place, Mannequin
Robert Jacko – 5th place, U/G Faeries
David Besso – 6th place, Mono-Blue Pickles
Guillaume Wafo-Tapa, 7th place, Mono-Blue Control
Matej Zatlkaj – 8th place, Mannequin

Both the Wafo-Tapa Mono-Blue Control decks that made Day 2 made the Top 8, as did the sole U/G Faeries deck. With a 100% success ratio converting a Day 2 appearance into a Top 8 berth, it’s hard to argue with these decks at least as far as “on the numbers” goes. 20% of the R/G “Big Mana” decks pushed through Day 2 to the elimination rounds. That number is 15.4%, for Mannequin... and at a minimum 9.5% for Pickles decks of various color combinations, since we’re unsure of just how many of those “U/W Control” decks were mis-labeled U/W Pickles decks like the one that won the tournament. (The maximum is only 11.1%, if Cheon’s UW Pickles was the only one mis-labeled at the start of the day as “UW Control”. Since it’s all a matter of opinion anyway.)

All other decks succeeded 0% of the time, which is rather a few decks all together I’d say. Sadly we don’t have a deck breakdown by player and so cannot perform any of the really fun statistical magic, figuring what beats what and how often or even “just” ranking each of the decks by their individual Day 2 performances. It would have certainly made for a meatier Grand Prix analysis... and I’m sure some of the competitors at the Grand Prix have exactly that, allowing them the benefit of using the standings and pairings through Day 2 to inform their deck choices for Worlds. With two Pickles decks and two Mannequin decks in the Top 8, though, it’d be foolish to avoid either in your preparation... both to play with them and to play against them, as the Grand Prix results are showing both to be very successful flavors of control strategies.

As it is, all I’ve really got to offer to suggest is a reasonably interesting pile of statistics for the State Championships as to what constitutes the “decks to watch”, and to state that the illusion of the “Beatdown Metagame” was thoroughly dispelled at Grand Prix Krakow. Controlling decks seem to have won the day, both in the Top 8 at Krakow and as seen at States... with Snow White and Snow Red having had quite an impressive footprint at States despite having generally small numbers in the Top 8 overall. “Mannequin” as it is being called has especially earned notice, enough to mark it as one of the most-played decks on Day 2 at GP: Krakow... alongside Pickles decks in rather large numbers as well. In addition to being heavily played on Day 2 both were also was able to convert this into two slots in the Top 8, so if you haven’t stood up and paid attention yet... now might be the time to do so.

And if I happen to get my hands on a list correlating the players in the Grand Prix with the deck they played on Day 2, more interesting statistical information will undoubtedly appear. I hope perhaps to be able to acquire that and be able to revisit this informational goldmine about the Standard format prior to the World Championships for the home viewing audience, but also before the “Win A Car!” tournament series a week from this upcoming Sunday at Grand Prix: Daytona... and across the American Northeast. We shall see what information becomes available when I start asking around for it...

Legacy Report

This time we gathered 15 people, and hence 4 round, top 4. So 3-1 is no longer guaranteed hit in the top, not the most pleasant news;)
This time I decided to test some cards, namely the small white Splash, in the end played such a sheet of:
/ / Lands
2 [B] Taiga
4 [ON] Wooded Foothills
1 [TSB] Pendelhaven
1 [UNH] Mountain
8 [UNH] Forest
1 [FUT] Dryad Arbor
1 [B] Savannah
1 [UNH] Plains
1 [US] Gaea's Cradle

/ / Creatures
4 [ON] Ravenous Baloth
4 [CHK] Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 [TO] Basking Rootwalla
1 [ON] Goblin Pyromancer
1 [DIS] Loaming Shaman
1 [DS] Viridian Zealot
1 [FD] Eternal Witness
1 [JU] Anger
1 [JU] Genesis
1 [MM] Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 [UD] Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 [6E] Uktabi Orangutan
1 [PS] Flametongue Kavu
1 [FUT] Magus of the Moon
1 [ON] Goblin Sharpshooter
1 [SOK] Kataki, War's Wage

/ / Spells
4 [DS] AEther Vial
4 [MR] Chalice of the Void
3 [LG] Sylvan Library
4 [EX] Survival of the Fittest

/ / Sideboard
SB: 1 [TSB] Spike Feeder
SB: 4 [U] Swords to Plowshares
SB: 3 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 4 [EX] Price of Progress
SB: 3 [TE] Choke

Indeed testing white decision came very suddenly, first in December with the opposing many artifacts, so kataki appeared immediately in the absence of the MD and secondly fantasy, and as a consequence of slots in Swords of Plowshares in SB. Now to the tournament…

1 Tour Ezgy with its hellish deck on the course and perpetual snow Cthulhu: D
It must be said that at the last tournament, I lost that match 1-2, so the special joy of pairings not received. However, all of which proved better.
In the first game, I imagine distributed Survival of the Fittest and put it fairly quickly. At the next turn kataki appeared on the table, which gave me a much needed victory for the time and get on, I had to trample down faster than a snow man)
In 2 game Ezh sided "hates" very much that there could well affect its combo, he received the entire Height, namely: Leyline of the Void, Pithing Needle, Silent Arbiter, but combo is not. Since "hate" somehow coped, again via verses and had to kill the opp.
1-0
2 Tour Dmitry Nikitin RGbw Life from the loam
Matchup is not very pleasant, the Dima substance of my almost always more, and yet there are still assault and dreams to me too late…
In the first game Dima had mulled to 5 on Quick, I will leave 7. 5 card probably too little and I quickly Hanley first game. In the second game were no more mulls. First Tarmogoyf Dima receives Swords to Plowshares, but they are still 2, then Devastating Dreams at 4 and I go to hell. In the third game, I left not a bad hand with the Sylvan Library, aptly put it at 2 move, but with topdeka anything you want for the entire party did not receive, moved from Terravore, it seems.
1-1
After two rounds of 3 points and now to fall into the top have to win another 2 ballot, and hope for good standings.
3 Tour Alexander Petrenko UV
At first I have a reliable hand with "Survilade", it is was not countered, but Alexandra had Silver Knight under Sword of Fire and Ice. I already at 11, to do something I played Uktabi Orangutan and fortunately it was not countered. Then all became very interesting to not have a second Alexander Silver Knight, then all my living creatures die from double block of knights. Decided to kill one attack, the attack was at 28.
The first game is long and we had only 15 minutes for the second.
Details do not remember the second game, but at 6-7 during the Exalted Angel suggested me for Oman, I at the time was 3 substance, and I attacked on 9, then I would have won the flight, but on the next turn Cataclysm I have to stay Ravenous Baloth against the same angel, I have no flight Hanley.… No, 5 moves and Alexander do not manage to kill me.
2-1
4 Tour Jetro 43land.dec
Cube I, as always, and has already lost the first progress realized that here I would be extremely difficult for TV Land Exploration… land Manabond and 3 land from the hand, I also left a potentially strong hand with 1 land pair Basking Rootwalla, Survival of the Fittest, and something else. However, with topdeka land was not visible, and kicked me Jetro Treetop Village and Mishra's Factory, in the end zapinal.
The second game, I have again 1 land, AEther Vial, Sakura-Tribe Elder, 2 Price of Progress. During the party, I topdekayu Magus of the Moon, put, but it gets Firebolt. So price will win, as it was conceived. Meantime, a Jetro already 5 lands at the end during the Price of Progress, in its turn another.
In the third, I finally passed a 2 land in the hands start, Chalice of the Void and something else. At 2 during chalis put at 1, then raised the Magus of the Moon, is to find land. The next topdek brought Wooded Foothills, Magus appeared on the table. After a couple of turns, I won upinav creatures.
3-1, 9 points and the chance to top. After 4 rounds of the Nikitin 12, and another 4 people with 9 points, a fall outside the top, to my Fortunately, I was not.
Top 4 Intro UGrw Growth
Matchap very pleasant.
The only time in the tournament I won cubes, began with AEther Vial, further Survival of the Fittest, but alternately received 2 Pithing Needle on the vial and verses, respectively, on my hands were Uktabi Orangutan and Magus of the Moon, I have decided to break down the needle vial, delivered with magusa Viala, this Growth slowed somewhat. Magusa killed Fire / Ice billing, I set chalis at 2, almost leshiv vinkondishenov Intro, but the killing was quite nothing, because survival is not worked as well topdek suschestv.V not bring me this time methodically kicked Nimble Mongoose, conveyed to 5 hits, well, a win brought me Sakura-Tribe Elder and Squee, Goblin Nabob with prokachkoy of Pendelhaven.
In the afternoon, I passed a 2 Choke, otkontrili first, not second, and he won voobschem-to me to the party.
Final Dmitry Nikitin
In the first game Dime passed all that needs to be: Seismic Assault, Life from the Loam, and Terravore Devastating Dreams, lost fairly quickly.
The second game long, it was initially advantage of the Dima, but longer than the last game, the better to me. Genesis began work by raising the opposing any substance and in a little while Dima give up.
As result third game is not interesting, Dima had mana screw at 2 Oman, at its 3 progress, I put Magus of the Moon, leaving its green source within several moves Dima has not found land and surrendered, though he was on the arm for all victory. 2-1.

Play Legacy:)

Tempo and You by Scott Wills

Many times over the last few months you will no doubt have read various writers, including myself, talking about the Kamigawa limited format as one which is very tempo oriented. For some Magic players that phrase is an obvious one, and one which they feel they understand well. I have had a few e-mails recently asking for a more in depth explanation of what tempo is, and how it can be used, gained and lost. That will be the topic of today's article.

What is tempo?

The non-musical definition of tempo is something like: “A characteristic rate or rhythm of activity; a pace”. In Magic it's basically a term that refers to your ability to utilise various aspects of the game, such as mana and life totals, to your advantage. Imagine a theoretical game of Magic where each player had a deck full of lands and 2/2 creatures that all cost 2 mana, but that can't block. If you go first, (assuming you draw a reasonable number of lands and creatures) you win. You attack for 2 on turn three with your first guy. Your opponent attacks you back. You attack for four on turn four with two guys. Your opponent attacks you back. You attack again on turn five, and you kill your opponent on turn six, the turn before you die. Why did you win that game? Obviously, it's because you went first. But in terms of tempo what did that gain you? Quite simply, you had access to two mana the turn before your opponent did. That enabled you to establish tempo over your opponent, and with those theoretical decks there was nothing they could do to get it back.

I'm sure many (if not all) of you have lost a game of Magic the turn before you would've killed your opponent simply because you lost the coin-flip and were forced to go second. That was a loss to tempo. The above example illustrates perfectly why it is almost always correct to go first in a game of Magic, and certainly in the Kamigawa limited block. There are some limited formats which are slow enough that card advantage is more important and in those formats you might choose to draw first, but those formats are few and far between, and the Kamigawa limited block certainly isn't one of them.

As I just mentioned, tempo can apply to different areas of Magic. At its most basic level it simply applies to your mana. If you have a Grizzly Bears and your opponent has a Gray Ogre then you both achieve the same thing when casting them, but you gain a mana. Sometimes this will mean you get an advantage because your creature comes into play earlier and is able to attack first, sometimes it means you gain an advantage because you're able to use that extra mana to do something else. You've gained tempo. Sometimes of course it won't mean anything if you're unable to use that extra mana, but the potential is there.

Similarly, sometimes you can use a cheap spell to nullify a more expensive spell of an opponent. Your opponent spends their sixth turn casting Keiga, the Tide Star; you spend your sixth turn casting Cage of Hands on Keiga. In that situation you've gained three mana over your opponent and hopefully you'll be able to use that mana to perhaps cast an extra creature or spell. Once again, that is tempo you have gained.

This is the whole reason why people talk so extensively about mana curve. If your deck has a good mana curve with many things to do for small mana costs then typically you will have a greater chance of being able to utilise your mana in the early turns of the game, and also have a greater chance of using any spare mana you might have in later turns. Decks with low mana curves have them because they want to establish tempo in the early part of the game and use it to help them win.

The other thing that impacts tempo in a game of Magic is the life totals of the players. Typically whichever deck is the more controlling deck in a particular match-up has to sacrifice its life total early on before it can hopefully try and restore the tempo balance with it's more powerful spells later. The aggressive deck would start out gaining tempo with such cards as Goblin Cohorts and Villainous Ogres and so forth, but once the controlling deck gets it's more powerful spells online it would hope to be able to stabilise the board and restore the tempo balance. The aggressive deck simply wants to reduce its opponent's life total to zero before the controlling deck is able to re-establish that balance. If it fails, then it has to fall back on cards which are capable of dealing those last few points of damage through evasion such as Nezumi Cutthroat or other methods like Frostwielder and Devouring Greed. If the controlling deck has had to sacrifice too much tempo early on then its life total will be low enough that the aggressive deck's finisher wins it for them.

Now historically the colours of black and red have been the colours of aggression and blue and white are the more controlling ones, but that doesn't have to be the case. If the blue-white deck starts off with Isamaru, Hound of Konda, Kami of Ancient Law and Soratami Rainshaper, then it would be the black-red deck that was probably behind on tempo and that would have to try to re-establish it. No matter what colours you draft and play, it's always important to determine whether you intend to be the aggressor both during the draft and during a game.

There are often cards that effectively trade life for mana and occasionally vice versa. These can be very useful in establishing and maintaining tempo. Spells like Vendetta and creatures like Takenuma Bleeder allow you to trade life points for a cheaper mana cost. As long as you can maintain the tempo they help establish, the cost of a few life points will be completely irrelevant. Similarly you can also have cards that work in the opposite way, in that their primary role is to trade mana for life. Cards like Kaijin of the Vanishing Touch illustrate this. This card is never going to help you win the game. It won't kill your opponent or run them out of cards. However what it does do is basically trade two mana for a number of life points. In most situations it will completely negate a two-power attacker and force the opponent to re-cast anything they do attack with. You'll probably get a net gain of at least two mana from this while preventing some damage at the same time. Of course you do also risk the chance of it being useless if your opponent kicks off with Nezumi Cutthroat and Soratami Rainshaper but usually cards like Kaijin of the Vanishing Touch go a long way in preventing the aggressive decks getting a big head start on you.

Tempo and tricks

One of the main benefits of maintaining tempo on your side is that it often allows you to use your combat tricks before your opponent's tricks come online. Imagine a game where you win the flip and you start off with Kami of Ancient Law and Ronin Houndmaster on turns two and three. Your opponent's first play is a Kami of the Hunt on their third turn you play a fourth land and attack. Obviously they can't block the Houndmaster, but should they block the Kami? They'd be on only 12 life if they didn't, but they'd be leaving themselves vulnerable to all sorts of tricks if they did. Even if they block and you don't have a trick you've still gained a mana on them as the Kami of Ancient Law cost only two to cast against the three mana they spent on their Kami of the Hunt. If you are able to just cast an Indomitable Will or Blessed Breath and follow that up with another creature then you put them in real trouble.

If we give the green player the first turn play then you would play the Kami on turn two, and they would play their Kami of the Hunt on turn three. You can still cast the Houndmaster on turn three and attack with both of your guys but in that situation the green player can trade the two Kamis off without any fear of combat tricks. They might then be able to follow up with an Order of the Sacred Bell on their next turn that would start to swing the damage race into their favour.

Lets modify the situation a little and change the green cards. This time they are going first and they start with an Orochi Sustainer on their second turn. You follow with your Kami of Ancient Law. They then make the Order of the Sacred Bell on turn three. You can make your Houndmaster and attack with it, but then you take four damage when the Order attacks you back, and maybe your opponent follows up with a Feral Deceiver (with mana open to check the top card of their library) or a Frost Ogre. In this situation you've had exactly the same draw but your opponent has established a much greater tempo advantage than you. Perhaps your only fourth turn play is a Kami of Fire's Roar. In that situation you'll be in a lot of trouble when your opponent attacks with their guys on their fifth turn as you're now the one who is tapped out and vulnerable to combat tricks.

These examples aren't uncommon game situations and they're quite typical of the first few turns of Limited Magic in this block. Hopefully they do a good job of illustrating why tempo is important and why you should care about it when drafting, building your decks, and playing your games.

Gaining and losing tempo

Now that we've established what tempo is, and why it's important, it's worth taking some time to look at different ways you can gain and lose it.

Equipment is one subset of cards that can be big losers in tempo terms. No-Dachi is a perfectly good example of this. It costs two mana to cast, and three to equip. Lets say for example you cast it on your fifth turn and then equip it to your fourth turn creature and attack. Any removal spell from your opponent gains them a lot of tempo there as you basically lose the casting cost of the creature and the equip cost of the No-Dachi in return for them casting their spell. Typically you'll be losing three or four mana in that trade. If they have a bounce spell the situation is almost as bad as you'll have to recast your fourth turn creature and then wait another turn before you can equip No-Dachi again. That's a lot of time and mana spent getting back to the exact same situation you were in two turns previously. Now there are some equipment cards like Umezawa's Jitte that are powerful enough that you don't care about the loss of tempo and others that are cheap like Lightning Greaves or Ronin Warclub so that they don't impact your tempo in as big a way.

Card drawing effects or anything that doesn't actually affect the board would be a loser in tempo terms. Counsel of the Soratami isn't a good card to have to play on the third turn as you may find the loss of tempo overwhelms you before the extra card has time to impact the game. Consider a situation where you're going first with an opening hand of:


You lead with the Akuba and the Ronin and hit your opponent for two on your third turn. They untap. Of all their possible plays, what's the one that you most want to see? It's pretty much either Counsel of the Soratami or Kodama's Reach. Either of those plays lets you untap, attack for five and (assuming you've drawn a land in three turns) drain them for two with the Akuba and cast the Deceiver. Your opponent would be on eleven life, facing down seven power's worth of attackers and you would have a removal spell in hand. That's probably game over a lot of the time. And all because their third turn play didn't affect the board.

Expensive reactive cards are also a big loser in tempo terms most of the time. Mostly I'm thinking about cards like Second Thoughts and Chastise and anything that requires you to sit back with a lot of mana untapped and do nothing. If your opponent can correctly read your hand they can play around either of these by simply not attacking and instead continuing to develop their board position. They can wait for a point in time when they either have an answer to your spell or when it's simply not as relevant for them to lose an attacker to an expensive spell. Meanwhile you fall farther and farther behind as they keep casting more threats and you have to keep holding your mana open for Second Thoughts.

In the same way that you can lose tempo from individual cards you can also gain it. Ghostly Prison is a good example of such a card. Imagine a similar example to the last one where your opponent leads out with a Wicked Akuba and a Nezumi Ronin and they have Befoul and Kami of Fire's Roar in hand. You then drop Ghostly Prison on the third turn. Now they have a tough choice. They could spend their whole fourth turn paying four mana and attacking for five but this doesn't develop their position at all and they can't do that as well as casting the Kami of Fire's Roar. If you make a creature on your fourth turn, they can either pay to attack into it or cast Befoul and forego any attack at all.

It's even worse if you go first. They play their Akuba on turn two, and you follow with Prison on turn three. Now they can't attack at all if they want to cast the Ronin and if you make a suitable blocker they'd again have to skip an attack step in order to deal with it via their Befoul. In this situation Ghostly Prison gains a huge amount of tempo for you.

This example also relates perfectly back to my point about being aware of whether or not your deck expects to be the aggressor or not. If you lead with Goblin Cohort and Kami of Ancient Law how useful is that Ghostly Prison on turn three then? Not very. Ghostly Prison is one of a few cards whose sole purpose is to create tempo. If you already have the tempo advantage anyway then it literally does nothing and should not be included in your deck.

It's important to recognise the distinction between card advantage and tempo advantage. The aforementioned Ghostly Prison is a perfect example. It doesn't do anything by itself; it doesn't kill a creature or attack your opponent. In effect, all Ghostly Prison does is allow you to basically trade the card for your opponent's mana, but then that is what tempo is all about. Quite often tempo doesn't care about card advantage. Bounce spells can and often should be used just to create a tempo advantage, even though it's a loss of card advantage.

The more powerful cards in the game are those that can both generate tempo and card advantage at the same time. From this block Hideous Laughter is a good example of this. If your opponent starts off with Frostling, Kami of Ancient Law and Kitsune Blademaster then not only does your Hideous Laughter gain you a three-for-one card advantage but it also steals a tremendous amount of tempo from your opponent too. You've wiped out their first three turns for just four mana. Once again though, if you expect your deck to be the aggressor and the one that establishes tempo early on, then Hideous Laughter loses a lot of its power.

Summing up

I hope I've explained the concept of tempo clearly enough. This article is not intended to be a comprehensive study of the subject, merely a useful primer for those of you who feel you wanted a better understanding of the concept. Hopefully it's given you some insight into why tempo is important and the different ways you might be able to establish it or steal it back from an opponent.

By Scott Wills

Tempo

Part 1. What is the pace and with it than eat, "or from the author"

What is a Tempo? Tempo is a sign designating it as "painful" game for us one way or another card. In a nutshell this is not to explain, so we will need