Been a while since my last report. My local shop, Montag’s Games, alternates between draft and Standard, and last month was draft, and I don’t ever feel like writing reports on draft; hence the gap.

So, this was the first post-Worldwake Standard for me, and I’d been thinking about what to play for a while, and had been kicking around both a Grixis build and a Naya build for a while. (Prior to PT San Diego.) @dcampa93 and I had bounced some Naya around on Twitter and had both come to the conclusion that Stoneforge Mystic was the way to go, getting Sledge and the Collar… and then PT San Diego happened, and it turned out we weren’t the only people with that idea. Not to hard to come up with, right? Of course, the Boss Naya that was played to an undefeated record in the Swiss was without a doubt a better build than mine (I kept trying to work in Thoctar), but I wasn’t at all surprised that it did well.

So I played it. I made some microscopic changes and played this list:

Creatures (23)
1 Scute Mob
3 Bird of Paradise
4 Wild Nacatl
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Ranger of Eos
3 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Baneslayer Angel
2 Stoneforge Mystic

Other spells (11)
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Path to Exile
2 Ajani Vengeant
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Behemoth Sledge
2 Oblivion Ring

Land (24)
5 Forest
2 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Arid Mesa
2 Raging Ravine
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Rootbound Crag

Sideboard
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Behemoth Sledge
4 Cunning Sparkmage
2 Dauntless Escort
1 Goblin Guide
2 Manabarbs
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Bloodbraid Elf

The minor changes are that I moved two Baneslayers into the main, trading out for a Ranger of Eos and a Bloodbraid, and I went with 3 Birds and 3 Hierarchs rather than 2 and 4 because sometimes the deck gets a little stuck for red mana, so I wanted the extra red source, but one I could still get with a Ranger. And, frankly, after playing it, I would most certainly keep only 3 Rangers in the main deck, because I never wanted to cast more than two in a game anyway, as most of the 1 drops will be exhausted by then. As LSV himself noted, an unanswered Baneslayer is game over a lot of the time, and that just seemed better in the main than either Ranger #4 or Bloodbraid #4.

Round 1: Jason, playing Mystic WW
Game 1: My deck did very little here, and he had the Journeys and O Rings for my threats, and I got beaten down with a Kor Skyfisher with a Sigil on it.

Game 2: All about the Baneslayer, baby. I got one on turn 4 thanks to a Hierarch, and the exalted monster provided the beats.

Game 3: I have to admit my memory for this game is a little shaky. What I do remember is getting hammered with Kor Firewalkers that I had trouble stopping. However, I did get down 3 Sparkmages (without any equipment) and managed to keep the board otherwise pretty clear, and I believe a Knight went all the way.

Round 2: Nathan playing Bant
This was a ramp-style Bant running Khalni Heart Expeditions, Summoning Trap, Avenger of Zendikar, Iona, and Empyrial Archangel. Prettyf interesting, actually.

Game 1: We clogged up the board with relatively modest dudes, then I got a Scute Mob and a Sledge, and he got Avenger of Zendikar. Monster Scute Mob applied and he threw the Avenger and many pumped up Plant tokens in front of it. I then put the Sledge on a 4/4 Knight of the Reliquary and applied beats with that for a couple turns. He got a Summoning Trap for Iona naming Green, but I had another Knight out and gave my Sledged Knight protection from White and finished with burn.

Game 2: Neither of us had anything particularly impressive in the first three or so turns, but I got a fairly early Baneslayer. He managed to get a Empyrial Archangel out with a Summoning Trap (hard cast), but I had a Bolt so I applied with the Angel (6/6 thanks to a Hierarch) and then Bolted. He ran off some more Summoning Traps but missed anything big and never found an answer to the angel of awesome.

Round 3: Jeff, playing Bant
This was a completely different take on Bant. Finest Hour, Rafiq, Pridemages, Hierarchs, Loam Lions, etc: guys made huge by Exalted and swinging twice.

Game 1: I kept a five-land draw and mostly got run over. He got Loam Lions early on and I got small Knights. He got Rafiq and a Battlegrace Angel and I just did not have answers.

Game 2: A similar deal, but very slowly unfolding. I had a Collar and a Sparkmage in my opener but when I went to equip the Sparkmage, he had the Bant Charm for it. He had Finest Hour and multiple Ranger-generated Hierarchs, so anything swinging for him would be large and was coming twice. I, however, had the Collar and Ajani, who was alternately tapping and Helixing things, so every time he attacked it cost him a creature and I maintained some life total. This stalemate was pretty drawn out and we had time called on us, so this worked out to be a match loss.

Round 4: Paul, playing mono-White Emeria
I love this deck. Knight of the White Orchid and Kor Cartographer, then a toolbox of white creatures including World Queller. Very hard to beat if you don’t kill it early. However, we both had really good tiebreaks and did the math and realized that we’d both get into the top 8 if we drew in, which we did.

Quarterfinals: Carlos, playing Eldrazi Green/Red
This is similar to Eldrazi Green, of course, but with Red for Bloodbraids and Bolts and such.

Game 1: I once again have to admit that I don’t remember this game very well. I had multiple early 3/3 Nacatls and he, uhh, didn’t.

Game 2: For the third match in a row I sided in the same seven-card package of 4 Sparkmage, 1 Mystic, 1 Collar, and 1 O Ring. I didn’t get the red machine-gunner, but I had early fetchlands and Knights, and either a Collar or a Sledge, and beat him down pretty quickly again.

Semifinals: Jeff from round 3
Game 1: This was a pretty good game, with some momentum swings. He got early Sejiri Merfolk and Loam Lions and I got a Mystic and had a Bolt for Rafiq. He managed a Finest Hour and beat me down to 5, but I got big a big Knight and with equipment and had many chumps for his big double-shots, so I was able to gain serious life and turn the tide. I got him down to 2 but he had chumps and I finally drew burn in the form of Ajani and roasted him out.

Game 2: In went the same 7-card package as before. Whee. This was a very dumb game because his deck just deserted him. He got stuck on two land, and while he managed a pretty solid board with that, it just wasn’t enough and I just pounded him with a big lifelinked Knight.

Finals: Ray, playing Jund
Ray actually wanted to play for it, which is rare in the finals at Montag’s . Not a problem, but a surprise. Fine with me, of course, I don’t mind playing for it—we came to play, right? Anyway, this was a lot like the semis in PT San Diego in terms of deck matchups, because his Jund was also running Rampant Growth and Siege-Gangs.

Game 1: Pretty even early, with us trading Bloodbraids and other 3/3s. I Bolted a Garruk after it made a token and he got a Siege-Gang which he used a couple tokens to kill a big Knight. I was getting through with Nacatls, though and we kind of traded down to 11 and had more or less a board stalemate. He then drew Bolts, and won with Bolt-Bolt-Bolt throw a Goblin. Ugh.

Game 2: I had Bloodbraids early, the second of which hit a Mystic. He Pulsed off both the Bloodbraids but he was at 10. I hit him with a Nacatl down to 7. Next turn I activated a Ravine and swung with something else, bringing him down to 1, and he was unable to topdeck an answer and that was it.

Game 3: Absolutely stupid game in much the same way as my second game in the previous round. However, unlike that game, in this game we both drew lots of land. As in out of the first 16 cards I saw, 9 were land. I had a Path for his turn 3 Thrinax and Bolted something else. I got a Mystic and therefore a Sledge, but he Pulsed off the Mystic. He got a Ruinblaster, which hit nothing (all I had in play were six basics at the time) and a few turns later I finally had to O Ring it—In the meantime, he was drawing all land as well. He got a second Ruinblaster, which hit a Rootbound Crag, and all I had on the board was a Sledge. I drew more land and he just killed me. Whee.

Overall a pretty good night, even if the last two matches were decided by mana issues. The forces of chance giveth, and they take away—I just would rather have had action both times.

Friday Night Magic at Montag’s Games, the third one of the new year.

OK, so I’ve been hosed the last couple FNMs by trying to outmaneuver the metagame only to end up with horrible matchups. I was planning on skirting that this week and playing Valakut Ramp, but I acquired a third Baneslayer this week and I wanted to go with something I know better, so I went back to Angelfall, playing a very slightly different list than last time:

Angelfall

Creatures & Planeswalkers (20)
4 Steppe Lynx
3 Kazandu Blademaster
3 White Knight
2 Knight of the White Orchid
3 Emeria Angel
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Baneslayer Angel

Other spells (15)
2 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Banefire
4 Honor of the Pure
3 Conqueror’s Pledge

Land (25)
3 Marsh Flats
1 Naya Panorama
4 Arid Mesa
3 Teetering Peaks
2 Mountain
11 Plains
1 Emeria, the Sky-Ruin

Sideboard
2 Path to Exile
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Devout Lightcaster
3 Celestial Purge
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Ajani Vengeant

It’s good against Jund, generally stomps random rogue stuff, but it’s not great against control decks, and of course as an aggro deck it can lose to any combo deck that can go off before it delivers 20. The metagame clearly reflected the recent Star City 5K, because there were a lot of Vampires around. That can be a tough matchup since Bloodwitch is a bit of a difficulty, but this deck generally comes out faster than Vampires so the Bloodwitch can be too late; it depends a lot on the draws. Moderate turnout, so four rounds, cut to top 8.

Round 1: Matt, playing a Jund variant with Birds of Paradise, Nighthawks, Hell’s Thunder, and Madrush Cyclopes
I was glad that I didn’t game specifically for Jund, because then I wouldn’t have drawn this matchup.

Game 1: I got turn 1 Steppe Lynx and turn 2 fetchland so he started down 4. He opened with Birds his first two turns and on his third he Jund charmed to put a couple tokens on one of his Birds, and Bolted the Lynx. He also Blightning’d me next turn though I had nothing too important to pitch and I managed a White Knight, which neutralized the Thrinax he had the next turn. I got an Emeria Angel to stick (no fetch, though) and swung with everything to bring him to 7. He swung back. He had more guys (I don’t remember which) and I left the Angel and a couple bird tokens back to knock him to 5 with the Knight. He killed the Emeria, I got an Honor of the Pure, Knight took him to 2, he didn’t draw an answer.

Game 2: Another killer draw for me. Turn 1 Lynx, turn 2 Plains, Lynx, hit for 2. Turn 3: Fetchland, Path his blocker, Honor of the Pure, swing with both Lynxes for 10. I don’t really remember what happened after that, but 10-point lead on life was enough that it wasn’t likely to get close, and it never really did.

1-0.

Round 2: Paul playing Vampires
He was running a slightly odd build with no Tendrils main, and with Child of Night main.

Game 1: Turn 1 Lynx, turn 2 Plains and some other two drop (I think a White Orchid?), turn 3 fetch, swing for 6. He had a Bloodghast I was ignoring, and he got a Child of Night down and they swung back. I got a White Knight down and held him in place, had a Path for the Nocturnus, and carried through.

Game 2: This was a close game. I had a small edge early, but he Sludged me on turn 5 for three cards: two Conqueror’s Pledge and a Banefire. Ouch. I got down an Elspeth (oops, should have sided that out vs. Vampires). He stuck a Nocturnus, which made my White Knight less useful. He had me at 1, but his guys (the Nocturnus and a Bloodghast) were tapped because they had all swung. I had a token, a White Knight, and a Bolt in hand. With Elspeth, that’s 9 damage… and he was at 10. So, the only chance I had was for him to miss on the Nocturnus the following turn so I could Bolt it, then I could block the Ghast forever if need be with the White Knight… but he didn’t miss on the flip. Oops.

Game 3: I managed for the most part to keep the Nocturni off the board, but couldn’t maintain much of a board presence (Deathmark is pretty good against me) and lost to a Bloodwitch. Oops.

1-1. OK, so I really felt like I must have done something wrong in Game 2 to have done one more damage somewhere, but I can’t put my finger on what I didn’t do right.

Round 3: Jason playing UGB Allies
I need to be a little clearer about this: Jason was playing a deck fairly close to Aaron Forthyhe’s gunslinger deck from the Zendikar pre-release. This was very weird for me, since the first Magic I had played in years was, in fact, a deck very close to the one I was playing against that very deck, as I recounted previously. Jason had swapped out some of the utility cards for Harrow and Mind Spring, which both seemed like good additions.

Game 1: I Path’d his turn two Lotus Cobra, bashed with Steppe Lynx pumped with Teetering Peaks. All he really managed was a Bird of Paradise and Bala Ged Thief with no other Allies in play, and I pretty much just ran him over quickly. I didn’t get to see much of the deck so I wasn’t sure.

Game 2: Exactly the opposite. I got a slow start, he Cobra ramped up and was joined by a Sea Gate Loremaster, got a Turntimber Ranger and a Umara Raptor and a Vastwood. Many cards were drawn. I had an Elspeth and an Honor of the Pure with an Emeria Angel out and was just chumping with tokens. He Pulsed the Emeria and I eventually ran out of tokens, as he drew many cards before I could draw a Bolt to stop the Loremaster, but by then it was just too late. During the “while shuffling” chit-chat, I mentioned that I had played this matchup before, and related some of the Aaron story. So, of course Jason asked how that play turned out. I told him that the White/Red deck won a majority, but mostly it depended on coming out quickly. Foreshadowing…

Game 3: Turn 1 Lynx, turn 2 fetch, Honor, swing for 5. Turn 3 Path his Lotus Cobra, play fetchland (or Teetering Peaks, I don’t remember), swing for another 5. I don’t remember what he did on his 4th turn, but whatever it was didn’t result in a meaningful blocker, and I had another land that pumped the Lynx and swung for another 5. That was pretty much it.

2-1. Eerily familiar.

Round 4: ? (forgot to write it down, my apologies) playing Jund
With good tiebreaks and a smallish crowd, we could draw in, which we did. We played for the fun of it, and of course I wished we had played it for real. He had Jund but with only one Pulse. I rolled the first game on the back of two Honor of the Pures backing up a Baneslayer. I had run out some early guys to draw Terminates, which worked, and the 7/7 Angel did her job. Turns out even two Bolts don’t solve an Angel that big. Second game I had an Honor out and got a Pledge on the fifth turn, then an Emeria with a fetch (Terminated), then another Pledge. OK, then, easy wins for me.

2-1-1.

Quarterfinals: Paul playing Vampires
Same opponent as round 2, so a chance to avenge my loss.

Game 1: We spent some time trading guys and removal spells, I had an early Lynx and then an Honor, but he Disfigured it and chumped something else with a Child. He was drawing dead, apparently, and Signed himself when I hit the Pledge, which is very nice in game 1 (no Marsh Casualties main, I was pretty sure). He never answered.

Game 2: I remembered to side out Elspeth this time (duh) and held back removal for Nighthawks and Nocturni. I had an early White Knight and then got a Pledge, but no Honor. He dropped something, and then I drew into two consecutive Honors, and that was it.

3-1-1

Semifinals: Nate playing Runeflare Trap
This was the epic battle of the night, without a doubt. If you’re not familiar with this deck, you should check it out. It’s essentially a combo deck, but a slightly strange one. Against combo, then plan with a deck like mine is generally “race the combo” which is not always a great plan. Turns out that with the sideboard I could do more than that, but read on…

Game 1: I won the die roll and took a draw with Lynx, Honor, Pledge, and four land, more than one of them a fetch. A keeper against combo in general, but this one could defend itself and he Burst the Lynx right away. I drew no gas but did draw and play another Honor of the Pure. He cast a Font on turn 4. On my turn 5 I cast the Pledge. He cast another Font, so I drew a ton of cards, including another Honor, which I played. This was my key error of the game: I actually drew another Honor, but I didn’t see it through all the other cards in my hand. Ugh, absolutely devastating mistake, probably cost me the game. So I swung for only 18. He Bolted one of the guys so he only went to 15 so my Bolt didn’t kill him, and next time around he hit me with double Trap and a Twincast, which of course killed me.

Game 2: I sided in the 3 Oblivion Rings and the 2 Ajanis. I mulliganed down to five figuring that given the matchup, staring a couple cards light wouldn’t be that bad. I had my only early guy Bolted but I dropped an Ajani on turn 4. I kept him slowed down a little, then color screwed a little, but he got a second Island and bounced Ajani with Into the Roil with Ajani on 7 counters. Grr. I put Ajani back down and changed a little, realizing that I might be able to win another way if the Runeflares didn’t come earlier: I Helixed with Ajani and Bolted him twice. He realized this, and threw burn at Ajani. Extra cards on the draw (at least one Howling Mine was out) meant I had the other Ajani, which I dropped, and Helixed again. He again Bolted Ajani, but I had another Bolt and next turn waxed him with a Banefire. I did exactly zero damage with creatures in this game, and still won! Not exactly the idea behind this deck, but I’ll take it.

Game 3: He got an early Howling Mine, but I didn’t bother with it. I did O Ring the turn 4 Font, though. He bounced it. I drew a bunch of cards, played land and an Honor, and O Ringed it again. Same thing. I managed to get down a Knight of the White Orchid that was pretty big due to the two Honors. I got in a couple swings (one pumped with Teetering Peaks), O Ringed the Font again and had it bounced a third time. His one real mistake is that he Burst my Knight (no kicker) which of course did nothing. He Time Warped and cast another Font, then passed. I double-Bolted and he knew he had only one turn to kill me, but he still didn’t have any Runeflare Traps. Amazingly bad luck on his part. So, with him at 11 and me at 20, he threw all the burn in his hand at me: a Burst (18), three Bolts (9), and two Twincasts for the bolts (3). On my turn, I dropped another Peaks, hit with the Knight, Bolted, then dropped Ajani and Helixed for the win. His top card: Runeflare Trap. Whew, that was awfully close!

4-1-1

Finals: John, playing Valakut Ramp
Earlier that evening John noted that he’d found my blog and that I had called him my favorite FNM opponent. During the semis he felt the need to give me a hard time that I had to win so that we could play each other. It was a good point, John, and I think that bit of destiny must have had something to do with the dearth of Runeflare Traps in that last game, right? Anyway, we split the prizes and played fast and casual for the hell of it. Frankly, it was a good thing we agreed to split because I didn’t really put in much of an appearance in either game. Game 1 he had, I think, every single instant burn spell in his deck to wreck all my guys and then just did the turning mountains into Bolts thing and blew up on me, and in Game 2 my deck decided to take a break and took the game off. OK, then.

Still, much fun. Next week I plan to play Valakut Ramp, but I will leave open the possibility that I’ll play UWR control…

I wasn’t going to write this report because I did so badly, but perhaps this can be an object lesson to others.

First, a bit on the metagame at my local store (Montag’s Games): the last few times I’ve played FNM, I’ve faced a lot of (surprise!) Jund. Also, I always end up facing John’s Valakut Ramp deck. I was planning on playing UWr control last week, then didn’t and played Vampires instead. It was a bad decision, as I missed the top 8 because I lost two matches to, of course, Jund and Valakut Ramp, the generally bad matchups for Vampires. So, this week was going to be UWr, but then LSV won the SC5K in LA with UWr, and I didn’t want to play mirrors, which I thought I’d end up doing. So, I played a deck that tests very well against Jund and Valakut. Here’s the list:

4 Vedalkin Outlander
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Emeria Angel
2 Baneslayer Angel
3 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
2 White Knight
2 Devout Lightcaster

4 Fieldmist Borderpost
3 Flashfreeze
2 Path to Exile
3 Hindering Light
3 Spreading Seas
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Celestial Purge

4 Glacial Fortress
3 Island
3 Arid Mesa
3 Scalding Tarn
7 Plains

Sideboard
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Jace Beleren
3 Rite of Replication
1 Celestial Purge
1 Devout Lightcaster
3 Negate
3 Brave the Elements
1 Spreading Seas

Yes, I’d run more Baneslayers if I had them, but I only have the two. Two last-minute decisions on sideboard cards: Rite of Replication rather than Mind Control and Brave the Elements over Mark of Asylum. I like it because it has some nice control elements, isn’t a netdeck, and wrecks Jund. It’s also very good against Valakut Ramp. It’s not good against Vampires, and it’s spotty against random stuff, particularly other decks running heavy on blue. You can, of course, guess what happened.

Round 1: Carlos, playing WU
His build was a little bit less aggressive. It had more draw (Divination and Ponder), fewer creatures (including Deft Duelists), 4 Baneslayers, and Ajani Goldmane.

Game 1: He had a terrible draw and didn’t really do much besides play land and draw more cards. He Path’d a couple of my early weenies, but never found enough answers and I bashed him. The only damage I took was from my own fetchlands.

Game 2: See game 1, but in reverse. He had a turn 2 Luminarch Ascension that made this game pretty straightforward for him.

Game 3: This game is the real motivation for writing this report in the first place. He got down an early Deft Duelist that I didn’t get an answer for for a while. That and a Knight of the W.O. were beating on me without opposition. I managed a Knight of my own (I got land, though, because of the Borderposts) and traded mine for his. He stuck an Ajani, and that became a problem as he started pumping up his Duelist and second Knight. I managed an Outlander to chump, his guys got bigger. I managed an Elspeth, which was a good source of further chumpers. Then he dropped a Baneslayer. I managed an Emeria and a fetch for another round of chumping; his guys got bigger again. Then I drew my ninth mana source, and it led to a hugely fun play: a kicked Rite of Replication on a Baneslayer. He attacked with everything and I let a lot of it through, then counterattacked with my flotilla of Baneslayers for a huge life gain. (In retrospect, what I should have done is double-block on two of his guys, including his Baneslayer.) I played a Jace and drew an extra card, which was another Rite. He O-Ring’d one of my Baneslayers and attacked (his Baneslayer was now 8/8 with Ajani bumps.) Next turn I cast and kicked for another mess of Baneslayers. I managed one attack with a whole bunch (put me up to 52 life) and he peeled a Day of Judgment and reset everything. I still had Elspeth and he managed another Ajani. I beat with a pumped soldier token for a few turns and he gained life with Ajani and I realized I’d be facing a huge Avatar token, so I used Elspeth’s ultimate to make my 1/1 token indestructable. Stalemate, but he drew another Baneslayer. It never mattered, though, as time was called on us, so the many Baneslayer battle ended on a draw. (I think this demonstrates how much better Mind Control is than Rite, though, as I would likely have won this had those Rites been Mind Controls. I wanted Rite for Vampires, because a kicked Rite on a Bloodwitch is game.)

0-0-1. Weird.

Round 2: Jeff playing UG Mill
I got rounded down rather than up. He claimed his deck was awful but fun. I had no idea what it would be. What it turned out to be is Crabs, Harrows, Khalni Expeditions, Archive Traps, Traumatizes, and a couple other goodies I didn’t see until very late in Game 3.

Game 1: He did almost nothing but Harrow while weenies pumped by Elspeth beat him up. I had little idea what I was sideboarding for.

Game 2: He got two early Crabs and a Traumatize which hit me for 23 cards. I didn’t have enough guys to be putting on enough pressure. I wasn’t thinking about Archive Traps and got hit by a pair when I cracked a fetch. However, I had a Negate for the second trap. Unfortunately he got a Terramorphic and a Harrow with a Crab in play and he milled me when he was at 4 life with lethal on the board. Ugh.

Game 3: My opening hand was a fetchland and a Borderpost. I risked it and got Archive Trapped on my first turn. Again I got off to a slow start and he had a first-turn Crab. I managed to Flashfreeze something (a Harrow, I think) early but just was not generating enough early pressure. I had to Path a second Crab (milling me with the first). He hit me with a Traumatize and my library was getting mighty thin. He cast a Rampaging Baloths and blew a Khalni Heart Expedition and I realized my life total might actually become relevant. I got an Elspeth and a Knight of the White Orchid (with a Negate in hand for the Archive Trap, which was needed) so I had chumpers. Finally, with only a few cards left in my library, I got out a Baneslayer and whacked him down to 3, bringing my life to 23. Then the killer from him: Platinum Angel. I had no removal. I “killed” him, but I had no way to get rid of the Angel and he basically just sat still for three turns and I lost to not being able to draw. Wow.

0-1-1.

Round 3: Mitch playing GU Landfall
I had played Mitch last week when he played a mono-white Kor deck that I wrecked pretty easily (I was playing Vampires). I again had no idea what to expect with this. Was all Zendikar except I saw Terramorphics.

Game 1: He dropped a turn 1 Zephyr Sprite. Zephyr Sprite? Really? OK, Knights and Outlanders and Elspeth beat him down. I took a few pokes from the Sprite and some fetchland damage, but that was about it.

Game 2: I had a couple of 2/2s to his 1/1 Frontier Guide that he used on his turn 4 to generate another land. On his turn 5 he got land and played a Baloth Woodcrasher. Elspeth allowed me to fly over him and hit him to 9, then cast an Emeria Angel and cracked a fetch for two bird tokens. However, I had no removal for the Baloth. He got all giddy and thought he had won the game since he had two Harrows, but I had a Flashfreeze for one of them, so the Baloth only came for 12, which I let through. I swung for lethal, he again was sure he was going to win because he had a Fog, but I had another Flashfreeze.

1-1-1.

Round 4: Kevin playing Vampires
This time I got rounded up, and got rounded up into a matchup that wasn’t especially good for me. Still, not unwinnable, and at least I knew what to expect.

Game 1: I opened with two Spreading Seas, which turned out to be not very good against a monocolored deck. His turn 2 play was a Child of Night, which is a bit odd in Vampires, but that was better than my turn 2 Outlander in this matchup. I got a Knight of the White Orchid (and land) but I had already taken a bunch from his guys (my Outlander died to a Gatekeeper). On turn 5 I cast a Sphinx and we traded swings for a couple turns, but all I drew after that was land and I had to leave my Spinx back to block. He managed to Tendrils my Knight and then killed the Sphinx with a Gatekeeper, and I just drew more land and died.

Game 2: At least I had a sideboard into more removal, for a change. In went the extra Lightcaster, the extra Purge, all the Rites, the ORing, the Jaces, and a couple Negates for all the Outlanders, Flashfreezes, and Spreading Seas. My draw had one Island in it. Mulliganed to six, no land at all. Mulliganed to five, which was four land and a Baneslayer. My draws were Sphinx, Path, Baneslayer, Brave the Elements… notice no land? Couldn’t cast anything. I finally drew an Emeria Angel, cast it, drew another land, and used Brave the Elements to save it from an Executioner’s Capsule. I tapped out for a Baneslayer, he had the Tendrils, game over.

1-2-1.

Well, ugh. I brought a deck tuned for a specific metagame, and then got a completely different metagame. The irony is that if I had played this deck last week, I would have done much better and if I had played Vampires this week, I would likely have done much better. Moral of the story: stop picking decks based on an expected metagame and just play a deck that’s either good, or fun, or both. I’m thinking Valakut Ramp next week, or back to the WW/r deck I went undefeated with back in November.

As far as Valakut goes, I’m on the fence about Oracle of Mul Daya in the deck. Sometimes it’s nearly useless and just draws out a removal spell or chumps, and sometimes the extra land drop or two just wins games. The one card I’m not going to run is Grazing Gladeheart, which is common in sideboards for this deck, because nobody at the store runs Boros Bushwhacker, though I’ve seen one or two RDW variants, it’s still not frequent. I like Acidic Slime better in that sideboard slot.

So, my brother was supposed to be in town for this, and he was going to play Vampires, and I was as late as Thursday still fiddling with a White/Blue aggro deck that was great against Jund (Hindering Light rocks in that matchup) but only so-so against anything else. I tore it apart and went with every intention of playing a Blue/White/Red control deck (modeled more or less on the Austrian deck from Worlds), and I also had a Valkut Ramp deck with me.

When I arrived to find it more full than expected, looking around there appeared to be a fair amount of white and blue, and John convinced me to play Vampires since I had it with me. Here’s what I played:

4 Bloodghast
3 Vampire Hexmage
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Hypnotic Specter
4 Vampire Nocturnus
4 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen

3 Disfigure
4 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Sorin Markov
2 Mind Sludge
2 Sign in Blood

1 Gargoyle Castle
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Marsh Flats
16 Swamp

Sideboard
3 Marsh Casualties
2 Sadistic Sacrament
3 Black Knight
4 Duress
3 Deathmark

I know, there are some slightly odd choices there (Ob, the Hyppie), but it’s basically the same kind of Vampires deck people have been playing ever since Zen rotated in. It’s completely mindless to play, which was the goal since I wasn’t planning to pilot it. There were, I think, 24 people there, meaning 5 rounds cut to top 8. I believe only 4 were playing Jund, which is not the best matchup for Vampires, so I decided against my better judgment to go in with it. You can guess where this went…

Round 1: Marvin playing Jund
Of course. His build was a little different, with Borderland Rangers (OK, not that weird) and Thornlings. It’s not an un-winnable matchup, but I would to get a bit lucky to have a shot.

Game 1: I was not particularly lucky. It wasn’t a bad game, but Jund has more and better removal, and I just didn’t draw well enough to win.

Game 2: This was a total disaster. I got stuck on three land with various expensive cards in my hand, got Thought Hemmoraged for Vampire Nocturnus (I did have one on my hand) on turn 4, then on the next turn got hit with it again for Tendrils. OK, then. I stayed on my three land with nothing interesting in my hand for a while, and just got beat up.

After this quick beating, I took out my UWR control deck and played that, and just crushed him with it.

Round 2: Hunter, playing R/B Eldrazi Goblins
Well, I thought, hopefully I’d get an easy match in the loser’s bracket. And so it was. This deck had cards I had never seen or heard of before (like Karathi Bomber) and was kind of interesting, but it was in no way a good matchup for him. There’s no point in going game-by-game, I just rolled him. The play of the game was the finish in game 2 when he was at 17: I hit him with a Nocturnus and two other vamps for 13, then played a Bloodwitch to drain for 4. Nice turn.

After this also very quick round so afterward we played with his deck against my Valakut deck. That was actually a much better matchup for him. The humorous part of this matchup was that he played a Coat of Arms, then a Siege-Gang Commander. Then I played a Siege-Gang Commander. Then he played another one. Then I played another one. Whee, very, very giant Goblins!

Round 3: John, playing Valakut Ramp
My favorite opponent, which is good, because I swear I always play him in FNM. This is a matchup that favors the Valukut deck, though it’s winnable by Vampires if the draw is fast and some life is gained. If the Valakut deck ramps up quickly, however, anything other than an optimal draw is an almost certain loss for vamps.

Game 1: My draw was mediocre but he didn’t ramp too quickly, but still just fast enough to beat me.

Game 2: I sided in 2 Sadistic Sacrament and 4 Duress for this one. I got Duress on the first turn and killed a Harrow, and got Sacrament on the third turn and got 3 Valakuts, but unfortunately he had already drawn the first Valakut. I had a fighting chance but he had all the removal when he needed it, wiped out a bunch of stuff with a Hellkite, and then got Valakut active and took me out.

Unfortunately, two losses put me out of contention for the top 8. I came to play, though, so I stayed in.

Again, after this match we played, this time the Valakut mirror. I won two of those and we didn’t quite have time to finish the third, but I had better board position there. He doesn’t run Ruinblaster or Lavaball Trap main, which I did, and that made the difference in the mirror.

Round 4: Mitch, playing mono-White Kor
This might have been a completely Zendikar deck, though maybe there was a Path involved at some point. Kor Duelist, Armament Master, Hookmaster, Kor Skyfisher, Kor Aeronaut, etc. Even Grappling Hook.

Game 1: I know I Disfigured his turn 2 Aeronaut but he never really had much going and a Bloodwitch finished him off. I was at 18 when it ended.

Game 2: More senseless beatings. I got a 2-for-1 on a kicked Marsh Casualties at one point, but he managed to get a lot of other guys out and we were kind of stalemated for a while. He had gained a fair bit of life off a pair of Kabira Crossroads that had been bounced with Skyfishers. I eventually got control of the board and managed to Tendril a Grappling Hook-equipped Skyfisher and finished off with a Nighthawk and a Bloodwitch; I was at 28 life at the end.

Round 5: Nick, playing White/Green/Blue Allies
I know this was not strictly Zendikar because I’m pretty sure something got Path’d at some point in one of the games. That may have been the only non-Zendikar card, though.

Game 1: Early on I got out a Bloodghast and a Hexmage while he got an Oran-Rief Survivalist and a pair of Ondu Clerics. He blocked the Hexmage with the 3/3 Survivalist, not realizing that I could sac the Hexmage to strip the counters off of it after first strike damage. From there he could chump with the Clerics but he chose not to hoping for more life gain. He did chump with one of the Clerics against my turn 6 attack, and then I cast Ob and cracked a fetch to bring him to 9. He cast some other ally to gain 2. 9/9 Ob and the Bloodghast were chumped the next turn, and I played another fetch to bring him down to 5 and cast a Nighthawk. That was it for this one.

Game 2: On my third turn I Deathmarked a Kazandu Blademaster to get a Hexmage in. He one again got down multiple Ondu Clerics and kept gaining life, but I always had better board position; I had out a Hexmage and Bloodghast when I got a Nocturnus and hit on the flip, then next turn cast a Bloodwitch. The game ended with me at the 24 life I had from the Bloodwitch drain.

So, basically, I played two decent competitive decks and lost to those 0-2 each time, and played three basically bad rogue decks and crushed them handily. I remain unconvinced that Vampires is a Tier 1 deck, though I guess more help is supposedly coming in Worldwake. I have probably three more constructed FNMs before Worldwake becomes legal and I certainly won’t play Vampires in any of those.

I of course missed the top 8. However, I did watch most of the top 8, which was instructive about the metagame. There were three Jund decks, one UWR control, a Vampires, John with Valakut, a G/R Eldrazi Elves, and one rogue W/B Ranger of Eos/Steppe Lynx/Soul Warden/Nighhawk/Zealous Persecution deck.

None of the Junds mirrored. The four matches were Valakut vs. Rogue, Jund vs. Vampires, Jund vs. UWR control, and Jund vs. G/R Eldrazi. John’s Valakut crushed the rogue. Amazingly, the other Vampire deck in the tourney won vs. Jund. UWR of course beat Jund, and the Jund deck easily handled the Elves. So, in the semis, it was Valakut vs. Vampires and Jund vs. UWR control. Valakut and UWR control took it and split the top prizes.

So, next week I think it’s UWR control for me or maybe Valakut; I’m not sure, but I do know it won’t be Vampires.

OK, so this is a little off the wall, but my brother Ben is going to be visiting for New Year’s and will be staying through the weekend (we’re going to the Texans-Patriots game that Sunday). Ben is a long-time Magic player (he’s played longer than me, in fact), but has always been a casual player. Small card pools, multiplayer at the kitchen table, that kind of thing. He’s never played a sanctioned tournament (or probably ever with a really tuned deck) before, but he wants to come with me to FNM while he’s here after we’ve gorged ourselves on bowl games on Jan 1st. I’ll obviously need to prep him a little on tournament play, but it’s FNM so nothing too serious there.

The real issue is with decks. What should we play? I don’t have cards for any two arbitrary Standard decks. Here are the decks I can build with the cards I have around:

Angelfall
4 Steppe Lynx
3 Kazandu Blademaster
4 White Knight
2 Baneslayer Angel
2 Knight of the White Orchid
3 Emeria Angel
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

2 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Banefire
4 Honor of the Pure
3 Conqueror’s Pledge

2 Marsh Flats
1 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Arid Mesa
3 Teetering Peaks
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Mountain
11 Plains
1 Emeria, the Sky-Ruin

Sideboard
2 Path to Exile
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Devout Lightcaster
3 Celestial Purge
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Ajani Vengeant

I might fiddle with the mana base a bit (dump the Scalding Tarn and the Terramorphic in favor of a pair of Naya Panorama), but it’d be basically this list. The advantages of this deck are that it’s pretty easy to play and that it’s actually a pretty good matchup against Jund.

There’s also a version based on blue as the splash instead of red:

Bolov0 Special
4 White Knight
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Vedalken Outlander
3 Emeria Angel
2 Baneslayer Angel
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Sphinx of Jwar Isle

4 Fieldmist Borderpost
3 Negate
4 Path to Exile
3 Flashfreeze

4 Glacial Fortress
3 Island
2 Marsh Flats
2 Scalding Tarn
7 Plains
2 Arid Mesa

Sideboard
3 Celestial Purge
3 Devout Lightcaster
2 Meddling Mage
2 Jace Beleren
1 Flashfreeze
4 to be determined, maybe Deft Duelist or Rite of Replication or some mix of the two.

Only slightly harder to play, but there’s almost nothing out there to handle pro-red guys and again, it’s straightforward in concept.

Austrian RWU Control
4 Wall of Denial
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle

3 Double Negative
4 Flashfreeze
2 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Earthquake
2 Jace Beleren
3 Ajani Vengeant
2 Day of Judgment
2 Mind Spring
3 Oblivion Ring

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Arid Mesa
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Island
2 Mountain
4 Plains
4 Serji Refuge

Sideboard
1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
2 Baneslayer Angel
1 Day of Judgment
3 Essence Scatter
2 Felidar Sovereign
4 Spreading Seas
2 Pyroclasm

I’m sure the Austrians playtested this more than I have, but I really like a 4th Wall of Denial over the third Jace. Err, and I only own two Jace’s. (Note that today’s LSV column is based on this deck. He agrees that there should be 4 Wall of Denial; now I have to think about some of his other changes. I will not play Spreading Seas main deck, though.) Now, this is obviously harder to play, but there will be almost zero sideboard hate for it, I think, as I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this around FNM at our store.

Now, for something completely different:

Valakut Ramp
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Bogarden Hellkite
1 Chandra Naalar

4 Expedition Map
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Rampant Growth
4 Khalni Heart Expedition
4 Harrow
3 Lavaball Trap

4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Forest
12 Mountain

Sideboard
3 Caldera Hellion
3 Grazing Gladeheart
3 Trace of Abundance
3 Burst Lightning
3 Magma Spray

I don’t think in the main deck that it’s quite as good against Jund as the earlier options, but the sideboard is helps a great deal and the deck has the advantage of being a total blast to play… this deck is just fun.

Now, there are two other decks that have some appeal. I don’t quite have the cards for but I’m pretty close and I’d be willing to get the rest of what’s needed to get there:

Barely Boros
4 Goblin Guide
4 Plated Geopede
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Hell’s Thunder
3 Ajani Vengeant

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
4 Zektar Shrine Expedition
2 Earthquake
2 Act of Treason
1 Quenchable Fire

4 Arid Mesa
7 Mountain
4 Naya Panorama
1 Plains
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Terramorphic Expanse

Sideboard
1 Ajani Vengeant
2 Act of Treason
2 Earthquake
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
3 Volcanic Fallout
3 Path to Exile

This should be pretty easy to play, I’d think. I could also generate a mono-Red RDW-style deck fairly easily.

Another mono-colored option would be something like this:

Vampires
3 Bloodghast
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Vampire Nocturnus
3 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
1 Hypnotic Specter

3 Disfigure
4 Tendrils of Corruption
2 Marsh Casualties
1 Sorin Markov
1 Mind Sludge
2 Sign in Blood

1 Gargoyle Castle
22 Swamp (some replaced by however many Marsh Flats and Verdant Catacombs I can dig up)

Sideboard
2 Marsh Casualties
3 Desecrated Earth
2 Sadistic Sacrament
3 Black Knight
3 Duress
2 Deathmark

Again, this shouldn’t be too hard to play.

I know, it’s a goofy build, but in mono-black I just have to play one Hyppie just for nostaligia and I only have 3 Bloodghasts and 3 Bloodwitches. (I only have one Vampire Nocturnus, but I’d suck up the other three if my brother really wants to play this.) Now, the main deck Marsh Casualties may be a little odd but I think is actually the right thing; that’s a really good card.

Now, I could build some form of Boros Bushwhacker, too, except that I don’t have any Ranger of Eos. I guess those are cheaper than Vampire Nocturni, so that’s a viable option as well. No Jund, I have basically none of those cards. (Seriously, I just came back to the game right after Zendikar came out, and I hate playing what everyone else is playing so I haven’t been motivated to get any.) No G/W since I lack many of those cards (no Knight of the Reliquary or Noble Hierarch or Lotus Cobra.) No Grixis, I don’t have any Ultimatums.

The other consideration is that I only have one playset of Arid Mesa, Scalding Tarn, and only 3 Marsh Flats, plus only 2 Baneslayers and only 4 Paths. So we couldn’t both really play decks that are heavy white, but one of us could, and then the other could play the Valakut deck or Vampires, or something like that.

So, my question for anyone who can provide informed input: which pair of decks should we play? (Ben, your input is, of course, paramount. Anything look particularly appealing to you?)

Whee, my second constructed tournament in the last decade, FNM at Montag’s Games. I experimented with a mono-white weenie deck, but I just didn’t like it that much. I really like the bolov0 UW Aggro deck, but I didn’t have the cards for it so I decided to go back into battle with the WW/r deck from last time, though I made some changes as I have since acquired two Baneslayers and in playtesting the mono-white thing, I’ve come to be an even bigger fan of Conqueror’s Pledge. The other thing I realized is that I just didn’t like the Burst Lightnings in there. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good card, but the problem the deck has is rarely the ability to do 2, or desperately need to pick off a guy with 2 toughness. The problem is the mid-game clog. With mostly weenies, if the game goes on to later turns, it can be hard to get guys through. I wanted a finisher, something that could do 5 or 6 in the late game. The deck needed Banefire. I also really liked Kazandu Blademasters against Boros Bushwhacker and Vampires, so I pulled the Elite Vanguards for those. That’s a speed compromise, but I thought it was worth it. So, here’s the listing:

Creatures & Planeswalkers (20)
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Kazandu Blademaster
3 White Knight
2 Baneslayer Angel
2 Knight of the White Orchid
3 Emeria Angel
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Other spells (15)
2 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Banefire
4 Honor of the Pure
3 Conqueror’s Pledge

Land (25)
2 Marsh Flats
1 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Arid Mesa
3 Teetering Peaks
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Mountain
11 Plains
1 Emeria, the Sky-Ruin

Sideboard
2 Path to Exile
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Devout Lightcaster
2 Celestial Purge
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Ajani Vengeant

I went with two extra Paths in the sideboard for any green (or Naya) fat or Baneslayers, the O-Rings for control or anything random, the Lightcasters/Purges for Jund and Vampires, and the Ruinblasters for Jund and Valakut, as I thought John might be playing that. That’s also what the Ajani was for, as well as for any control deck. I didn’t actually have the second Ajani Vengeant, but I successfully traded John for one before we got started.

The critical feature of this deck is that it’s very good against Jund. It doesn’t come out as fast as Bushwhacker, though the fast draws are very quick, but it has a much better mid-game than Bushwhacker with the Pledges, Angels, and Elspeth. White Knights are also very good against Jund, and of course the sideboard options with both Lightcasters and Ruinblasters makes it a tough out for Jund. Of course, really good cascades can still swing games, but if that’s their only good out, then I think it’s a good matchup.

We had a light crowd of only like 16, so four rounds and cut to a final 4.

Round 1: Trevor, playing Jund with Nighthawks and Sign in Blood
I had never played Trevor before but I had seen him at FNM in previous weeks. He was playing before we got started and I thought it was Boros Bushwhacker, but that obviously wasn’t what he was playing in the tournament.
Game 1: I got an early White Knight and had an Honor of the Pure pulsed, but the Knight got in a couple whacks before being Bolted, then got out an Emeria Angel and Elspeth, but he got a Broodmate and friend. I had an Elspeth-generated token in play with the Angel and a bird token, but they were staring at the two 4/4 Dragons and something else on the ground (a Thrinax, I think). He Pulsed off the Emeria and put down a Nighthawk, but then I dropped Baneslayer and he didn’t have an immediate answer, so Elspeth pumped her up and she swung for 8, crunching the Nighthawk. He didn’t want to swing with the dragons for fear of the mad rush of tokens. His next draw didn’t help him and I swung with everything, bringing him down to 5. I had exactly six lands in play and Banefired for the win.
Game 2: I went down to six cards and took an OK draw with a Blademaster and a couple Plains, an Honor, a Banefire, a Teetering Peaks, and a couple other cards I don’t remember. Plains, done. Trevor blew a fetch, done. I put down a second Plains, cast Honor, and passed the turn. He blew a Catacombs, done. I topdecked a Steppe Lynx. He went down, done. Trevor played another land and passed. Awesome: draw Bolt, fetchland, Lynx for 5. I think his next play was a Nighthawk. Bolt it, Teetering Peaks, swing for another five, leaving him at 5, put down the Blademaster. He Blightning’d me for a couple cards and Bolted the Lynx and blew another Catacombs. He Signed in Blood down to two, and I threw fire at him for the win.
1-0

Round 2: Doug, playing Jund with Great Sable Stags
I was 0-2 against Doug, one loss in a draft and one loss last time in Standard.
Game 1: Doug mulliganed down to five cards and I got a fast draw, running a Steppe Lynx on turn 1 with a fetchland and a Blademaster on turn 2. Turn 3: Plains, swing for five, leaving him at 11. I’m not 100% sure exactly how it went down after that (sorry, a lot of these Jund games run together); I think he dropped a Stag that I bolted and then I whacked him and then Banefired him out. Or something. Starting at five cards can be rough.
Game 2: I took a two-land draw, which is normally something that should not be a problem. However, I never saw a third land and died with a variety of stuff in my hand that never hit the table. A couple two-drops got in there somewhere—I remember a White Knight getting Bolted—but I never really mounted enough of a threat to make this even remotely interesting.
Game 3: I took a slow draw but it had good land and a Ruinblaster. He still had nothing on the board besides land at the end of his third turn—two Savage Lands and a basic—so the turn 4 kicked Ruinblaster was not well-received. (“Wow, dirty pool for a white deck!” he exclaimed. Hey, it’s worth running red just for Ruinblasters vs. Jund.) That gave me the time advantage. We both got stuff out and traded some blows—I don’t remember very many details, though I do remember a couple specific plays. I got off a Conqueror’s Pledge that looked to be terminal (there was an Elspeth token in play too), but he played a Bloodbraid and cascaded into a Pulse which wiped them all out. Nice one. Next turn I had five land out with a fetch in my hand, and rather than playing the Baneslayer in my hand I put down the Lynx and held the fetchland. Stupid, stupid—he of course Blightning’d me on his turn, so they both went into the graveyard and he zapped Elspeth down from 6 counters to 3, which was a great play for him. However, Elspeth pumped the guys who were still on the board and I managed to get him down before he drew enough answers.
2-0

Round 3: John, playing R/g Valakut
I love playing against John, he’s a fun opponent and I really like this deck, too. We had played slightly different versions of these decks against each other two weeks ago after we finished our match that counted, and so I was expecting a fairly even match. I think I have a slight advantage, particularly if I got a fast start.
Game 1: I had to mulligan down to five, but it was a monstrously good five: Steppe Lynx, two Teetering Peaks, Elspeth, and a fetch. Turn 1: Fetch, Lynx. Turn 2: Peaks, Lynx, swing for 4. Turn 3: Lynx, Peaks, swing for 4. Turn 4: Scalding Tarn, crack for a mountain, swing for 4, play Elspeth. He managed to burn off the Lynx and got rid of Elspeth after a token or two, and I couldn’t cast the Conqueror’s Pledge in my hand even though I had five lands in play, because only two of them were sources of white, but I drew fire and burned him out.
Game 2: In came the Ruinblasters and the Ajanis. I got a slow draw, but his deck doesn’t do much the first couple turns anyway and it had Ajani in it, so I kept it. I got Ajani on turn 4, then an Emeria Angel. Next turn I got greedy and it cost me. I played a Knight of the White Orchid, making a bird token, then I played a Teetering Peaks to pump up the Angel and make another token. BLAM, Lavaball Trap. I knew he played these and I should have been more patient; he blew up the Peaks and a Mountain, leaving me with three Plains and nobody on the board. I then proceeded to draw nothing but red cards: Bolt, Ruinblaster, Banefire, and another Plains. A Siege-Gang commander and his crew of tokens beat me up. John never got a Valakut in this game, but that Lavaball trap was enough to stall me for long enough that it didn’t matter.
Game 3: John unfortunately had trouble drawing any Forests and while he managed to Burst Lightning my turn 2 White Knight and then something else, I had managed to get two Honors in play and had a couple Steppe Lynxes on the board. They weren’t getting landfall, but they were swinging for 2 each. I had John down to 2 and drew a fetch with a Bolt in my hand, and played the land and cracked it, which was dumb as John again had the Lavaball Trap. (Why I didn’t just swing for the game I’m not sure.) I bolted in response to the Trap, though, so it was over.
3-0

Round 4: Wyland, playing Jund
We decided to just draw into the final 4.
3-0-1

Semis: Trevor, playing Jund with Nighthawks and Sign in Blood
John won his fourth-round match and I was Trevor’s only loss. Obviously the top two wouldn’t play each other, so I was destined for a rematch, and got Trevor, meaning John and Wyland played in the other semi.
Game 1: He won the die roll and went first. I got a fast draw, Steppe Lynx, Plains, and two fetches, and he didn’t get a Leech or a Thrinax early, so he was at 12 at the end of my third turn. He did deal with the Lynx but I got out Elspeth and a White Knight and they went the distance.
Game 2: I mulliganed down to six and kept a hand with two Plains, a Mountain, a Bolt, a Devout Lightcaster, and a Purge. I kept waiting for targets but they never came out. I topdecked a White Knight and played that on turn 3. Turn 4 his Garruk came out and made a beast, but I bolted that and attacked Garruk. Trevor was holding a full handful of cards but not dropping permanents; he Signed in Blood twice and actually discarded and I was still looking at an empty table. I got out two Honors, but had no guys, but then drew Elspeth, and had in my hand just two Purges and the Lightcaster. He Durress’d me, taking a Purge, and I made a 3/3 token. Whack. He Blightning’d me for the Purge and the Lighcaster, and I made another token. It was too much.
4-0-1

Finals: Wyland, playing Jund
Because it was still really early and there was talk of having a draft if we finished early enough, we decided to draw and split prizes. Drafting sounded a lot better to me than playing another Jund. However, Gus, the store owner, wasn’t feeling well and decided he wanted to go home, so I got my foil Oblivion Ring (with kick-ass art, I might add) and I blew my store credit on some Glacial Fortresses, so maybe next time I can play something different… something with Sphinxes.
4-0-2

Heh, and I wondered if maybe the eight-card package against Jund (3 Lightcasters, 2 Purges, 3 Ruinblasters) was too much sideboard space… not by a mile. Yes, there’s a reason that 1/3 of the field at Worlds played Jund; it’s definitely a good deck. Regardless, what fun is that, playing what everyone else is playing? If a lot of people play it, there will be a lot of hate floating around, too. Personally, I think the mirror is especially degenerate in the case of Jund; it just seems to come down to whoever gets luckier in the Cascade lottery. Meh, not for me. Oh, and since I wasn’t playing during Shards block, I don’t have the cards, too—there’s also that.

So, the family and I will be visiting my parents in Minneapolis next week and maybe I’ll check out FNM up there. The three closest places are Chaos Games, Dreamers Cards & Games, and Monster Den Games. Which of those three is the best place to go?

My first constructed event since 1999, as previously noted. I’d managed to show up for three FNM Zendikar drafts, and the local shop has a good, friendly atmosphere. Did OK in one, made the finals in one (black removal + Rampaging Baloths + Woodcrasher = fun beats), and both drafted and played horribly in the third. Based on what I had seen people playing before we started and in between rounds, I expected the store metagame to be Vampires, Jund, Boros, and Naya in that order of probability. I took Aaron Forsythe’s second gunslinger deck and tested it against a proxied-up Jund and Vampires, and ended up with this build:

Creatures & Planeswalkers (22)
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Elite Vanguard
3 White Knight
3 Kor Skyfisher
2 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Emeria Angel
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Other spells (13)
1 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Burst Lightning
4 Honor of the Pure
1 Conqueror’s Pledge

Land (25)
2 Salt Marsh
1 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Arid Mesa
3 Teetering Peaks
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Mountain
12 Plains

Sideboard
2 Devout Lightcaster
1 Burst Lightning
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
3 Harm’s Way
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
2 Celestial Purge

I’d been calling it “Angelfall” in my notes but I still think it needs a better name. It differs from Aaron’s deck in that it runs White Knights and Knights of the White Orchid main, runs a little less land, and doesn’t run Baneslayers since I didn’t have any. The Conqueror’s Pledge is in one of the Baneslayer slots.

The White Knights are actually important, as they’re completely awesome against Vampires, they’re very good against Jund (less there because Jund runs Bolts, of course) and actually pretty good against Boros because of the first strike. I’d consider Kazandu Blademasters in that slot (and run 4 of them) if Vampires and Jund were less popular.

Oh, and the Scalding Tarn, which Aaron noted as “random,” is different. I wanted another fetch that could get me a Mountain and didn’t come into play… err, enter the battlefield tapped, so that’s why it’s in there, also since I cut one of the Teetering Peaks just for that whole ETB tapped issue. You really want to hit 4 land early so you can drop one of the Angels or Elspeth.

Sideboard plan:

1. Jund: -3 Burst Lightning, -2 Knight WO, -2 Elite Vanguard; +2 Lightcaster, +3 Ruinblaster, +2 Purge
2. Burn/Boros: -2 Angel, -2 Honor of the Pure, +1 Burst Lightning, +3 Harm’s Way
3. Vampires: -2 Elspeth, -2 Knights WO, -1 Elite Vanguard; +2 Lightcaster, +1 Burst Lightning, +2 Purge
4. Control: -3 Skyfisher, -2 White Knight; +3 Oblivion Ring, +1 Emeria, Sky Ruin, +1 Burst Lightning

Only 18 people showed up, which is a much smaller crowd than had been showing up. I don’t think it was because we switched from draft to Standard, but because there was a PTQ in town the following day. I couldn’t make that anyway.

Round 1: Doug, playing W/R Planeswalker Control w/Baneslayers
Game 1: I lost the die roll and got a moderate start, but then drew mostly land. He picked off my guys one at a time—they weren’t coming out all that fast—and dropped a $50 bill on the table and beat me up with it. Oh, wait, that was a Baneslayer. Not a good game, I know I drew a majority land, probably on the order of 2/3 land.

Game 2: I didn’t get off to a fast start but I drew a little bit less land this time. I got in a couple small hits and dropped an Elspeth on turn 4, which he Oblivion Ringed on his turn. His next turn, he dropped an Elspeth, and I had a Ring in my hand. I wasn’t sure whether to Ring his Ring, killing both Elspeths, or to just Ring his Elspeth. I did the latter. In hindsight, I should have done the former, since that way they’d both be gone. By Ringing his, I gave him a chance to get his back with another Ring. It turned out not to matter, though. I got our a White Knight and he got out a Luminarch Ascension. I got… Honor of the Pure, and he came back with Ajani Vengeant. He started tapping my lone Knight, which meant he’d start getting counters on the Ascension. I didn’t want to take the one-way Armageddon so I bolted Ajani… and then started drawing almost entirely land, again. He got Chandra and then Elspeth out and I just wasn’t drawing threats. I scooped when the third Ascension counter went on and he was one counter away from the big blast with Chandra. I drew only about half land this game.

0-1. Not a good start, but I didn’t feel like it was because the deck wasn’t good or that I had made a lot of misplays; I just never got what I needed when I needed it.

Round 2: Kris, playing WUB Control
One of the problems with coming back to the game after a while is that while I’ve learned the Zendikar and M10 sets, I’m not all the way up on all the Shards of Alara cards—if it’s not in Jund or Naya or a couple other decks I’ve looked at, then there’s a good chance I don’t know it well. Kris was very patient with me reading many of his cards.

Game 1: I lost the die roll and he played some W/U land, I don’t remember which one. I don’t remember my first turn; I either had nothing or an Elite Vanguard. Turn 2 he played a source of black and a Meddling Mage. He didn’t know what I had, so I think he named something not even in my deck, like Baneslayer. Later, when I played Honor of the Pure, he decided he should have named that. I got in a whack with the Vanguard and got out a Lynx. He wiped everything out with Zealous Persecution. I got our a Elite Vanguard and an Honor and then another Lynx, but he nuked both of them when he blocked the Vanguard, then cast Agony Warp. I had Elspeth against his empty board and he cast Luminarch Ascension. Grr. I cast Conqueror’s Pledge making six 2/2’s, but he had a Day of Judgment in his hand and cleared me out. Elspeth got Ringed and he got a Luminarch counter, but I drew an Emeria and had a fetch, so I had a 4/4 angel with two 2/2 bird helpers against a clear board, and I think Kris was at around 10 life at the time. He topdecked another Day of Judgment and that was it. With no haste guys or burn in hand I died to a swarm of 4/4 angel tokens.

Game 2: In went the anti-control package. He Duress’ d me on turn 1 or 2 and saw I had an Angel in hand, so he named that with his Meddling Mage. Grr. I got out a Lynx and then he got a Kor Skyfisher with a Tidehollow Sculler. I got a White Knight and he dropped a Wall of Denial and a Luminarch Ascension. (Hmm, a theme…) I had two uncastable Angels in my hand, and drew an Honor of the Pure. Luminarch counter. He cast a Sphinx of Lost Truths, no kicker, drew three and discarded all land. Great, a handful of gas. I got down Elspeth and made a guy, but there was no way to get through. Luminarch counter. Kris untapped and passed. Next turn I drew fire so I threw it at Kris but he countered with Punish Ignorance. Well, drawing out a counter was good, so I cast Conqueror’s Pledge and it stuck. That should stop the counter madess. Kris drew and, oh, hey, look at that he topdecked a Day of Judgment and blew everything up. Great. I don’t remember what I drew, but I made a Soldier token and cast my now-usable Angel, but did no damage, which meant he had his 4th counter and he made his own Angel and Path’d my Angel. I finally drew an Oblivion Ring but it was just too late, I had to Ring the angel token and cast my own Angel just to stay alive, but of course he made more angel tokens and I drew nothing helpful (an Honor of the Pure, I think) and I scooped.

0-2. Well, that bit. Kris was at least nice enough to admit that he got pretty much perfect draws and topdecks against me and said he felt bad about it. No need to feel bad, that’s how it goes. Anyway, I decided to stay in because one 2-2 could make the top 8, and because hey, it’s Magic, it’s fun to play. My rating is so bad it hardly matters.

Round 3: John, playing Graveyard
I don’t know if it was card-for-card the same as the the one here, but it was close and it was certainly the same idea: mill yourself to fill your graveyard with guys, then use Crypt of Agadeem to generate massive amounts of mana and unearth everything to do massive damage all in one turn. More comments on this in a bit. Anyway, John is a nice guy, very friendly opponent; I had played him in the draft finals a few weeks ago where his Green-Blue allies deck took me down.

Game 1: I didn’t get a particularly fast start and drew no burn, nor did I have any initial idea what to do with his turn 1 and turn 2 Hedron Crabs, and he went off on like turn 5. This took only a few minutes to play.

Game 2: I didn’t sideboard, I don’t think, because it wasn’t clear that anything in the sideboard makes my deck a lot faster. Maybe the Ruinblasters, but the deck can go off the turn that it’s played because of Fatestitcher. It turned out not to matter, as I got a really fast draw, something like: Elite Vanguard, Plains, Steppe Lynx, Honor of the Pure, fetchland, Bolt. Turns 2 and 3 I swung for 5 each and I bolted his first Crab. He was dead on my 4th or 5th turn and really had no chance to even try to go off. This also took like five minutes to play.

Game 3: This was the only contest that was really in doubt at any point. I had just attacked John down to 8 or 9 and I had out a White Knight and something else, I think a Savannah Lion (Elite Vanguard, whatever). I had three Plains in play, and my hand was Plains, Kor Skyfisher, Elspeth. I could kill him next turn if I got down the Skyfisher this turn and then Elspeth the next turn, as Elspeth could jump-and-pump the Elite Vanguard (he couldn’t block the Black Knight with his Rats) which would be lethal. So, I played the Plains, cast the Skyfisher, and bounced a Plains. Well, on his turn he got another two Rats, which meant I had to chuck everything, so he had one more turn to try to go off. I drew nothing useful (a Mountain or a fetch, I think), I smacked him down to 2 or 3, and he got to try to go off. He only had one Crab, though, so his graveyard wasn’t that full. His land pay didn’t generate enough extra in his graveyard, so he died next turn.

1-2. The graveyard deck is definitely a very clever design and it’s a fun mechanic, but the problem is that it’s basically a goldfish for the first few turns. I can’t see how it wouldn’t be an auto-loss to Boros, and of course any Jund deck running, oh, you know, Jund Charm… Well, that’s a tough match as well.

This all hadn’t taken very long, so John broke out his other deck—the one he said he should have played—and we played a few games. The other deck was a Red-Green ramp-Valakut deck, which has been floating around the net for a while, I guess. His build had Harrow, Khalani Heart Expedition, Rampant Growth, Exploration Map, Bloodbraid Elf, Goblin Ruinblaster, Bolt, Siege-gang Commander, and Lavaball Trap. We didn’t do any sideboarding, but I won a majority of these games anyway. The key, again, was killing John before he got really ramped up, because once a single Valakut got active, things got dicey, and when two were up, it was Really Bad. Now, I didn’t side in Ruinblasters, and I think with those around I think the matchup favors my deck a little more, but of course he’d have some effective sideboard options as well. It’s definitely a viable deck, though, and something to think about for future matches.

Round 4: Dustin, playing R/G Double Strike
Game 1: First time I won the die roll. I had a good start, turn 1 Plains, Steppe Lynx, turn 2 Elite Vanguard. On his Turn 2 Dustin cast a Warren Instigator. OK, double strike, but nothing huge… I figured I could race that without difficulty. I dropped another small guy and swung again. Dustin swung on his turn 3 and I let the Instigator through. Well, that was bad; he cast both Giant Growth and Colossal Might and ended up doing 16, all in one swing. Yikes! Wow, double strike makes Giant Growth into a serious card. OK, so no more unblocked swings. The good news is that I was able to keep the pressure on him and fry double strike guys when he cast them, so I won without further damage.

Game 2: More of the same: I got weenies out, burned his double-strike guys, and prevailed without too much trouble.

It’s an interesting idea, pumping up double strikers, but frankly I don’t think this was an optimal build. For instance, he ran Bloodbraid Elves and yet had a deck full of things that were simply not cascade-friendly; Giant Growth isn’t a good cascade card when you have no other guys on the table. Nor are X spells like Banefire. But I like the idea, anyway; swinging for 16 with a 1/1 is a neat trick.

2-2. Only one 2-2 made it top 8, and I wasn’t that guy because my tiebreakers weren’t good. It was still early and I didn’t feel like going home yet, and so I found another non-top-8 finished and we played just for the hell of it. He played Vampires during the event, but he played a monored Sligh/Burn deck for our matchup. This turns out to be not a bad matchup for me. His turn 1 Goblin Guide was great, as it meant I only drew threats and always had landfall triggers; he eventually left it back to block an Elite Vanguard. I went on to win that game, lost the second, and won the third despite drawing no source of red mana and being stuck on three land for several turns—yay Kor Skyfisher and Honor of the Pure. (We played EDH after than an he just rolled me, as my EDH deck was really conceived with multiplayer in mind, and his was designed for 1-on-1. Oh, and his deck was also just plain better.)

So, I felt like the deck was pretty decent in general. I was a little unlucky on my matchups in the first two rounds. I probably made a mistake or two somewhere in the second match, but otherwise I felt like I played OK. The question is whether or not I misread the metagame. There were a couple people playing Vampires and a couple people playing Jund, but I don’t think that was anything close to the majority of the field. There was indeed a Naya and there was a Cascade control and a couple monored Sligh-like (I guess these are called RDW now, but they look somewhat like Sligh to me). What I didn’t see (this was right before the Star City $5k) was any Nissa Monument decks, but I suspect I’ll see those next time around. I didn’t see any Boros, which was a surprise. It seems to me that it’s an interesting metagame right now with a lot of viable archetypes in play. Sideboarding is going to be a bitch for a while. For any big tournament, you’ve probably still got to be ready to play Jund and I guess overall Boros is still popular, but after that it’s anybody’s guess. I think this deck matches up OK against the field, though I think the sideboard needs work; definitely needs more Paths, particularly if Nissa decks get more popular. If Planeswalker control, whether RW or UWR or something else, becomes common, then this deck won’t be a good metagame choice. The deck would have to either get a little bit faster (a la Boros) or run Oblivion Rings main deck.

Last week Friday I played my first sanctioned constructed match of Magic in over a decade.

Ten years? Seriously? Yep, it’s ben ten years since I put together a deck on my own and had a go with some really expensive pieces of cardboard. So, after ten years of being away, I obviously got along just fine without it. Why come back now?

In some sense this is a WotC success story. After a long time, they lured me back. How? Well, that’s a longer story that requires a little bit of history. I played competitive Magic for what seemed like a long time but was really not that long, just a little over a year. But it was a pretty intense year, because I played with some pretty intense people. (Warning: I’m about to do a lot of name-dropping. Not because it says anything about my ability, which is meager, but because it says something about my environment. Nonetheless, if you dislike name dropping skip ahead a bit.)

Really, the person who taught me what little I managed to retain about Magic was Aaron Forsythe. Yes, that Aaron Forsythe, former PT player and current head of R&D for Wizards of the Coast. I believe I was the first person to buy Aaron a celebratory drink on the night he first qualified for the Pro Tour. In that PTQ he beat Andrew Cuneo in the finals. Obviously, I was living in Pittsburgh at the time, working as a postdoc at CMU. I started out in Aaron’s Arena league (those don’t exist anymore), but things got a lot more serious fairly quickly. I made the Top 8 at my first-ever sanctioned tournament, an Extended PTQ in December 1997. This was not too long after Randy Buehler won PT-Chicago. Eventually Aaron and a couple of the more serious guys from our Arena League would play with Team CMU. Erik Lauer—yes, that Erik Lauer—patiently spent probably about two hours with me one night showing me how to better play the CounterHammer deck I took to regionals that year. I learned most of what I know about how to draft from Mike Turian, yes, that Mike Turian. I loaned Randy Buehler either a Memory Jar or a Tolarian Academy he took with him to, I believe, PT-Rome, because Team CMU didn’t have enough. Team CMU also drew some notable visitors, too. One of the first drafts I ever did (all Tempest) I started out by passing to none other than Jon Finkel. (I just have to tell a side story about that: I opened my pack, looked it over, took a card—it was either a Mogg Fanatic or a Shock—I don’t remember for sure which, we’ll just say it was a Mogg Fanatic, and handed it to Jon. He looked at the pack for about ten seconds and then announced: “You took a Mogg Fanatic from this pack. That was the right pick.” He knew this because he had memorized the cut sheets. Not too intense or anything.)

There were a lot of great players around. I’m 1-1 in sanctioned matches against current WotC R&D employee and former Team CMU’er Nate Heiss. I once beat future pro Jess Means in a PTQ “feature match,” only to get crushed two rounds later by Mark Globus (now also of Wizards R&D) and his main deck Rune of Protection: Artifacts. You’d end up across from current or future pros at random local tourneys; I’m 2-0-1 against pro Nick Eisel in local tournaments. In one of those I got wrecked by Randy Buehler in the quarterfinals of the same (unsanctioned) tournament and stayed to watch the epic battle between Randy and Eric Taylor.

I mention all this not because it shows anything about how good I am—I am not remotely in the same league as all those people I played with in Pittsburgh (and I have the rating to prove it)—but because it provides some insight into the local intensity level. So competitive magic, was, for most of the people around me, pretty serious. And yet I got out of the game pretty completely. This was due, I think, mainly to three factors: (1) I moved and took a new, very demanding, job, and not long thereafter became a father, (2) I really wasn’t all that competitive with my peer group, and my ability to devote the necessary time was getting worse, not better, and (3) WotC made it really easy to want to leave. I left in the midst of the Urza’s block. The DCI was banning new cards it seemed like every week, because a lot of pretty broken cards had been printed. The scene was almost entirely dominated by combo decks, like the aforementioned Tolarian Academy/Memory Jar nonsense to High Tide to I don’t even remember the next combo. Magic games consisted mostly of ignoring the other player (with the exception of permission, which was of course everywhere) and setting up your combo, hopefully before the other player did. OK, that’s an exaggeration, but not a huge one. It wasn’t fun. The Mirage and Tempest blocks were fun; there were combo decks and weenie decks and fattie decks and discard decks and burn decks… there was everything. When it was Urza, it was so dominated by combo decks that it was really easy to just let reasons (1) and (2) take over—I didn’t fight it at all. I just stopped playing, cold turkey, and it didn’t bother me at all.

There were moments of temptation, sure. There was a Pro Tour stop in Houston in I think 2002, and I got to see Aaron and Randy again, as they were working for WotC at the time. I showed up at the site, played in a sealed side event, and took Aaron and Randy out for dinner so they could escape the site for a while. I thought maybe playing would get me into it again, but it didn’t really. “Morph” just didn’t do it for me. I went to the Legions pre-release and remembered all the things I disliked about Magic tournaments and just didn’t have enough fun to overcome that.

I thought of or heard from someone that triggered me looking at things again around Mirrodin, and that was almost enough. Super-aggro artifact decks had some appeal, but ultimately it just wasn’t enough.

Then the Zendikar pre-release rolled around. I had recently re-connected with Aaron and was following him on Twitter. He mentioned that he was being sent to Houston to gunsling at the Zendikar pre-release and so I thought it would be great to get together. Let me point out that at the time I was much more interested in seeing Aaron than I was in the set. Aaron is just a really great guy, irrespective of Magic. Also, the pre-release was being held at the airport hotel, so Aaron wouldn’t get to leave the airport complex if I didn’t go out there, and nobody deserves that. So, I picked Aaron up, we had an outstanding dinner, and then Aaron asked if I had time to hang out and play for a while. I kind of expected that, and I had even brought my box of old decks that I still have together. A PT Jank variant, Steel Necro, old-school 5C green, a couple Rath Cycle block decks (CounterPhoenix), stuff like that.

Well, we never touched the old stuff. Aaron broke out two of the Zendikar theme decks, the Vampires deck and the “Unstable Terrain” UG deck. Aaron played Vampires and I played the other deck… and I really liked it—a lot better than Onslaught. We cracked open the boosters, pooled them, and tried to make our decks better. (Incidentally, the UG deck won a slight majority of the games, not because of my play skill, but because while Vampires got a consistently faster start, it just didn’t have the staying power. And of course Jwar Sphinx is just better than anything in the Vampire deck.) I liked landfall as a mechanic. The cards seemed balanced. And, of course, playing Aaron over a couple of beers is just awesome any day of the week.

But then it got even better. Aaron broke out his “gunslinger” decks, one of which was posted on the Daily MTG site. The posted deck is a green-black-blue Allies deck, and playing against I learned to hate Bala Ged Thief almost immediately. The other deck, not posted, was a W/R deck; basically white weenie with angels (both Emeria and Baneslayer) splashing red for some burn. That’s pretty much my favorite kind of deck; my first ever tournament constructed deck was basically the same idea, a fast white/red small creatures and bolts kind of package. It was just awesome to play a shiny new version. A format where you can play Savannah Lions and Lightning Bolts! (Yeah, Savannah Lions are called Elite Vanguard now, but it’s still 2/1 for W and it’ll always be a Savannah Lion to me.) In fact, our very first two turns with these decks involved Aaron playing a Bird of Paradise and me bolting it. BoP, bolt… how classic is that? Zendikar is fun, and not just because of the nostalgia. Landfall, super-slivers, kickers… good stuff all around.

So, while I wasn’t able to play in the actual pre-release, the damage was done. I wanted to play again. And it’s so much easier now, too. There’s a great card shop, Montag’s Games, about two miles from my house. The weekend days are devoted to the kids, but Friday night is usually open for me after the kids’ soccer practice. FNM for the month of October was Zendikar drafts so I got to learn the set without having to jump into constructed right away. And it gave me time to start working on getting the cards I’d need to build Aaron’s deck, or something close to it… This time, it was enough. I’m back. Yeah, I’m 40 years old and I still don’t have time to be serious about it, but that’s OK. It’s fun, and that’s what counts.

That’ll be my next MtG post; a FNM tournament report! Been a long time…