I expect a full report of said FNM!!!
Request granted!
Well, the deck ended up looking like this:
3x Howling Mine
4x Underworld Dreams
4x Burning Inquiry
4x Sign in Blood
4x Terminate
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Infest
2x Doomblade
4x Duress
3x Blightning
2x Diabolic Tutor
3x Veinfire Borderpost
4x Dragonskull Summit
4x Akoum Refuge
4x Mountain
8x Swamp
Sideboard:
3x Earthquake
3x Pyroclasm
3x Fireball
2x Doomblade
3x Anathemancer
1x Blightning
(It was way more effort than I was willing to expend to hyperlink every single card. I did attempt to spell everything correctly, though, so you can copy/paste to
Gatherer for full card descriptions. You all have high speed internet, so don't bitch, please!)
First Impressions: As I mentioned above in previous posts, the deck looked like it would be a creature killing machine. If the metagame was going to be mostly weenies and Vampires, I thought that I could turn in a respectable showing. I did a minimal amount of research and discovered that most of the new vampires are also weenies. Good for me. Hopefully my Infests/Pyroclasms/Earthquakes would get a few 2 for 1s. Having no other idea what I might face, I decided to roll with list above. I had thought about Dragon's Claw for life gain in case I faced burn, but I didn't really expect burn to be very good in Type 2. No, I had absolutely nothing to base that opinion on.
Round 1--GUW Mill
When we sat down, I told the kid, "I haven't played Magic in like two years, so be gentle." He goes, "well, I might not be the best guy to play then; when my deck gets going it's pretty brutal." In 2007, that would have been an instant confidence booster. In 2009, eh, like I said, haven't played Magic against a stranger in a while.
One thing I learned about my deck in this round, is that I have to do lot of math! What is his life? What is my life? How many Underworlds? How much damage if he draws cards on my turn? How much during his draw step? Man, it was fun!
His deck was a mill deck--that's right, a mill deck when Millstone isn't legal in Standard. And it was working, too! Traumatize is legal, and there are other cards that say "mill til you hit 4 lands" and "mill til you hit a critter" and so on. There's a creature that whenever a land comes into play, you mill 3 cards (something like that). Dude was playing Harrow and other land-fetchers--nice deck.
I can't remember exactly how it all went down, but my deck did its thing and I won 2-0. I know I finished the first game with like 3 cards left in my library (more math: "how many cards do I have left?"), and I believe the kill was Burning Inquiry with 2 Underworlds in play. The second game I think I agonized over whether or not to play a Mine, and ended up doing so. Lemme tell ya, brother, it don't take long when ya gots multiple Mines and Underworlds in play!
1-0
Round 2, Burn
Back in the day, we used to call this deck Sligh. (Okay, not exactly, since Sligh is a specific deck type that succeeds due to its mana curve. Burn is used to pave the way for your little dudes.) Then they called the deck Red Deck Wins. I'm not sure what the cool kids call it now.
Needless to say, I wasn't expecting it, and after my first game loss, I was not real confident about any subsequent games. His deck used Bolts, something like Shock with a kicker cost, Ball Lightnings (!!!), and a couple little Ball Lightning clones. I think he had Fireballs and something that let him Fork an instant or sorcery. There was also a sorcery that would copy a critter you just played (lotsa potential Ball Lightning damage). He didn't play most of that against me, but later on showed off his deck a little bit. It looked pretty cool, actually, for a burn deck. First game he finished me off with a Fireball, I think.
Game 2, I sided out the Infests for the Doomblades and 4th Blightning (that card is fricking AWESOME, btw--shoulda been 4 main). I'm thinking that I also took out some number of Duress for Fireballs--I wasn't too worried about his non-critters/burn, but absolutely had to have a way to kill Ball Lightning and kids. I got the job done, onto game 3.
This game I screwed up the math (there's a lot of it, remember?), but won anyway. I think I had 2 Underworlds out, and had the cards in hand to kill him--Sign in Blood and Burning Inquiry and he loses right now. For some reason, I chose instead to cast Blightning instead of Sign in Blood. Luckily, he took enough during his draw to die. Whew!
2-0
Off to a good start. Technically, no weenies or Vampires so far.
Round 3, Vampires
So, what's the big deal about Vampires? It's a mono-black aggro deck, so what? Well, it's a good one. There are many weenie vampires and one or two "vampire lords" that pump em up. Looks to be good against other aggro decks, but the thing that hurts my deck is that there's one that comes back from the dead when you play a land. Also, there's one with lifelink (Spirit Link) that flies and has toughness 3. Boo, hiss.
I'll go ahead and tell ya, I went 1-2. I think I mulliganed down to 5 in the first game (loss), sided out my Doomblades, and won Game 2. Game 3, I learned a little more about my deck. He kept pumping out threat after threat, and I managed to find an answer each time. I had "the win" in my hand, but he never let up--I kill a critter, he plays another, and I just didn't have enough mana to both kill and set up. I never had time to stabilize, sit back, and play my end game. Eventually, I ran out of answers and was forced to try and win with my "combo" (I guess it's a combo, but it doesn't really feel like one for some reason). By this time, it was too late; the win was within my grasp, actually, but that lifelink thing managed to survive and put his life up enough that I just couldn't finish him in time.
Now, would I have won had I just gone for the win from the outset? I don't know. I guess I subconsciously put us in the roles of "he's aggro, I'm control" and played that way. Maybe it would have been better to take a beating at the outset, turn it into a race, and see who was faster. Get my clock on the table and then work on damage control until he died. (Naturally, I didn't think of any of this stuff until right now; and, also naturally, I can't remember the exact game state, otherwise I could maybe reach a logical solution. And I'm sure ig would know what to do in this situation--he's a combo boy, I'm a control boy...)
2-1
I'll say this for it, the deck works. I wasn't sure how I thought it
would work, but it's definitely doing something. All my games so far, win or lose, have been close. That reminds me of Poxboy in the fact that those games were close too, "on paper." The difference is that Poxboy was kind of like Fezzik: "I just want you to feel you're doing well. I hate for people to die embarrassed." Poxboy was always in control (when it did what it was supposed to do, which was most of the time), but this deck (needs a name, I suppose) always seems like it's just trying to hang on for dear life. It doesn't have that dominant feel that I've grown to love so much. It's fun, though, oh boy!
Round 4, mono-white Kor? WW equipment deck
I don't know if this deck is an established archetype or not. It used a ton of equipment and a ton of white weenies that had the words "when this creature is equipped" on them. I don't think the kid was a very experienced player, but who am I to judge?
It was game 1 that gave me that impression. He ran out a ton of equipment and dudes, but for some reason he avoided equipping anything. At one point, he had no cards in hand, would draw a dude, play it, and then equip one thing to it. Huh? Why not load up? He had the mana. (Now that I think about it, there might be a card that destroys a critter and everything attached to it. I don't know.) Anyway, I kept up with the small (and seemingly slow-moving) army, and my deck did its Underworld/Mines thing (with a little help from Burning Inquiry, iirc--that card is fricking awesome).
Game 2 I mulligan to 6 and keep a hand with a Swamp and a Borderpost. Turn 1 Borderpost, yay. Turn 3 Oblivion Ring from him. I draw my second land like 12 turns later (I didn't count, but I don't think that's an exaggeration!) Luckily--or unluckily--he didn't do much, either. He just plinked away for 1 or 2 at a time. By the time I managed to draw some mana, it was too late (don't call it a comeback, cause it wasn't).
Game 3 my deck struggled a little bit, but I did the math right! End game, he's at 3, I'm at 2. I have 2 Underworlds out, I think, and Earthquake in hand. Earthquake for 1? Done. He dies during his draw step.
3-1
My deck is still squeaking out wins, and I'm having fun with it. I had set a goal for myself to at least be competitive; winning 2 matches would make me happy. And here I was at 3-1 with a legitimate shot at top 4. Nice work for the geezer!
Round 5, Jund
I had never seen the quasi-mythical Jund deck, but I had heard about it. Actually, all I knew was that it existed and that it was supposed to be good. Actually, it's awesome. It's the 2009 version of the classic The Deck. However, whereas The Deck was a control deck built around achieving card advantage, Jund is an aggro deck that abuses card advantage. It's RGB and features efficient critters, light burn (from what I saw), and, most importantly, the cascade mechanic. Cascade says that when you play this spell you can roll cards off your library til you hit something with less converted casting cost than the cascade spell. Then you cast that new card for free.
Game 1 he casts a 3/3 for RGB. If I kill it, he gets 3 1/1 Saproling tokens. Uh, wut? Since I have no blockers, anyway, I kill it. I was actually thinking ahead here, hoping for an Infest in a quick-like way. Next turn, he plays another one. I kill it, too. Next turn, a third one. Goddammit!! Screw it, I kill that one, too! Facing down 9 1/1 plants that have actually done quite well for themselves since their Fallen Empires days, I draw...not an Infest. It was a fucking 4th Terminate or something, I don't even know.
Game 2, out go the Doomblades and Duresses, in come the Pyroclasms and Earthquakes. I had seen exactly 3 cards from his deck, but I'd be damned if I got killed by Saprolings again! I mentioned to him that I had no idea what his deck was supposed to do but that I was sideboarding anyway. He said that his deck didn't do what it was supposed to. Okay. Well, mine actually did, or rather, it would have if I'd had enough time to set it up. And this game, my deck performed admirably again. And I got to see how the cascade mechanic worked (he didn't pull a broken cascade on me, thankfully), and I was able to bust up his dudes in a reasonable fashion. I stabilize at 6 life, he has no cards in hand, and nothing but 7 lands on the table. I have 2 Underworlds in play, a Howling Mine, and a Burning Inquiry in hand. I don't remember his exact life total, but I do remember that he was low enough that he will die if I play Mine now and Inquiry next turn; that will put him low enough that he will die on his following draw step. I die if he draws Fireball (or some other X spell, the existence of which I am completely ignorant), but I don't remember seeing any Fireballs come out of his deck. I die if he draws 2 Bolts--chances slim. I don't die if he draws lifegain, but I would be very irritated. Don't think his deck is packing any, though, doesn't seem to fit the flavor.
So, I know that a Howling Mine will present a clock that will kill him. He gets one turn--two cards--to try and find an answer. If he doesn't find that answer, he dies. On the other hand, I don't know the metagame, I don't know the new sets, and I don't know his deck. Is there an answer in there? Is there more than one answer that I just don't know about? I already have a clock on the table. I could hold on to the Mine and use it as food for the eventual Burning Inquiry and kill him only 1 or 2 turns later. Do I go conservative or go for broke?
Hell yes, I go for broke! I play to win, baby!
I slapped the Mine down and passed the turn.
He drew his 2 cards, took his 4 damage (1 more turn!), and then looked at his cards. "Damn, sorry, dude," he says. He plays a land, taps it all, and plays...something. Puzzled, I look at his card. Doesn't matter what it was--in fact, I don't remember what it was, exactly, just that it was a bigass dragon.
8/8.
Haste.
Well, shit.
I shake hands with him, and we congratulate each other on a good game. I wish him good luck if he makes the Top 4, and he does the same. I tell him I'm 3-2 now, don't think I'll make it. He says, what are there some undefeateds? I don't know. He says I might have a chance. Be awesome if I did, for sure!
So, it seems that all my agonizing over whether or not to play that Mine was for naught.
Or was it? Knowing better than to look, I flipped over the next card in my library, anyway.
Burning Inquiry.
Now, I know for a fact (cause I asked the kid later on) that the dragon was the second card he drew. So, how would it have looked had I held onto the Mine? I pass, he takes 4, he draws and maybe-maybe-not plays a land. I draw Burning Inquiry. I play one Burning Inquiry, and we each draw 3 cards. He draws and discards 3, including the dragon, taking 6 damage in the process. I have a 40% chance of not discarding the second Burning Inquiry. 40% chance of not discarding the Mine. (Chance of keeping both? Hell if I know.) Either of those cards wins me the game, right now (well, Mine after I pass the turn). And who knows what those other 3 cards would have been.
Moral of this story? I think that making the correct play cost me the game. I do think that casting Howling Mine was the best thing to do in this situation. Damn the torpedoes, win now. If he draws anything but that dragon, I win.
My cohorts have fared somewhat well during all this nonsense. Josh (if that's his name; seems like a cool dude so I wish I could remember his damn name) finished 3-1-1, just missing the top 4. I think he was playing a Manabarbs deck. I don't know how it worked, but I really want to try to do something with Manabarbs. rms finished 3-2, I believe, playing white weenie. Again, I have no details about his deck, but rms seems pretty good at white weenie, so I'm surprised he didn't do better. ig went 4-1 and made top 4 playing a mono white Enchantress deck that spits out 4/4 angel tokens at a ridiculous clip--provided he can survive long enough to make it happen. He played against Jund guy I think, and lost.
Meanwhile, some kid asks if I want to play. I agree and he starts spitting out vampires. I win the first game rather handily. Side out Doomblades for Pyroclasm (I think). Second game I lose, but that's only due to my inexperience with my own deck. I had the win in hand (something stupid like Sign in Blood with a couple Underworlds out, I just missed seeing it). Third game he gets fat vamp after fat vamp, and I can't keep up.
I don't know who ended up winning the whole thing--several of us played a game of Give Me the Brain (Josh--if that's his real name--won). rms and I ended up with the "door prize" spiffy FNM Browbeat shineys (sweet!). Would've been nice to actually win that card, but my legendary 20 sider rolling skills finally paid off (they roll for the cards--highest gets one, and so does lowest; I rolled a 2...). I had to splurge on a $5 set of yellow Gamescience "sludge" dice; it was close, but the yellow set beat the orange set on the ugly scale. I'm looking forward to breaking them in the next time I play Atoran or Zenashi!
So, if I were to play the deck again, how would I tweak it? Well, since I
am going to play the deck again in a couple weeks, I guess I really need to answer that question! First off, I'm going to pimp it out a bit with Unglued lands and shineys, spiffy sleeves, and my busty deckbox. And I'm going to name it (I've almost sort of been referring to it as Underworld/Mines, but I don't think that's creative enough. I like Howling Dreams better, but that sounds kind of cheesy. I was thinking Alone in the Dark, but that might be too creative. I must think on it.)
After I get the cosmetic shit out of the way, I think I need to up the land count by one. I should've known better than to run with less than 24 mana sources--other people can do it, but I can't. Not sure what to take out for that extra land. A Tutor? I did find myself many times with a Tutor in hand, but not enough mana to cast it and the card I tutored for. Sometimes this was due to the fact that I had missed land drops, sometimes due to the fact that the Tutor is just expensive. I think that the Pyroclasms and Infests should trade places in the main and side; give the Pyroclasms a chance to play with the 1st stringers and see how they perform (the fact that Infest is resistant to prot from a color was very relevant in one game, but I think that R1 is much easier to play than BB1--if Infest was an instant I wouldn't be contemplating this change, but they're both sorceries, so the change might be made). Blightning #4 deserves a place main. It's good, and I never hated drawing one. I love Duress--it's hot, smart, has a sense of humor, and likes to cook for me--but I think that it maybe needs to ride the bench for awhile. The only game that it really seemed like it would shine was the first round vs. Mill. IIRC, I did take a Traumatize away from him, so that was nice, but in most of the games I played it just cause it was there. I'm thinking that I need to bring in some combination of Fireball/4th Pyroclasm/Earthquake/3rd-4th Doomblade. I never once thought about bringing in Anathemancer; the card looks awesome as hell, but is there something else that could be more useful? Dragon's Claws? This will require some thought.
All in all, I really enjoyed playing this deck. It has enough control elements to keep me happy, and wins in an interesting way. Always good. The deck makes me think, which is also good. It uses unusual cards to win (in fact, I had somebody comment about my "cool old cards;" I'm thinking, uh, I haven't even seen the new versions! Terminate is a "cool old card," who'da thunk it!), which I love. I've wanted to play an Underworld Dreams deck ever since I got absolutely owned by one waaaaaaaay back in the day (back in the 90s, kids), but never had the opportunity to do so. I would like to acquire the cards that I don't own, just so I can have the deck sitting around, waiting to rear its ugly head. The commons and uncommons wouldn't be a problem, nor the Underworlds; the Dragonskull Summits, eh, that's a different story...
More random thoughts from the FNM, cause I know you're not tired of reading this shit yet:
"You don't play with many rares, do you?" I borrowed half of em, and probably could've gone without the Dragonskull Summits. I told him that I had to borrow most of the commons for the deck. That's right, my brothers and sisters, I kick it old school! (And I'm poor. So, well...)
I was informed during the "bonus round" while siding out my Doomblades that I was to sing, whenever I played a Doomblade, "DoombladeDoombladeDoomblade! DoombladeDoombladeDOOM!! DoombladeDoombladeDoomblade! DoombladeDoombladeDoom! HEY!!" I responded to the effect that I would not do that, because I didn't want to. I then proceeded to have the Doomblade song going through my head for the rest of the night. Yes, it's still going through my head. (I never had another opportunity to play a Doomblade, but that may or may not be beside the point.)
One of the players had made custom Soldier tokens. These tokens featured half-naked manga chicks with swords. That is awesome. What's even more awesome is that this player is a female.
ig made a Princess Bride reference that went completely by me. He later pointed out a Westley/Dread Pirate Roberts action figure and indicated that he wanted one. I want one, too.
Comic books are expensive. And the cover art is generally subpar.
No matter how many times I play Give Me the Brain, I can never remember the rules. Or win.
The consensus is that the best Fin Fang Foom action figure/statue has purple pants. Or yellow, but that cannot be verified. Either are better than no pants, though.
The tournament organizer/shop owner complained about gouges in his brand new tables and threatened to start charging for tournaments if the gouging continued. I never once sat at a table that could be considered "brand new."
ig had 15 or so official Wizco issued angel tokens, three different styles, each clothed in a different sleeve. The manga chicks were still better.
Without the advice of rms and the lending of cards by ig, this tournament report would not have been possible. Extra thanks to ig for driving to Sedalia, and extra extra thanks to ig for letting me hang onto the lended cards for another couple weeks. Bonus XP to ig, rms, and Josh for being great companions on the trip there and back. You guys rule.
