2001)

Evolution of a Deck: T2 Monoblack Aggro Control: by John Weldy

Evolution of a Deck: T2 Monoblack Aggro Control

4:Chilling Apparition
4:Chimeric Idol
4:Thrashing Wumpus
3:Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore

4:Addle
2:Coercion

4:Terror
4:Snuff out
3:Tsabo's Decree

4:Rishadan Port
3:Dust Bowl
4:Dark Ritual
17:Swamp

Sideboard
4:Perish
4:Stromgald Cabal
4:Viceling
2:Urborg Skeleton
1:Tsabo's Decree

When I was asked to write up something for CardShark, I thought about the type of content I would like to see. Something interesting amidst a sea of mediocrity.

I like rogue decks. Now I'm not talking about wacky decks that can't compete...a serious Rogue deck is simply a misplayed or underplayed archetype tuned towards the current metagame. It's not always possible to find such a deck in every environment, but when you do and when you learn to play that deck, it gives you a tremendous advantage. You know how to play against your opponent but they don't know how to play against you.

For about the last month, I've been working on such a deck in Type 2 and now that it's pretty much reached the apex of it's development, I thought it'd be interesting to examine it's evolution. Most of this article is lifted directly from converstions with my buddies on the Kzoo Magic Mailing List and as such have recieved little editing to preserve content integrity. Some of you may already have seen my deck, as an article about it I submitted to another website recieved quite a bit of traffic a week or two ago. That article contained many of the final conclusions that you will find here, but this article will delve into them a bit deeper. Think of this as the ´´Deluxe Version´´.

One final note: this article is very long. I did not set out to create an article this long, nor do I anticipate any further submissions to be this long, but like I said before...this is the type of thing I would find interesting if I came across it on a website. If you're interested in reading even more about this deck or others I'm working on, check out my web site.

Enjoy.
5 December 2000

Okay, so I'm obsessed. I just know Plague Spitter has to work in T2. I mean, look at all the good guys he just wrecks...Sargeant, Boa, Elf, Bird, Pyre Zombie, a couple good fliers... Black was very poorly represented at PT Chicago, though it seems it should do well against the ´´best deck in the field´´, Rebels. It's weakness, though, against the other ´´best deck in the field´´, Fires, seems to be it's death knell. I'm sure I haven't solved that yet (maybe if Root Maze is reprinted in the next set as a Black enchantment), but I think this would be at least competitive with the rest of the field.

4 Plague Spitter
4 Idol
4 Abyssal Specter
4 Thrashing Wumpus
1 Marauding Knight // Maindeck Hate, necessary? Probably not...
1 Necrosavant

4 Terror
4 Addle
3 Vampiric Tutor
1 Perish
1 Tsabo's Decree
1 Yawgmoth's Agenda // With a name like Yawgmoth, it's gotta be good, right?

21 Swamp
3 Dust Bowl
4 Ritual

Sideboard
4 Dread of Night
3 Perish
3 Distorting Lens // Circles, Moat
3 Disrupting Scepter
1 Cursed Totem
1 Meekstone

John
5 December 2000

I played around w/ Plague Spitter, in a BR deck. He looks good, but he's fairly fragile and hardly threatening. He comes out after you opponent's elves have already produced a Blastoderm, and has a habit of killing your own Blazing Specter. He has an obviously strong ability, but his ability will affect the way you build the rest of your deck, and he still is a 2/2 for 3. Maybe he will be valuable in block? He just doesn't seem strong enough for the cost for T2.

Dave

Note: at this point in the development, I started working on a U/B Yawgmoth's Agenda deck with Evil Eye...but that's a story for another article.
8 January 2001

This is an idea that's been bouncing around inside my head all weekend. It's still at the conceptual stage. I haven't done much testing with it yet, but what testing I have done has been pretty positive. I just feel like I'm missing something, though. Maybe you guys can help me out.

4 Terror
3 Vendetta // Maybe should be Snuff Out, thought about
2 Tsabo's Decree // Soul Burn, but that's NOT Drain Life

4 Addle
4 Stupor

4 Chilling Apparition // turn 1 play, blocks Blasto, more discard
4 Chimeric Idol // essential
4 Evil Eye // blocks Blasto, good evasion
3 Thrashing Wumpus // maybe 4 Wumpus, 3 Evil Eye

17 Swamp
4 Port // may be too many special lands
2 Dust Bowl
1 Rath's Edge
4 Dark Ritual // maybe Charcoal Diamond?

side:
4 Marauding Knight // maybe too much Rebel Hate
4 Disrupting Scepter // mostly for U/W, but also U/B
3 Perish
2 Tsabo's Decree
2 Goham Djinn // more Green hate

The side probably needs something else against Blue Skies, though spot removal's pretty good against them.

Other cards I've considered:

Vampiric Tutor - are there any Silver Bullets left that make it really worth it?

Abyssal Specter - flies over moat, but who plays moat?

Dread of Night - probably 3rd best against Rebels after Decree and Marauding Knight

Stromgald Cabal - or maybe this is 3rd. This is good against U/W, too, though, but only if it hits BEFORE the Story Circle.

Massacre - not the best aginst Rebels in the age of Crusade, but also kills Boas and mana men...though probably not worth sideing aginst Green

John
8 January 2001

This reminds me just a little of a U/B deck list I drafted up the other day. I'll prob post it in a different message so you don't have to see responses to it in the same thread as disussion of your deck. :)

4 Terror
3 Vendetta
2 Tsabo's Decree

I think that you might be unhappy that you have more removal spells that don't kill the chimeric Idol than removal spells that do.

4 Addle
4 Stupor

I have a hard time being happy with Addle. It is a far cry from Duress.

4 Evil Eye // blocks Blasto, good evasion

Evil Eye -- You will have games where you don't want to drop him because you have Idol or C.A. attacking, and there will be games when he is on the table that he makes your Idol dead. Eye is a good card, but make sure he is synergistic with your deck. You don't want inefficiencies to crop up when your deck is otherwise doing its job.

4 Port // may be too many special lands
2 Dust Bowl
1 Rath's Edge

I'd say cut the Rath's Edge, either for another Amazing Dust Bowl, or another Swamp.

4 Dark Ritual // maybe Charcoal Diamond?

Dark Ritual if you add Abyssal's

side:

4 Marauding Knight

This guy's a house. I can hear your story now, though: ´´I can't believe he sided in Rebel Informer for game 3! He kept blocking my knight and bringing it back out with Sivvi!´´ Not that I expect that to happen, or that I expect it to go on for long if it does happen before you get the Decree and wreck him -- I just think it's funny picturing you telling that story. :)

2 Goham Djinn // more Green hate

I like the idea of Goham Djinn vs. green, but it may not pan out for you. Dark Ritual will be required, as he is 2 more to cast than Blast, and you can't block w/ him until you have 2 mana available for regen.

Other cards I've considered:
Abyssal Specter - flies over moat, but who plays moat?

But he's so good (IHMO)

Massacre - not the best aginst Rebels in the age of Crusade, but also kills Boas and mana men...though probably not worth sideing aginst Green

Massacre is crap.

Dave
8 January 2001

4 Terror
3 Vendetta
2 Tsabo's Decree

Idol, of course, is the one that gets past Terror. However, I don't see that as a problem, at least not yet. Vendetta and Snuff Out both hurt. In an environment where the ´´best deck´´ can hit you for 12 right out of the blue, that pain could be an issue. Especially in this deck, because Saproling Burst is probably one of it's 2 biggest problems (the other being Story Circle). With 8 critters that block Idol and live and 7 more that trade even up with it, I think I'm OK with Terror. 4 Addle

I have a hard time being happy with Addle. It is a far cry from Duress.

I beg to differ. In Extended, Addle is crap. In Urza/Mercadian T2, Addle wouldn't be very good. In Mercadian/Invasion T2 I think it's pretty good. Yes, it has bitten me in the ass before, but it's also snagged Blasto, Burst, Absorb, Story Circle, Wrath, Troublesome Spirit, Wash Out, and tons of other good stuff. Honestly, I like it more than Stupor.

4 Evil Eye // blocks Blasto, good evasion

You're right. Having not played with him a whole lot, I was thinking he read ´´~if Evil Eye attacks~, other stuff can't attack´´, not ´´other stuff can't attack´´. If I add Abyssal Specter, too, that makes Evil Eye sideboard material at best.

4 Port
2 Dust Bowl
1 Rath's Edge

I'd say cut the Rath's Edge, either for another Amazing Dust Bowl, or another Swamp.

You're probably right. The only thing Edge can kill that the rest of the deck can't is Nightwind Glider. And if Crusade hits, not even that. It may squeak out a win against U/W, but Dust Bowl's better there.

side:
2 Goham Djinn

The biggest problem is it doesn't help with is Burst. I've actually been thinking about Spreading Plague. Fires will probably take out Wax/Wane against me for Chameleons and I'm sure they wouldn't bring in Mutation. If Plague wrecks them game 2, though, I could be in trouble game 3. Spreading Plague may help against Blue Skies, too, though I'm still not sure if I need help.

Abyssal Specter

Alright, I'll give him a try over Evil Eye. Only problem is that takes away 4 good Blasto blockers and makes my Blasto answers only Decree (which I probably won't have after side) and Chilling Appirition.

Okay, I'm gonna try this deck like this:
4 Terror
4 Vendetta
2 Tsabo's Decree

3 Addle
3 Stupor

4 Chilling Apparition
4 Chimeric Idol
4 Abyssal Specter
4 Thrashing Wumpus

17 Swamp
4 Port
3 Dust Bowl
4 Ritual

side:
4 Disrupting Scepter
4 Marauding Knight
3 Perish
2 Spreading Plague
2 Tsabo's Decree

John
9 January 2001

My reasoning for developing this deck: It should do better against U/W and Rebels than my Fires deck while still doing the same or better against Fires. Is the theory working? Kind of. I'm ok against Fires and I tend to crush Rebels, but U/W can still be a problem.

Against Blinding Angel U/W, the 8 maindeck removal are golden. Against Jeweled Spirit, it's a bit tougher. Against Nether Spirit, they seem to have the edge. I have to lay out 2 critters to get past the Spirit and they get blown away by Wrath. Bringing in Scepter and Marauding Knight for the 8 removal doesn't help much. And their card drawing engine doesn't take long to get past my Discard engine, even with Scepter.

So I'm thinking, what if Disrupting Scepter was Millstone? How is this a bad idea? I can play out 1 critter at a time (just to block), I don't have to worry about getting around Nether Spirit, I don't care about Absorb lifegain, and I use all their silly card-drawing against them.

Yes, if I don't win with Millstone, I may as well never have played it. But is this much different than Scepter?

John
11 January 2001

This is the latest build on my monoblack. I've decided that I'll play it this week at FNM and on that performance decide whether to play it or the ZviFires on the 20th.

4 Chilling Apparition
4 Idol
4 Wumpus
3 Evil Eye
4 Addle
3 Stupor
4 Terror
4 Snuff Out
2 Tsabo's Decree
17 Swamp
4 Port
3 Dust Bowl
4 Ritual

side:
4 Stromgald Cabal
4 Perish
3 Marauding Knight
2 Decree
2 Goham Djinn

The maindeck is meant to beat Fires. That's why the Abyssals are gone and Evil Eye is back. I just got tired of getting beat by Blastoderm. Blasto and Burst are both problems for this deck, especially when backed by nastiness like Ghitu Fire (which is AMAZING in Fires), so I need as many fattie blockers as possible.

I'm on the fence about Vendetta vs. Snuff Out again. Basically Vendetta is better for killing weenies and Snuff is better for Fatties. My thought with Vendetta was kill the mana men against Fires. This turned out to be a not good idea as I found myself getting killed by the fatties. So Snuff Out it is. The only other Weenies are Rebels and I crush Rebels.

The big question mark in the side is Goham Djinn. I tried Spreading Plague and it too often did nothing. I do agree with Dave, though, that the Djinn is probably too slow to do his job. I've been thinking about the Invasion version of Drudge Skeletons (the 0/1 kicker 1/2 guy). He's only for Fires and in that matchup as long as I save a Terror or Snuff for the Dragon, he's a Will-o-the-Wisp. I think I'd rather have an answer for Saproling Burst, though (that was the concept behind Spreading Plague).

Also, I think I could stand to cut another Marauding Knight (or maybe even all 3) and still do pretty well against Rebels, but I'm not sure what I'd want those slots for...probably U/W.

John
12 January 2001

I think I've found the anti-Fires card I was looking for for my sideboard...Urborg Skeleton. I played about half a dozen sided games with it against my ZviFires and having 6 regenerators and 3 Evil Eyes against Fires is very good. The monoblack only lost 1 game, which went something like this: Monoblack Addled a Burst turn 2 or 3 and was pretty much in complete control by turn 8, having taken some damage (I think 8 from Snuff Out). Monoblack shifts into Landkill mode while hitting with Evil Eye and holding the fort with Urborg Skeleton and Chilling Apparition. Fires topdecks 2 Bursts in a row with Fires out. Monoblack has 2 Terrors, but still takes about 8 from Burst tokens then gets (topdeck) Ghitu Fired out the next turn. I wish I could draw that well with the Fires deck in a tournament! :

So the side looks like this now:

4 Perish
4 Stromgald Cabal
3 Marauding Knight
2 Tsabo's Decree
2 Urborg Skeleton

I still think I want something else against U/W, probably to replace the Marauding Knights (which seem like overkill), but I'm not sure what.

The only matchups I see having a problem with are the mirror (yeah, right) and U/B with either Evil Eye or Nether Spirit for the Kill.

John
15 January 2001

The deck performed as expected Friday night against the field (no U/W control again, only 1 rebel deck, most of the better players were with G/R), with me only making a couple mistakes.

Round 1 - Random new guy - ´´Look at all my Avatars´´.dec
This was pretty silly. He had all these big creatures, but no mana. I didn't even have to help him with that, he was manascrewed bad twice in a row.

Round 2 - Richard - Stronghold Gambit
For reference: Stronghold Gambit 1R Sorcery Both players reveal a card. The creature card with the lowest cost goes into play. This deck uses Parallax Nexus and Unmask to make the Gambit really good and drop fatties like Avatar of Woe and Volrath. Yes, it can catch you unawares, but it's a 3 card combo that takes 2-4 turns to kill you after ´´going off´´ and can be disrupted by Seal of Removal.

Game 1 I keep him low on mana while ripping his hand apart. I thought he was playing Search for Survivors, so I didn't know if handkill was a good idea, but it worked out pretty well.

Game 2 I side in every creature in my side as well as Tsabo's Decree (most of his killers are Black), taking out Terror, Snuff Out, and Idols (maybe should have left Idols). He gets off an early Stronghold Gambit without an Unmask or Nexus. I drop a free Stromgald Cabal and his Avatar of Woe doesn't see play. I beat him down with the Cabal while keeping him at low enough mana that he can't play Gambit and Nexus in the same turn. I also have 2 more Cabals in hand for Gambit protection. Here's where I screw up. He's at low life and I decide I need a second clock to finish quicker. I lay another Cabal, leaving one in hand. On his turn he Unmasks me, then plays Gambit, dropping an Avatar. I don't draw one of my 4 Tsabo's Decrees and die in about 6 more turns.

Game 3 goes similarly, but I'm determined not to throw away the game like that. We don't have time to finish, though.

Round 3 - Heather - G/W Geddon/Cloak
This matchup I like. A lot. Outside of a lucky Geddon, there's really not much they can do to me.

Game 1 she draws too many Geddons and not enough creatures. She discards two Geddons to Stupor and a third to Addle while I put up a defense of Apparition, Evil Eye, and Idol. Evil Eye goes all the way.

Game 2 I bring in the hate...4 Cabal and 4 Perish. I get early Cabal, a Perish takes out half a dozen guys, and Evil Eye goes all the way again. It's really hard to deal with that much hate.

Round 4 - Ron (another guy I've never seen before, but he's 2-0-1) - U/B
U/B is probably a pretty rough matchup for me, but this guy I just beat with card quality. I have Wumpus, Evil Eye, and Apparition. He has Duskwalker, Remove Soul, and Prohibit.

Top 4 - Round 1 - Al - Gbr
Al's deck is pretty much Fires (minus Fires) with black for Agonizing Demise and BRG Dragon Legend.

Game 1 I rip his hand apart, but can't keep a threat on the table. He topdecks the BRG Dragon (can't be Terrored/Snuffed) and I can't deal with it.

Game 2 I bring in Perish and Tsabo's Decree. This is an average game for this matchup. I take some damage, but stabilize with regenerators and Evil Eye and the Eye goes the distance.

Game 3 is really close. I have Al on the ropes at 8 with double Evil Eye action when he casts Obliterate! What? There's no blue in my deck! I recover with 3 lands in like 6 turns and lay a Chilling Apparition. He has land troubles and the Apparition helps. I kill him the turn before he topdecks Saproling Burst.

I split the prize with Stan (another Fires deck) to go home. I don't think I'd have too much trouble with him, but that's what Travis thought, too, before he lost. Luck is so broken.

Overall, I like the deck a lot. After playing 4-5 games with Travis playing U/W I'm pretty definate that I'll play it on Saturday. I don't remember if he won more or I did, but I do remember the exact moment I decided I'd definately play it. Playing first, I go Swamp, Ritual, Apparition. My second land is a Port, so I keep him to 1 mana during my 3rd turn and cast a second Apparition. After I attack on my turn 5, Travis has 4 lands and 1 card in hand. We both know the only thing that can save him is Wrath so I Addle White and take it from him. He concedes. Wow, that's a beating. Fires has ´´I win´´ hands like that against U/W, too, but they're easier to recover from.

Comparing it with my other choice, ZviFires, it does about the same against Fires, better against U/W, and tends to just crush Rebels. The only problem with a metagame deck, of course, is the random factor.

John
15 January 2001

Maybe the Tsabo's Decree should be maindeck -- seems like you side it in a lot.

Dave
15 January 2001

I thought about that for a while, too, but the reason I sided them in so much in this tournament was because I faced more Black creatures than normal. I don't think that'll be an issue on Saturday.

Against Rebels, Decree is an excellent maindeck card, unless they run Geddon, where it sucks unles you have an active Cabal. Against U/W, I'd rather have Snuff and Terror against every build except Nether Spirit, where Decree isn't really very good either. Against Fires, I'd rather have the spot removal against everything but multiple Burst on consecutive turns. I do find myself siding in the other 2 Decrees against them a lot, though. Against G/W Geddon, Decree again blows at 6 mana. Against Blue Skies, cheap spot removal is golden.

John
16 January 2001

Subject: [T2 Strat]: Monoblack vs. U/W

Millstone ain't gonna cut it. U/W has too many viable strategies to resort to alternate win conditions. In the games I just played against Eric Taylor's PT Chicago deck, I layed the Millstones but he just Briberied my Evil Eyes (sniff!). I need to win with damage.

Which goes back to the Viselings. I really don't want Viseling, I want 4 more Idols. Or even better, a 2cc artifact that does 2 to target opponent during upkeep. What can I use?

John
16 January 2001

It won't hit every upkeep, but an early Ankh of Mishra would be a serious pain for the control deck.

There's always Barbed Wire and Noxious Field, but they only do 1 per turn and cost 3.

You could also try 4 Urborg Volcano, 4 Sulfurous Springs, and Pyre Zombie. Coffin Puppets also keeps returning, but he'll get blocked by the Bribed Evil Eye, and you can't toss him like the Zombie.

Dave
16 January 2001

I thought about Ankh of Mishra, but I think it'd be too unreliable a damage dealer, even with 4 Ports and 3 Dust Bowls. Maybe if I had room for 4 Rain of Tears...

I suggested Barbed Wire to Travis the other day for his U/W, I didn't think about using it in here. I think I'd still be happier with Viseling, though. I also thought about Noxious Field, but with it hitting me, too, I think that'd be bad. Esp because it'd take out my Chilling Appiritions.

Both Coffin Puppets and Pyre Zombie get stopped by Story Circle Black. I have thought quite a bit about adding Red for Zombie and maybe Specter and Void, but I think I like the consistency that one color brings better.

John
16 January 2001

I also thought about Liability for a while. Here's how I read it:

Liability
1BB
Enchantment
Whenever a card goes to a graveyard, that card's owner loses 1 life.

It's amazing how much those little words IN PLAY can change a card.

John
16 January 2001

What about Scandalmonger? It doesn't get around Story Circle, but if I get him out along with a Stromgald Cabal to stop topdecked Wraths, there's not much they can do to stop me. Is it worth the risk, though?

John
16 January 2001

Scandalmonger could be a real pain for the control deck if he hits.

You seem to be really depending on always getting a Stromgald Cabal in many of your plans. Maybe you should be playing with Vampiric Tutor?

Dave
16 January 2001

I don't like the Tutor because as they say in the commercial, ´´I haven't got time for the pain.´´ In the games I've tested against U/W, the Cabal is HUGE, but not getting one isn't terrible. Chilling Apparition or fast beats do fine. I think I like the Scandalmonger because only takes a turn or two to totally wreck all U/W's card advantage. My only fear is laying it, saying go, they rip the last 1-2 cards from me and then Wrath. I really don't see that happening, though.

John
22 January 01

This week at FNM, the deck performed well again as expected, but let me down at the worst possible moment.

Round 1 - Lona - Blue Skies

With 8 spot removal plus Wumpus to deal with the 1-Toughness guys, this is a pretty good matchup for me. With the draw I got game 1, it really didn't matter. This may be the best start for this deck against any opponent, but it's definately the best against anything running Counterspells. I'm going first. Turn 1 Swamp, Ritual, Chilling Apparition. Turn 2, Port, hit for 1 and a card, Port your land. Turn 3 Swamp, Apparition. Needless to say, that game was over quickly.

Game 2 I side in nothing and the game goes pretty much the same way, though not as fast. I kill anything presenting a threat (which I think was just 1 Troublesome Spirit) and just win with better creatures.

Round 2 - Random Kid - Monoblue Cowardice

Game 1 I get a really weird start with 5 lands, Idol, and another spell. I proceed to draw lands the next several turns, but strip his Rhystic Deluge away from him (I'm still not sure exactly how that works with Idol, but I don't think it's good for me) and he dies to the Idol with a handful of Counters.

Game 2 is pretty good for me. He gets 2 Cowardice, but I take them both with Addle and Coercion. I get down a creature (I think a Wumpus) and go to town. The game lasts a little while, but the outcome is never in doubt. He's pretty young and makes some big mistakes, so I help him a bit.

Round 3 - Dave - Psychotic Witch

Dave's deck is pretty cool. It's basically the Green part of Fires with Black for Divining Witch, Fallen Angel, Snuff Out, and Terror, with 4 maindeck Aura Mutation thrown in for good measure. He wins lots of games by Aura Mutating his own Saproling Burst and Flying in with a huge Angel. Dave thought I was a bad matchup for him because my creatures didn't care about his removal. I thought the same thing because I thought he had Burst, Blasto, Mutation, Angel, and Witch...I didn't know he changed Blasto into Jade Leech for the U/W matchup.

Game 1 I'm a bit mana light and he gets the jump on me. I think he wins with a Burst.

Game 2 and 3 come out pretty much the same way. I kill his mana critters once with Wumpus and once with Perish and both times it sets him back too far to recover.

Round 4 and 5 - Draw

Top 8 - Round 1 - AJ - U/W Control

I don't remember very much about these games, but I do remember them all being excellent, frequently switching back and forth as far as who had the upper hand.

Game 1 I get turn 1 apparition and pick a few cards before he Wraths. The card advantage from that takes it's toll, though not immediately. I lay a couple other threats which he has answers to. He lays a couple threats which I either Terror or Snuff. I think I end up winning with Wumpus.

Game 2 I have Ritual Apparition again, but he DISRUPTS THE RITUAL! He gets great mana curve counters and manages to keep control of the game.

Game 3 is another huge back and forth battle that hinges on land destruction. I put 2 Tsabo's Webs on the untaken side of an early Fact or Fiction and go crazy with Dust Bowl. He gets Story Circle pretty early, so this will be a long game. The turning point is when he decided to tap out to Rout a Chilling Apparition instead of discarding. I lay Wumpus and he's at low enough life that Story Circle can't save him.

Top 8 Round 2 - Keith - G/W/r Geddon

I'm pretty happy because G/W is probably this deck's best matchup. The only chance they really have is if they can get off a Geddon with a creature I don't have an answer for.

Game 1 I draw all the right cards in the wrong order. The game just happens that way sometimes. I get stuck on 3 lands for a while and don't draw Snuff or Terror until after he Geddons. I come back quicker from the Geddon with Topdecked lands and a Wumpus, but my life is low enough that he kills me with Rage.

In come 4 Stromgald Cabal and 4 Perish. Game 2 is all me. I get Cabal early, which he Rages, but I have all the answers for his critters. Every big guy gets Snuffed or Terrored and Apparitions hold the fort while Evil Eye beats.

Game 3 I just get behind again. He lays out more critters than I can answer with removal and regenerators. At the end of the game, he has like 6 or 7 critters on the table just begging to be Perished. Total Perishes drawn in 2 games: 0. Sigh.
22 January 2001

The $500 T2 at Jef's Store on Saturday the 20th ended up pretty well for me and my amazing Rogue deck, but not as well as I had wished.

Round 1 - Stan - G/W/r

This is basically the same deck Keith beat me with last night. I'm itching for a rematch.

Game 1 gives me turn 1 Apparition and a couple Snuffs. I rip apart his hand, kill all his nonmana creatures, and beat him down.

Game 2 I draw Cabal and 2 Perish. Do I even need to say anything else?

Round 2 - Michael - U/B Evil Eye Agenda

Game 1 I win the roll and make the mistake of keeping the very alluring Swamp, Ritual, Ritual, Wumpus hand. I keep it, gambling that he's playing something that needs Elves and Birds. I get him down to 4 before he Recoils. Since I don't draw my 3rd land until turn 12 (!), I'm never really in this game after that.

Game 2 - More manascrew for me. Yay. I keep a hand of Swamp, Dust Bowl, 2 creatures, and 3 spells. I draw my 3rd land on turn 7. Now with his black creatures and counterspells, this is a rough match for me, but damn...it'd be nice to at least be in the game.

Round 3 - Tony - G/R Fires

The only things this deck really fears out of Fires are lots of burn (which most people don't play) and lots of Saproling Bursts.

Game 1 goes the way most games do against Fires. He gets a quick start and I take 8-10 damage between his creatures and Snuff Out before stabilizing and winning with Evil Eye.

Game 2 he goes first and gets me on the ropes with Blasto and Burst. I topdeck Perish. He plays another Blasto. I topdeck Perish. He ends up getting me down to 5 with a Seal of Fire on the table while I beat with Evil Eye, but can't draw the Rage.

Round 4 - AJ - U/W

AJ and I are buddies and do some testing and strategy-sharing together, so we consider drawing. We know whoever wins makes T8 and whoever loses doesn't. If we draw, we both of course need to win next round. Looking at the standings I see a possibility of one of us still missing at 3-1-1 so we play.

This is the longest game of Magic I have ever played in a tournament. Like last night's games, we go back and forth several times. Unlike last night, AJ is now playing a win condition of 2 Nether Spirit and 1 Blinding Angel...much tougher for me to deal with than 3 Mageta and 2 Blinding Angel. I get in some early damage before he gets out his Nether Spirit. From then, I hold my creatures so that every time he Wraths I'm able to set out another blocker, knowing the game will probably come down to decking. The turning point of the game comes with about 10 minutes left in the round when he casts Recall for 1, looks over his grave again, frowns, and takes Recall. This gives me the opening to play the Wumpus I've been keeping in my hand (along with 3 Terror and 3 Snuff Out) while taking Nether Spirit hits. At this point there are 3 Wraths in his graveyard, 6 cards in his library, I'm at 8, and he's at like 23. The Wumpus plan will surely kill me first, but decking should still work. He finally casts Wrath with 3 cards left in his library and time is called soon after. Turn 5 is mine and it ends with him having 0 cards in his library. Sigh.

Round 5 - Guy whose name I don't remember - G/W Control

This is the guy I wanted to get matched against last round because, as I've said before, this deck is amazing against G/W. His deck was a little different than most G/W Geddon decks, though, with Parallax Wave and Wrath, but I still had the edge.

Game 1 I kill everything he drops. Boa, Idol, Mageta...all gone. I kill him once my Wumpus and Idol come back from the Wave.

Game 2 I side in all the hate (4 Cabal, 4 Perish, 2 Urborg Skeleton). I get a quick double Apparition, which he Wraths away. Next turn he looks happy as a pig in slop when he drops Rhox. I look at the Terror, Snuff Out, and Perish in my hand and try to care. The game ends several turns later when my 2 Evil Eyes Wave back in.

8 people ended with a record of 3-1-1 or better. The top 8 looked rather odd for current type 2: 3 RithGeddon, 3 U/W Control, and 2 Evil Eye decks (me and the U/B guy).

Top 8 - Round 1 - Glen - RithGeddon

What is RithGeddon other than G/W Geddon with Ancient Hydra, Rith, maybe Rage, and sideboard cards I don't care about? Yes, this is a really good matchup, too.

Both of these games go the same way. I get a quick Apparition, beat with Idol, kill his mana guys with either Wumpus or Perish, and Dust Bowl his lands. Both games he ends with very little in play.

Top 8 - Round 2 - Dave - U/W Control

Game 1 I get the God draw against anything with Counterspells. Turn 1 Swamp, Ritual, Apparition followed up by turn 3 Apparition and an Addle for the Wrath he's holding. Nasty.

Game 2 and 3 I lost the same way. Dave found a loophole in my plan. Like I said before, my basic plan against U/W is either smack them down real quick, or kill their creatures and let them deck themselves. Well, Dave took all his critters out and put in his Millstones. After the first 6-8 turns of each game, it was apparent that I couldn't break through his crippling defense (Story Circle both games) and once the Millstone dropped, I was getting decked first.
29 January 01

I'd been kind of sick most of the week, so on Friday I was going back and forth on whether I'd go play at Jef's. Well, I finally ended up going.

Round 1 - Random New Kid - monogreen Stompy

Between spot removal, great blockers, and Perish, this should be a cakewalk for me. But with Stompy, there's always that chance to just ´´accidentally´´ lose to a 13/13 Silt Crawler.

Game 1 goes about as expected. He plays little gimps, I play Evil Eye. He tries to take Evil Eye out with critter pumping, I gain 3 for 1 card advantage with Snuff Out. Evil Eye goes all the way.

Game 2 goes about the same way, but I have Perish to kill Elf, Silt Crawler, Blastoderm.

Round 2 - Dan Rowland - R/W Glittering Totem

Dan's deck uses the Glittering creatures (prevent all damage unless a player pays 2) and Cursed Totem both to make his guys better and other people's worse. I could see it working against Fires (stops Elves, blocks Blasto forever), but against Wrath or Terror, it's just not that good. ´´Why would I want to deal your creatures damage?´´

Game 1 Dan gets a quick turn 1 Lynx, turn 2 Totem. Well, that makes my Chilling Apparition not so good. I have a couple spot removal, but let him beat on me for 1 for a few turns until Idol comes out. He Seals it and keeps beating, now with the 2/2 Glittering guy. I Terror that guy and keep taking 1. At one point Dan Quakes for 4, taking out I think a couple Apparitions. I'm down to about 10 when I cast another Idol. I Snuff the Lynx and apply beats. Dan is soon dead.

Game 2 Dan gets majorly manahosed and my Ports help.

Round 3 - Stan - R/W anti-ME deck

This is the danger of doing consistently well (4 tournaments - 2 splits for 1st, 2 3rd/4ths) with a rogue deck. After a while, people will start gunning for you. Stan's deck ran Mageta (which I don't care about), Idol (which I can deal with), Wrath, Rout, and lots of Burn (which are very bad for me).

Game 1 he gets screwed for Red and I do my best to keep him there while beating with Apparition and double Wumpus. He finally draws a Mountain to go with his hand of burn, but it's too late to stop the bleeding.

Game 2 I pull in the Cabals, mostly to draw fire. I also bring in Viseling to get around Light of Day. I Addle early and hit myself for taking out the Decrees when I see Marauding Knight. Light of Day hits in short order and he Seals my Idol. He finishes me with Idol and Hammer.

Game 3 I pull back in the Decrees and as many creatures as possible. I know my only hope is taking advantage of his misfortune. He gets colorscrewed again, this time for White. He gets 1 Plains, but I keep it Ported to avoid his handful of Wrath effects and even Light of Day. Double Evil Eye goes all the way.

Round 4 - Brent - NetherGo

Brent is a slow, methodical player and is probably the person there who takes the tournament most seriously. Don't get me wrong, I'm as competitive as the next guy, but this is just a little local thing, I mean come on. I'll let people take moves back (usually) and get away with not saying the exact right thing timing-wise...not Brent. heck, he even tries to play mind games...purposely playing slowly to try to tick you off. The fatal flaw in that plan, of course, is losing a game while playing a slow deck in 50 minute rounds.

Game 1 I get several threats in a row, all which either get countered, Recoiled, Vendetta'ed, or some combination thereof. I'm starting to win the mana war with my Dust Bowl when he Tutors for Tsabo's Web. Damn...I was hoping that wasn't there. With my lands in play being 2 Swamps, 2 tapped Ports, and a tapped Dust Bowl, him having 6-7 lands, and cards being like 2-6, I concede.

Game 2 I get the Ritual Apparition draw, which aggravates him to no end. I keep land back for Recoil (he plays 4!) and end up winning a somewhat long game with Apparition and 2 Idols.

Game 3 we have 2 minutes left. Brent asks if I'm just going to shuffle for 2 minutes (at 3-0-1 I'll easily make top 4, but he probably won't at 2-0-2). I tell him I don't think he has a chance to win that quick a game, but I'll play as quick as I can. We actually get several turns into the game (I don't think time was called on time). Just before time i called, he Fact or Fictions for Air Elemental, Counterspell, Undermine, and 2 lands. I'm at 14 after 2 Undermines. I put the Elemental on 1 side and everything else on the other. He has to take it to have any chance to win. He taps out to play it, I Snuff it out (only one left in the deck), and we agree to draw.

Top 4 - Round 1 - Cracker - U/B Fish

These games are just brutal. I hadn't played against Fish yet, but I thought it's be heavily in my favor. Game 1 I draw Swamp, Swamp, Ritual, Ritual, Ritual, Addle, Tsabo's Decree. Thinking I'll draw a threat in the first few cards (going 2nd), I keep. I topdeck Wumpus. Since he has no Recoil (at least not that I saw) and Wumpus and 2 Swamps kill everything he has, this game is over very quickly.

Game 2 he gets out a few guys before I lay a Chimeric blocker. Idol holds off long enough for Wumpus to hit again and clear his side of the board (Lord, Vodalian Merchants, Merfolk, and Seasinger).

Since the prize is only store credit, I split with Al.

Rate Article

5 (best) 4 3 2 1

Discuss Article

Click here to discuss this article in forum or leave comments for the author.

RSS Feed

This article is provided to you by CardShark.com - A Better Way to Buy and Sell Collectable Games Online. Please check out the rest of our site - you won't be disappointed.

View More Articles