Who the hell runs FOUR copies of Surgical Extraction in their sideboard?














Played in another Game Day tournament Sunday at Guardian Games. I went 2-2 after 4 rounds taking eight place after tiebreaks. Although this obviously does not sound like the most impressive result, I consider the tournament a sucess for the following reasons:

First, I tried something other than R/G Wolf Run! As many of you know, I have played R/G Wolf Run in almost every tournament, so it was nice to play something different.

Second, I tried my own home brew! It always gives you a special feeling to play something you came up with on your own. Now.....I'm not so pompous as to believe my deck idea was 100% original, but I can assure you, I thought up the idea for my deck independent of any online decklist.  The deck has apparently been named "Grites" by others. My decklist was the following:

Main Deck:
4 Griselbrand
2 Sun Titan
4 Lingering Souls
4 Faithless Looting
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Doom Blade
2 Oblivion Ring
3 Day of Judgment
4 Timely Reinforcements
4 Shriekhorn
1 Ghoulcaller's Bell
3 Unburial Rites

7 Plains
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Isolated Chapel
3 Dragonskull Summit
1 Mountain
5 Swamp

Sideboard:
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2 Memoricide
2 Manic Vandal
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Go for the Throat
1 Divine Offering
4 Mental Misstep
1 Revoke Existence
1 Day of Judgment
1 Oblivion Ring

I also believe the tournament was a success for a third reason: I scored 2-2 which was my realistic goal going in. I just wanted to be in the top 8 so that I would win another full art Killing Wave. I played tough opponents and did reasonably well on tiebreaks, gaining just enough points to place eighth---so I am happy with my result. I will now describe the games and end with some reflections on the deck and changes I would make.

I don't remember what or who I played against in the first round, but I won 2-0.

In round 2 I was paired against Esper tokens. I probably would have won this match, but for some reason my opponent had FOUR Surgical Extractions in his sideboard. Who runs 4 of that card? Obviously my deck had a pronounced weakness against Surgical Extraction, as my opponent was able to remove all of my Griselbrands, Unburial Rites, and Sun Titans, thereby ensuring that I could not win the game with creatures. I tried to "mill" my opponent with Shriekhorns, but it just wasn't fast enough. I lost the match 1-2.

In round 3 I was paired against David Stroud, who was running U/W Delver. David's deck is one of the strongest in the format, and I thought I was definitely unfavored in the match. The Mental Missteps did help against Delver of Secrets and Vapor Snag, but it wasn't enough. I got land screwed in game 1 and lost the match quickly, 0-2.

In round 4 I was paired against a MonoRed player, who had a very difficult matchup because I ran 4 copies of Timely Reinforcements and Griselbrand. I won the match 2-1.

So there are the results. I would make the following changes to the deck: I'd probably take out one Griselbrand to make room for the Elesh in the sideboard. It's important to be less vulnerable to Surgical Extraction. I'd also consider replacing the Ghoulcaller's Bell with Elixir of Immortality, since my deck sometimes seems in danger of being milled. So there you have it. Obviously, the deck isn't as strong as R/G Wolf Run, U/W Delver, or any of the other tier one decks in the format, but I just wanted to play a fun deck and have a good time. And a good time I had. Thanks for reading.