"If I must die, I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms."
----William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure












"Stupid netdecks," I thought to myself, as I placed my 4-color wolf run deck back into its deckbox. I had just lost to some patzer running Carrie Oliver's monogreen beatdown list (a version of the list can be seen here). I couldn't help but think about the total lack of originality displayed by my opponent. Of course, I quickly realized the hyprocrisy of what I was thinking. I myself have been guilty of netdecking on more than one occasion. A few weeks ago, for example, I was running a card-for-card copy of Alex Binek's R/G Wolf Run list. And yet, the fact that I just lost 0-2 against a deck my opponent spent no thought to create somehow made the loss more painful.

As many of you know, I am preparing for the Bar Exam in July. As such, my Magic exploits have been put on hold (blog updates may be less frequent this month). Nevertheless, I have allowed myself to attend Guardian Games on Tuesday nights because the tournaments are only three rounds and finish quickly. I went this last Tuesday.


In the first round, I played against the Monogreen list described above. I lost the first game to a first turn Bird of Paradise later equipped with a second turn Sword of War and Peace. I think he miracled a Revenge of the Hunted for the win. I lost the second game to two very large Dungrove Elders. The match ended quickly in my opponent's favor, 0-2. I'm not sure if my deck is weak against the monogreen deck, or if I just drew badly; more testing is necessary.

In round two I played against Esper Control with some unusual goodies like Divination, and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. Both games I managed to put a Cavern of Souls into play just before casting my Titans, and my opponent never seemed to have enough removal. In Game 2 I casted a 5th turn Karn Liberated which went totally unchecked. I won the match 2-0.

In round three I smashed Nayapod. Early aggression was held at bay with Whipflare and Day of Judgment. Eventually I slammed down a Primeval Titan, which my opponent stole with Zealous Conscripts. The theft wasn't lethal because I fetched two Glimmerposts on the previous turn. I won  using Kessig Wolf Run a few turns later. My opponent lost game 2 because he had to mulligan down to 4 cards and got land screwed.

My record of 2-1 was sufficient for third place after tiebreaks. I used the credit to pick up some small stuff. Until next time readers!

Four Color Wolf Run Takes First

"There are some qualities---some incorporate things,
That have a double life, which thus is made
A type of twin entity which springs
From matter and light, evinced in solid and shade."
---Edgar Allen Poe, "Silence"








Success! I brought my 4-color Wolf Run deck to Guardian Games on Sunday, scoring 4-1 and taking first place on tiebreaks. Hurray! I got $27 in store credit, which I used to pick up a Snapcaster Mage and a foil Dragonskull Summit. I gotta say, there's no feeling like creating your own deck, taking it to a Standard tournament, and raping face; it feels pretty good. Screw netdecking.

Unlike the previous tournaments---where I faced U/W Delver three out of five matches---this tournament I faced a variety of different decks:

In round one I played against Naya Pod. There was nothing really exciting about this matchup except for the fact that my new "plan" worked perfectly. The Go for the Throats were awesome and killed Wolfir Silverhearts whenever needed.

In round two I played against Henry Freedman running U/W Delver. This wasn't really a match at all. Henry had to mulligan to 5 cards in the first game and 4 cards in the second. I won the match, 2-0.

In round three I faced a 4-color miracle deck. The deck tried to win by utilizng Fog, Devastation Tide, and Terminus to try and slow down the opponent until my opponent had enough mana to cast a lethal Entreat the Angels. My Inferno Titans were effective at circumventing Fog in game 1. In game 2 however, the game was back and forth until I ultimated a Karn Liberated in response to a miracled Entreat the Angels on my opponent's previous turn (otherwise I was just dead). I had managed to nab a forest with Karn before I used his ability, so I started with the forest in play and was able to ramp turn 1, Solemn Simulacrum turn 2, and Primeval Titan turn 3. The (second second) game was over quickly and I won the match, 2-0.

In round four I played (down) against Glesty Waters running R/W Humans. This proved to be my only loss of the tournament. Turns out that a Sword of War and Peace equipped to a Mirran Crusader with double Honor of the Pure in play is pretty nasty. It was after this match I realized something important about my new 4-color deck:

There really isn't much room for sideboarding in this new deck. Whereas with R/G Wolf Run I could sometimes sideboard out ramp to board in removal, this new deck uses ramp to serve another function---mana fixing. I can't board out ramp without potentially harming my ability to get every color of mana I need. In this match, I mistakenly boarded out an Abundant Growth and a couple Rampant Growths, and was therefore unable to find the Plains I needed to cast the Day of Judgment in my hand (which would have killed the Mirran Crusader). Something to keep in mind for later. I lost the match, 0-2.

In round five I played against David Smith running 5-color Frites. David and I have played numerous times and I have never lost against him. He's a decent player and I've told him several times that he's due for a win. David offered me a draw before the match, but I declined. First of all, only one player in the tournament (Michael Hume) was undefeated, and he was about to play against the R/W Humans deck I had just lost to. If Michael lost, anyone with a record of 4-1 would be in the running for first place. So if I won, I might get first, but if I drew, at 3-1-1 I'd get very little. Second, I felt my deck was favored. After all, David's plan was to animate an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite from the graveyard, and I now have many ways of meeting that plan---Go for the Throat, Day of Judgment, and Beast Within. In addition, I have sideboard copies of Memoricide, which I can use to name Unburial Rites or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, potentially destroying David's deck in one simple spell. This is exactly what happened in game 2. The match against David was close, but I came out on top,  2-1.

And so, since Michael lost in the finals, and the winner was determined on tie breaks. I was lucky enough to come out on top. A good tournament, and not a bad way to say goodbye to competitive play for a month while I study for the bar exam. Thanks for reading!

"There are as many pillows of illusion as flakes in a snow-storm. We wake from one dream into another dream."
---Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Illusions"









I took my 4-color Wolf Run deck to the Friday Night Magic tournament at Guardian Games yesterday, hoping to win another Acidic Slime. Alas, I scored only 3-2, placing 10th. What happened?

I won rounds 1,  3, and 5 against RUG Pod,  Esper Control, and U/W Delver respectively, but I lost rounds 2 and 4 to U/W Delver. Yes, for those of you keeping track, that means I played U/W Delver three out of the five rounds. Seriously, this is getting old, people.

I never once got color screwed, but I did notice that my deck is weaker against Delver than it used to be. Specifically, the R/G version's had access to Inferno Titan and Slagstorm, which are more pertinent against U/W Delver than Grave Titan and Day of Judgment. You would think Grave Titan would be better against Delver, but Delver's ability to copy the Grave Titan with a Phantasmal Image is quite annoying.

I'm considering replacing Grave Titan with Inferno Titan for this very reason, or just going back to R/G Wolf Run altogether. I dunno. As I've said before, the R/G version is weaker against Solar Flare and Control, but it appears to be better against U/W Delver. If I'm facing U/W Delver three times per tournament, the decision seems clear.

On a side note, I think I've finally figured out how to enable comments on my blog, so anyone should be able to post a comment anonymously. I'd appreciate it if someone would try to post a comment so I can see if it works. Thanks!

A New Kind of Wolf Run

"About, about in reel and rout
The death-fires danced at night;
The water, like a witch's oils,
Burnt green, and blue and white."
---Samuel Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"










Time for a new post. On Tuesday evening I ventured to Guardian Games for their usual Standard tournament. I scored 2 wins and 1 loss, placing 6th on tiebreaks, which earned me absolutely nothing. Nevertheless, I consider the tournament a success because, aside from the fact that I earned 7 Planeswalker Points (whoohoo!), it allowed me to test a home-brewed version of Wolf Run. Here is the decklist I sleeved up for the tournament:

4 Primeval Titan
3 Grave Titan
4 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Rampant Growth
4 Sphere of the Suns
3 Abundant Growth
3 Day of Judgment
3 Whipflare
2 Go for the Throat
2 Beast Within

1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Forest
4 Cavern of Souls
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
3 Copperline Gorge
3 Razorverge Thicket
4 Glimmerpost

Basically, this deck is just awesome. I get to have everything that I want. Allow me to explain.

R/G Wolf Run has been underperforming as of late. Matches against RUG Midrange, Solar Flare, and Control seem to be heavily one-sided for two basic reasons, which I've catalogued in previous blog entries: R/G lacks spot removal and effective sweepers. Consecrated Sphinx, Sun Titan, and Wolfir Silverheart are all problems which can't be dealt with by Slagstorm or Whipflare, and there aren't enough copies of Beast Within to go around.
A deck played by James Gates at the TCG event this weekend gave me some ideas. You can see James's decklist here. James basically ran B/G Wolf Run, replacing Slagstorm and Whipflare with Black Sun's Zenith and replacing Inferno Titan with Grave Titan. He also added Abundant Growth to try and fix some of the mana issues. The following are my reflections regarding James' deck, and how it led to my version, listed above.

First, I have never liked Black Sun's Zenith as a sweeper in Wolf Run. It's just too slow and conditional. Early game, it is very rarely effective without a ramp spell, and the two black in the casting cost can sometimes be hard to find. Slagstorm is often just better. After all, Slagstorm does three damage to all creatures for three mana, whereas the same amount of mana pumped into Black Sun's Zenith will only give you one -1/-1 counter on all creatures.Consider the following situation: My opponent casts a first turn Champion of the Parish, second turn Gather the Townsfolk, and a third turn Honor of the Pure. Black Sun's Zenith will never really kill anything. The same holds true for a first turn Stromkirk Noble, or any undying creature...
Obviously, what Black Sun's Zenith lacks in the early game it makes up with effectiveness in the late game. Unlike Slagstorm and Whipflare, Black Sun's Zenith is able to remove those pesky creatures which come out later in the game, like Consecrated Sphinx and Sun Titan, even though it does require an enormous amount of mana to achieve the kill.

So this got me thinking, what's better than Slagstorm and Black Sun's Zenith as a sweeper? Day of Judgment of course! As long as I can produce two white mana consistently, Day of Judgment is by far the best sweeper spell in Standard. Yes, for the moment Black Sun's Zenith is better at killing Thrun, the Last Troll and Wolfir Avenger, but I don't see those creatures too often. Day of Judgment is just the best sweeper and I should run several copies of it if I can. But how will I produce white mana consistently? This brings me to my next point...

Abundant Growth. I absolutely love this card. Abundant Growth cantrips, costs only one green mana, and generally puts me one step closer to casting everything in my deck. It turns those colorless lands into painless Cities of Brass. Combined with all the other mana fixing cards in my deck (Rampant Growth, Sphere of the Suns, Solemn Simulacrum, Cavern of Souls, Primeval Titan) I rarely find myself without the right colors to cast a particular spell (so far). The only thing that sucks about Abundant Growth is that I had to cut a copy of Grave Titan and two copies of Huntmaster of the Fells from the deck to fit it. Which leads me to my next point.

Grave Titan. Yes, he's a bad ass, but I will miss Inferno Titan. There were just so many situations where Inferno Titan was awesome. For example, when my opponent casts Phantasmal Image---I'd much rather have them copy my Inferno Titan than a Grave Titan, for obvious reasons. On the other hand, Grave Titan is just so good against Zealous Conscripts. I just block with a zombie, and move on. Both Titans seem effective against U/W Delver, so there's not much difference there. I dunno. I could go back to Inferno Titan's if I really wanted to; I'm just trying Grave Titan out.

Lastly, my deck has two copies of Go for the Throat, to give it the spot removal I've always wanted. I'd add another copy if I could, but there's just no room. My deck has everything I want now; the only question is, will I have the mana to cast everything when I need it?

A quick note about the matches. I lost the first round to RUG Pod, but only because I punted. I played hastily and mistook this guy, for this guy. They look so similar! Fuck you Wizards for using the same artist. My opponent  cast two Hounds of Griselbrand and it was only after I cast Day of Judgment on the following turn that I realized what they were and that I was about to take 12 damage. Again, fuck you Wizards.

The following matches I won against U/W Venser Control and U/W Delver. Might try this deck again tonight. Stay tuned!

"The tyrannous and bloody deed is done,
The most arch deed of piteous massacre
That ever yet this land was guilty of."
---William Shakespeare, Richard III









I ventured to Guardian Games on Friday night in an attempt to win another Acidic Slime and hopefully some store credit, but alas, it was not to be. I scored only 2 wins and 1 draw in five rounds of play, which put me 14th place after the dust settled; a poor performance to say the least. I'm not sure if I have an explanation for this poor result as yet.

Certainly, this current version of R/G Wolf Run has some weaknesses---the sparcity of spot removal, for example. Although my deck runs two copies of Beast Within in the main, the lack of a "Doom Blade" like spell makes the deck vulnerable to creatures like Consecrated Sphinx, Restoration Angel, and Hero of Bladehold. The fact that all these creatures have toughness greater than three makes them immune to Slagtorm and Whipflare, thus making them extremely difficult for my deck to kill. For this reason, I have considered switching to a version of Wolf Run with white, so as to gain access to Day of Judgment (as well as other strong white cards. See a potential deck list here). The downside of this course of action is that I would lose access to some very nice cards at the moment, including Huntmaster of the Fells and Combust. The large number of colorless lands in Wolf Run precludes any attempt to run three full colors. Wolf Run's problems appear to be completely ingrained, but there is certainly room to experiment.

For the moment, I believe I have to attribute last night's poor result to bad matchups and bad luck. I played several fringe decks and mulliganed often, leading to situations where I was ill-prepared and at a disadvantage from the very first game.

In round 1 I played against Robert Schneider running Esper Control. Robert's deck appeared largely ineffective, as he ran neither enough removal nor enough countermagic, opting instead to run nearly full complements of Temporal Mastery and Lingering Souls. Although he was able to slam down a Liliana of the Veil on turn 3 of Game 2 (which is often a problem for my deck), I happened to have a Beast Within in my hand at the time, and so avoided just losing the game outright. I suppose my luck last night wasn't all bad. I won the match 2-0.

I round 2 I was paired against Ryan Engbrecht running Solar Flare. It amazes me how in a tournament of 28 players I still get paired against one of the three people I know at the tournament. Ryan offered a draw early and I accepted because I felt Solar Flare was a heavy favorite in this matchup. In my opinion, Solar Flare just has a better late game against Wolf Run, with recurring Ghost Quarters and Phantasmal Images to deal with Wolf Run's threats. In addition, Solar Flare's main creature, Sun Titan, is quite difficult for R/G Wolf Run to deal with.

If the situation was reversed, I might not have offered Ryan a draw. However, I remember a Modern tournament from a few months back where Ryan was playing R/W Boros and I was playing Martyr Hide and Seek. I knew my deck was a probably the favorite in the match, but I still drew with Ryan because, well,  $120 for first place is a lot of money.

Chess grandmasters intentionally draw eachother all the time. They do it for professional reasons: (1) Why waste energy trying to beat a friend and a difficult player? The grandmasters will intentionally draw and thereby save their energy for other, potentially more challenging matches; (2) Grandmasters play eachother all the time (they are constantly at the top of the brackets), and maybe one (or both) of them has prepared a surprise they don't want uncovered at this tournament; (3) If this is the final round, grandmasters will often just split the prize, thereby guaranteeing half the prize pool to each player. This is important for professional and practical reasons; chess grandmasters are often poor and can barely make rent; (4) If you deny a draw with a friend this time, perhaps he may deny you the draw next time, when you would really like one.

Although some of these considerations are pertinent only to chess, I think others correlate well to MTG. I will generally deny draw offers to non-friends in almost every situation where I think I'm favored, but if I'm unfavored I will generally accept without delay. I almost never offer draws, however, except if by doing so I guarantee myself first place. Nevertheless, I appreciated Ryan's draw offer here.

[I skip my third round here vs. Barbara Adam, running R/W Human. I won 2-0.]

My fourth round opponent was not so kind. Alec was out for blood, or something, because we sat down and immediately got to business. This makes sense, as Alec's competitive spirit is strikingly apparent from his debate history. Before describing this match however, I wish to make a small sidebar.

As anyone who is close to me knows, I am uncomfortable loaning people cards for two basic reasons: First, the cards are worth money, and there's no guarantee you'll get the same card back in the same condition. In these particular loans, the risk is apparently placed entirely on the creditor (to use legalese). Second, it is not in the creditor's best interest to make the loan; after all, the debtor is playing in the same tournament, and helping the debtor only reduces the creditor's chances of winning. Basically, anyone asking me to loan a card to them is asking: "Am I a good enough friend that you are willing to reduce your chances of winning this tournament and risk your valued property to do me a favor." In some situations I have declined the loan unless the debtor was willing to offer a percentage of any prize won.

Now we can return to the fourth round against Alec Baker. Alec asked before the tournament to borrow Tamiyo, the Moon Sage, three copies of Phantasmal Image, and one copy of Consecrated Sphinx. I already knew the RUG deck Alec was planning to play was favored against mine (I was involved in the playtesting), but I loaned Alec the cards anyway (doh!). Alec then proceeded to crush me with my own cards. In Game 1, he cast a turn six Consecrated Sphinx, which he then soulbonded with Wolfir Silverheart (please, add Silverheart to the list of creatures that are difficult for R/G Wolf Run to deal with because of the lack of spot removal) and attacked for eight. I've now named that Consecrated Sphinx "Traitor Fuck Sphinx" and placed him in my trade binder. I think Alec drew 6-8 cards off the sphinx before the game was finally over.

Game 2 was similarly one sided in Alec's favor, though I don't seem to remember specifics. I just remember never having any control of the game, and losing to a Zealous Conscripts. Thus, the match was over quickly, 0-2 in RUG's favor. It wasn't the most one-sided match in Alec-Ryan history, but it was close. In Wolf Run's defense, I had to mulligan to six cards in both games, never saw an effective ramp spell, and Alec was kind of on a tear last night. Fortune apparently favored him, and no one was capable of halting his progress until the final round.

In round five I played against B/R Zombies and lost handily, 0-2. Once again, I failed to draw a ramp spell after mulliganing to six cards, and my opponent drew two Geralf's Messengers both games. Those guys tend to hurt if you don't run sufficient copies of Pillar of Flame.

So, that was the tournament. It seems odd to me that R/G Wolf Run can post such bipolar results at times. Although in general I feel the deck is extremely consistent, I find many losses are often due to sideboard unpreparedness in a particular matchup. After all, if I had known Zombies was coming, I would have added Pillar of Flame or Red Sun's Zenith to the mainboard. I anticipated more U/W Delver than there actually was, and my sideboard was thus insufficiently diverse. Perhaps some changes are in order. Until next time, readers.

"Nothing endures but change." ---Heraclitus














Yesterday I played in the usual Tuesday Standard tournament at Guardian Games. The tournament was a giant success, as I scored 3-0 and took first place on tiebreaks. I beat Henry Romero, Ryan Engbrecht, and Thomas Overton on my way to the top. All three of them were running U/W Delver.

Yes...in case you weren't paying attention, that means I played U/W Delver in every single round. I'm not going to relay the games as usual---as I think that would be kind of dull. Instead, I'll just use this post to generally reflect on the U/W Delver deck and the R/G Wolf Run matchup.

The Pre-Board Matchup
Just before the first match my opponent, Henry Romero said to me, "If you're not playing U/W Delver right now, you're just playing the wrong deck." I think my R/G Wolf Run deck got offended or something, because it ran incredibly all evening. Maybe Henry's right; U/W Delver is a super strong deck and probably the best deck in the format overall, but I think the deck is fully beatable if you prepare for it and stay on top of the metagame. In particular, several aspects of R/G Wolf Run make me think that I have a good matchup against Delver pre-board. First, I have Cavern of Souls, Primeval Titan, and Glimmerpost. Honestly, my success against Delver recently has been largely due to this combination. When I am able to resolve a Primeval Titan and fetch the Glimmerposts, I can gain anywhere between 4 and 8 life, offsetting whatever damage U/W Delver has done to me in the early game. Casting Vapor Snag on the Titan is really not a big deal, because I'll just cast it again next turn and do the same thing. Second, I have Huntmaster of the Fells, which is at least a minor annoyance for U/W Delver. Again, the fact that I gain life and get a wolf when casting Huntmaster really helps against U/W, and both abilities make Vapor Snag even less effective.

So maybe U/W Delver is the best deck in the format overall (unlike Wolf Run, U/W Delver has good matchups against just about every deck in the format), but against R/G Wolf Run I'd say its chances pre-board are about 50/50.

The Post-Board Matchup

Obviously, an evaluation of each deck's chances post-board depends on the particular sideboards. The best I can do to analyze this matchup is kind of describe the most recent history.

A couple of weeks ago, David Stroud won some nice games off me by sideboarding in two copies of Consecrated Sphinx and a couple Ghost Quarters (as well as one copy of Amass the Components and several copies of Phantasmal Image). David got the idea from Gerry Thompson, whose deck list can be found here. It turns out Consecrated Sphinx is pretty good against R/G Wolf Run after you board out your two copies of Beast Within. You pretty much just lose. This got me thinking.

Generally speaking, Beast Within isn't a good card against Delver. I was right to sideboard it out. However, you need to have some answer to Consecrated Sphinx, and Restoration Angel is still a problem (the 4 toughness puts it out of Slagstorm range). I started to play several copies of Crushing Vines in the sideboard because it had so many uses against Delver---it kills Restoration Angel, Delver of Secrets, Consecrated Sphinx, and Swords. It seemed like the swiss-army knife my deck needed to deal with U/W Delver. But, I also thought about Combust, which has the benefit of costing less than Vines, and being uncounterable.

I beat David the next time we played, so I felt my analysis was correct. I should mention howver, that even during that last victory, I boarded in 1-2 copies of Combust to deal with Angels, and 1-2 copies of Crushing Vines to kill Sphinx.

Recent Shifts

This tournament demonstrated why staying AHEAD of the metagame is so crucial.

The latest version U/W Delver was created by Luis Scott Vargas at the World Cup Qualifier. You can find the decklist here. Luis basically ran the usual Delver shell, but replaced Sword of Feast and Famine with Sword of War and Peace in the main deck, and added four Hero of Bladeholds to the sideboard to try and reduce the effectiveness of Crushing Vines. Luis' plan was to sideboard out the Restoration Angels and add the Hero of Bladeholds whenever he thought the opponent was sideboarding in Crushing Vines. The Swords of War and Peace were just awesome in the mirror. I think both of these changes were excellent based on the current metagame.

To combat these perceived changes (which I thought some players might try), I added the 4th Combust to my sideboard before the tournament. This proved to be the correct decision, as Combust simply crushed all evening. I killed 3 flipped Delver of Secrets, 3 Restoration Angels, and 1 Hero of Bladehold. Put simply, Combust probably won me the tournament.

If I were a Delver player last night, I would have tried to anticipate the Combust hate, and sideboard differently. I might still add the Swords of War and Peace, but I'd run the version of Delver with Consecrated Sphinx and Ghost Quarters in the sideboard, because the Sphinx doesn't die to Combust and still causes problems for many decks (I think Adam Brown tried something like this last night, and went 2-1). The Sphinx is also good against the current Mono-Green deck made by Carrie Oliver, which I thought might make a showing last night (You can find the deck list here. A somewhat similar version was run by Jason Lee, scoring 2-1).

When searching through the various MTG pages online, I found another interesting example (see the deck list, here). In a recent online tournament, a U/W Delver player took first place running 4 Mutagenic Growth maindeck and 4 Wurmcoil Engines in the sideboard. Despite whether or not you think those particular changes are good or bad, you have to agree the pilot exercised independent thought based on his perception of the metagame. The Mutagenic Growths are great in the mirror and save the Angels from Combust, and the Wurmcoil Engines are very difficult for a lot of decks-- including R/G Wolf Run--to anticipate. I don't have enough experience with U/W Delver to attest the the strength of this player's idea, but it's no surprise to me that the deck took first place. Nobody anticipated his changes.

As a side note, the G/R Wolf Run deck that took second in that tournament is just awful. You have to run 4 Cavern of Souls maindeck, noob :-)

Conclusion

Anyways, that's my take on the matchup. Game one is 50/50 while games 2 and 3 really depend on whether the players have prepared for eachother. I guess that's not drastically enlightening, but that's what happens when you try to speak in generalities about a topic that is largely about the details.

I used my prize credit to pick up a copy of Tamiyo, the Moon Sage. Not sure if I should have done that, as I think the card is overpriced, but oh well. More tournaments to come, stay tuned!

 "The hour of your redemption is here...Rally to me...rise and strike. Strike at every favorable opportunity. For your homes and hearths, strike!" ---General Douglas MacArthur, to the people of the Philippines.








It wasn't pretty; it was downright ugly. There was a massacre scheduled to occur at Guardian Games this Sunday, and I was the cattle, eyes glazed over, unwittingly strolling into the slaughterhouse.

What do you do when your deck insists on losing? Do you keep going? How long do you let the butchery continue? I could take only three rounds of the nightmare that was this most recent tournament---Two losses to people I don't ordinarily lose to; one loss to someone I was supposed to beat; two comments after the game about how my opponent has always wanted to beat me, how it feels so good to finally win one, blah blah; three games where my deck drew over 50% land; one game where I punted away the match like an idiot. It was ugly I tell you; downright ugly.

I played R/G Wolf Run, and the deck failed me. How did it happen, you ask? Here, let me descibe the misery...

First, there was Justin Norman, running mono-white humans.  Justin casted an Angelic Destiny on a Mirran Crusader with 2 Honor of the Pure already in play. I took 16 damage in one turn. Yeah, I scooped that game. In Game 2, I sideboarded in Combust, but never drew one, and Justin was able to cast Angelic Destiny on a Champion of the Parish (with three counters on it). I must have done something immoral recently because the flying, first striking, Angels had it in for me. I lost the match quickly, 0-2.



In round two there was Jacques Buteau, who I've played before, but I don't ordinarily lose to. Jacques was running the U/G Infect deck, which has been slowly gaining popularity at Guardian Games. For those who don't know, the deck uses Wild Defiance and various Giant Growth effects to try and kill you with an Inkmoth Nexus or a Blighted Agent as soon as possible. I've lost to it before, but I failed to adjust my sideboard afterward because I just didn't view it as too much of a threat. That was probably a mistake. My sorcery-speed removal spells (i.e., Slagstorm and Whipflare) were fairly useless against Inkmoth Nexus and Spellskite. I managed to win one game, but land-flooded in game three and got stuck with a Slagstorm and Whipflare in hand. I lost the match 1-2.

In round three I was paired against Henry Romero. Don't ask me how Oregon's current Seasonal Points leader (and ranked 23rd in Oregon in Lifetime Points) ended up at the bottom of the pairings with me. He was running Jund Pod, or Zombie Jund Pod, or Zombie Jund Pod Metamorph, whatever you want to call it. It was fast. Diregraf Ghouls, Gravecrawlers, Geralf's Messengers, Phyrexian Metamorphs and Birthing Pod. He sideboarded in Zealous Conscripts. Games 1 and 2 weren't close, as I land-flooded in game 1 and he land-flooded in game 2. Game 3 however, was intense, at one point the board just sort of stabilized and we both just sat there, drawing cards until we could find a threat. I drew a Primeval Titan and really put the pressure on, but he eventually killed it with a Tragic Slip. Then, I made a terrible play mistake, failing to kill a Geralf's Messenger when I could have and allowing Henry to "combo out." He played a Phyrexian Metamorph, copying the Geralf's Messenger, sacrificed one of the Geralf's Messengers with the Birthing Pod to find Phyrexian Metamorph, copying Birthing Pod and dealing two damage to me in the process. Then he did it again, and again, eventually dealing enough damage to kill me with an attacking Geralf's Messenger. "It was all my fault," I thought to myself after the game. "I should have just killed the Messenger."

So that was it. I was done. It was the worst tournament performance I've had in a while, and I've been humbled; my confidence shaken. I've responded by making some changes to my main deck and sideboard, hoping to take some victories this Tuesday. Until then....

"High on a throne of royal state...insatiate to pursue vain war with heav'n." ---John Milton, Paradise Lost













Time for another entry. Last night Ryan Engbrecht, Jared and I ventured to Guardian Games for their usual FNM tournament. There were 23 entrants last night; the prize for first place was 8 packs. I'm proud to say the night went extremely well for my "team." Ryan and I both scored 4 wins and 1 draw (we drew the final round), thereby tying for first place (I won out on tiebreaks though---mwaaa). I ran R/G Wolf Run yet again, and I have to say the deck performed amazing. I lost only one game in the 9 I played.

I think my success was partially due to the changes I made to BOTH the main deck and sideboard based on various metagame shifts I've perceived, namely, the resurgence of U/W Delver. My main deck was an exact copy of the deck Alex Binek used to win the World Magic Cup Qualifier in Missouri last weekend (see the list, here). Alex's version runs less Slagstorm but more Whipflare (because 2 red is harder to come by now), and the deck mainboards FOUR copies of Cavern of Souls! I have to say, I love this latter idea. The Cavern of Souls were just amazing, all day. I also benefitted from a little bit of luck (as is necessary to win at Magic), as more than once this tournament I had the 2-4-6 hand straight out of the opening: 3 lands, 1 ramp spell, 1 Solemn, 1 Titan, and 1 sweeper---the ideal set up.

Whereas my maindeck was identical to Alex's, my sideboard was slightly different than the sideboard he used. I kept about half of it the same (the Naturalizes and Ancient Grudges and such), but I added Green Sun's Zenith and Tree of Redemption to deal with R/G Aggro, which has become a larger threat to Wolf Run players because of the addition of Wolfir Silverheart (I lost to it on Wednesday). A 5 CMC creature that's bigger than a Titan is actually kind of a problem for R/G Wolf Run, especially in a deck that relies on soft board sweepers to kill creatures. The Tree of Redemption is well placed against R/G Aggro because it can block Silverheart, it can provide life when necessary, and it really can't be stolen by Zealous Conscripts effectively. Seems good. I also added Blasphemous Act to the sideboard because honestly, every time I have used this card in tournament play it has just been awesome. It's basically a red Day of Judgment (the same creatures that survive Day of Judgment also seem to survive Blasphemous Act, i.e., Thrun, the Last Troll, Wolfir Avenger, and Strangleroot Geist). Blasphemous Act is particularly useful against Pod decks, so I added 2 copies. 

Anyway, enough about the deck. On to the games!

In round 1 I played against Robert Schneider running Esper Control. Robert often just brews his own decks, but tonight his deck appeared closer to the Esper Friends archetype that I've seen before. The only thing was, Robert didn't have enough planeswalkers. He ran no copies of Liliana of the Veil or Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. In addition, he was using Tragic Slip as his form of targetted removal, which is really not the most effective way of killing Titans. And honestly, if I were playing this deck, I'd have like 2-3 copies of Torpor Orb in the sideboard. That card is just so good right now. I won the match 2-0.

In round 2 I faced Isiah Monroe running U/W Delver. "Here we go again," I thought before the match, "another U/W deck." Before this round, I had lost to Delver three straight matches, but I was determined to win this time. In Game 1, I land flooded and lost quickly. In Game 2, he land flooded and lost quickly. In Game 3 Isiah had to mulligan down to five cards, and he was stuck on two lands the entire game. I slammed down an Inferno Titan and ended the game quickly. I don't think Game 3 was appropriately climactic, but whatever; a win is a win. There were a lot of interesting sideboard strategies going on in this game in the background, but to describe them would really take too much space. I won the match 2-1.

In round 3 I faced Bryce Baxter running R/G Aggro. I felt much more prepared for this matchup than I did on Wednesday. Game 1 was close, with Bryce playing a second turn Sword of Feast and Famine, but I was able to kill all his creatures with Slagstorm before he could equip the creatures and hit me with them. Once an Inferno Titan resolved the game was over. In game 2 Bryce sideboarded in 4 copies of Manabarbs. Manabarbs is excellent against R/G Wolf Run and I've blogged about how the card has fucked me in the past. He cast Manabarbs on turn 4 (and a foil copy, no less!), but I resolved two Huntmaster of the Fells, which went answered. They flipped, killed his shit, and attacked. I won the match 2-0.

In round 4 I played against David Stroud running U/W Something. It wasn't Delver this time; it was Restoration Angels and Blade Splicers. I've mentioned before, I consider David a very difficult opponent. He's a very good player, though at times I find him to be a little condescending. I had lost my previous two or three matches against him so I felt due for a win. The first game was extremely close. I was down to 4 life before I was able to slam down a Cavern of Souls and resolve a Primeval Titan, fetching 2 Glimmerposts. He Vapor Snagged the Titan, but I cast it again on the following turn, gaining 8 life. I won the game soon thereafter. In Game 2 I boarded in every copy of Combust I had, and every time I saw an Angel it died an explosive death. Fuck you, bitch. Game 2 was over quickly, as David spent 8 of his own life to cast various Gitaxian Probes---I don't know why he didn't just pay the one blue mana, but whatever. I won the match 2-0.

So there you have it. As prize for my first place finish (tie), I received a copy of Entreat the Angels. I also got the new Acidic Slime, which is awesome.

"An immense river of oblivion is sweeping us away into a nameless abyss." ---Ernest Renan, Souvenirs d'Enfance et de Jeunesse.










Sigh. I must unfortunately write about my tournament experience this Tuesday at Guardian Games. Ancient Wonders was closed due to construction, so most local MTG players ventured across the Willamette to see what Guardian had to offer. The tournament was 3 rounds, with nearly 25 participants. I scored a dismal 1-2 with R/G Wolf Run.


I gave Alec a ride to the tournament in exchange for a cut of his prizes, but he performed even worse than I did, scoring 0-3 with R/B/W Grites. He made several changes to the deck before the tournament, but they didn't appear to help him. Now on to the games.


In round 1 I faced Jason Lee, playing Naya Wolf Run. The games were fairly close with a well-timed Terminus proving to be the high point of the match. Still, I generally had more Titans than he did and was able to effectively retain the initiative in Game 1. Game 2 was funny in that Jason delivered 9 poison damage before I was able to find blockers for his Inkmoth Nexii. He was unable to draw a Kessig Wolf Run and I eventually won the match 2-0.

Round 2 was all sorts of fucked up. I played Steve Empey who was running that new U/G Spellskite, Wild Defiance deck. I game 1, I failed to find a 4th land until I was already dead. In game 2, Steve cast a Wild Defiance on turn 3. I managed to cast a Solemn Simulacrum on turn 4, but tapped out to do so. Steve killed me with an Inkmoth Nexus, double Mutagenic Growth, Mirran Mettle on the following turn. Yeah, he won on turn 4...Lame.

In Round 3 I played a total scrub running U/B Control. He had no Darkslick Shores, no Drowned Catacombs, no Nepahlia's Drownyards, and no Ghost Quarters....and I still lost. U/B Control is just so good against my deck, you can play the worst version possible and still win.

In Scorcese's classic film, The Color of Money, Paul Newman says to Tom Cruise, "Money won is twice as sweet as money earned." As I drove home from another FNM tournament last night, I realized that although I only won $15 in prizes, the fact I won it made it seem so sweet.

As usual, I played in Guardian Games's usual Standard tournament , once again running R/G Wolf Run. As I mentioned in my previous article, I'm not buying cards right now, so if I want to expand my collection, I need to win tournaments. Before I entered the tournament, I contemplated perhaps playing U/W Delver, since the deck is pretty much the best deck in the format, but such a decision really shouldn't be made moments before the tournament. Anyways, I ended up scoring 4-1 and placing second with Wolf Run, so no change is necessary as yet. Now on to the games.

I received a bye in the first round and so didn't play anyone. This probably helped my tiebreakers at the end.

In round 2 I played against Zach Ledesma running U/W Delver. I have played Zach before, but never with Delver. Zach is a good player with a strong sense for the game and what decks are playable. He admitted his list was pretty much a card-for-card copy of someone's tournament winning U/W Delver list, but I don't remember the original creator's name. We had some very strange games that seemed to take longer than my usual matches with Delver take. Both of us appeared to land flood in Game 2. I ended up winning the match on the back of Inkmoth Nexii, 2-0.

In Round 3 I played against Thomas Overton running Mono Blue Architect. I faced this deck twice before, both times in the last tournament, winning once and losing once. I thereafter adjusted my sideboard by adding another copy of Ancient Grudge. Thus, I felt well prepared to face this new deck. I won Game 1 by resolving a Primeval Titan, fetching Inkmoth Nexus and Kessig Wolf Run. Thomas resolved a Phantasmal Image, copying the Primeval Titan, but the two Ghost Quarters he fetched came into play tapped and were thus unable to stop the Inkmoths from dealing lethal poison damage the next turn. Game 2 was even more exciting. I resolved a Garruk, Primal Hunter and eventually used his ultimate ability to place 12 6/6 Wurms into play. Thomas and I joked about how only a Devastation Tide could have saved him. He obviously didn't run Devastation Tide in the deck, but it was still funny. I won the match, 2-0.

Round 4 proved to be the critical round of the tournament. I played against David Stroud running U/W Delver. I swear, it feels impossible to win Magic tournaments at Guardian Games without encountering David Stroud. The guy is always at the top of the pairings, and I can see why the players at Guardian respect his play so much. I won the first game in our match by resolving a Inferno Titan that David seemed unable to Vapor Snag. Unfortunately, the subsequent games did not go as well for me. In Game 2, David resolved two Consecrated Sphinxes. Since I had just sideboarded out all my copies of Beast Within, the Sphinxes both bashed me for 8 damage a turn and allowed David to replenish his hand. Game 3 I had to mulligan to six cards and lost because I got stuck on 5 lands. I tried to cast Slagstorm only to have it countered via Mana Leak. If I had had one more land, things might have been different, but that's MTG. I lost the match, 1-2.

In Round 5 I played against Matt Scott who was running a W/G Midrange deck similar to the one Adam Brown beat me with a few months ago. Matt got color screwed in the first game, not drawing a green mana source, and mana screwed in the second game, not drawing a fourth land. I won the match, 2-0.

For my efforts I was awarded 2nd place, $21 in store credit, which I used to purchase a Snapcaster Mage. Hopefully they don't ban him. I was also given the promo card of the night, Acidic Slime.

My sideboard is now being adjusted to deal with the prevalence of Delver decks. Out of the 25 attendees at this tournament, I saw at least 7 U/W Delver decks. If you aren't going to join them, you better have a good plan to beat them.

Until next time readers.