[This is the last of the articles that got lost in the London madness. Apologies to all involved. -Knut]
Let me explain something real fast for some of you… no, Regionals is not a Vintage tourney; yes it is Standard or “Type 2” as some call it. No I haven’t given up Vintage and I will continue to write about it. At this point I feel obligated to tell you that I do have an interest in other formats and I enjoy playing something non-broken from time to time. This is a report on my exploits at Regionals, contains zero Vintage material and well generally have me blathering on for a good 10 pages. You have been warned.
Prelude to idiocy – 5 days before Regionals.
I had finally decided on a deck to run for the CC Regionals based on my expectations of a lot of Tooth, slower red decks and lots of random forests running around to make my life miserable. My weapon of choice? Med Red. It tested very well (70/30 or so) against Tooth decks of all kinds, pre and post board. Had a favorable match against slower Red decks like Kuroda/Flores Red, French Red and Ponza. Plus it had a practical bye against most MUC and Mono U Urzatron builds. So what was the cost of the sheer slaughter of slow decks you may ask? MGA and Beacon Green of all kinds was a horrible match, I could literally only win when their own deck shut down or I got an excellent turn 1/2 Chrome Mox / Slith + Sorcerer or Adamaro type of god hands. WW and Rats also gave me issues thanks to Umezawa’s Jitte; thankfully they run horrible creatures so it was usually an even fight. I just hoped I wouldn’t run into too many other bad aggro decks
Here was my original list I worked out with Max McCall, if it burns to look at… sorry.
//NAME: Med Red (Lousy version)
// Mana
4 Talisman of Indulgence
4 Chrome Mox
3 Blinkmoth Nexus
17 Mountain
// Creatures
4 Vulshok Sorcerer
4 Adamaro, First to Desire
4 Zo-Zu the Punisher
4 Slith Firewalker
// Burn
4 Forge[/author]“]Pulse of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]
4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Magma Jet
What a pile. Yes, I ran Talisman because I needed to get up to 11 artifacts and didn’t realize there was anything better. Thankfully Max pointed out, “You realize Pyrite Spellbomb exists right?” and needless to say that was a very easy switch to make. So I ordered about two thirds of my cards from our wonderful SCG site (This isn’t even a shameful plug, I just have to credit good service) and was planning to borrow the rest from my friend Jonathan Wang (Wraith985 on TMD and SCG) when I got to the tourney site.
Stupidity, we have lift off – 2 days from Regionals
My cards arrive and everything seems in order, except for one thing. I don’t see any Forge[/author]“]Pulse of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]. The sad truth proceeds to dawn on me as I realize I had completely forgotten to order them. Oh well, time to scramble and find an alternative card that had synergy with the rest of the deck. John suggested Molten Rain since most of my deck was early game creatures and playing it would on turn 2/3 after a Slith or Adamaro would result in a Time Walk effect. Sounds good to me! With disaster narrowly averted I played some more test games and lamented at another good Green deck (Jim F. 14 Land Green Belcher deck) being released for public consumption. Why oh why must there be like seven different playable Green aggro builds?
!@*(@#& – 60 minutes before Regionals begins
I show up at the convention hall, am happy that A. they have air conditioning and B. John and his friend Albert find me without any real problems. We chat for a bit and I start to sleeve up the cards John was loaning me for my deck, we then noticed the final problem pre-tourney.
John: “Yeah… um… sorry I don’t actually have any extra Molten Rain.”
Me: “…wonderful”
That sums up my predicament. I went to the dealer on-site and stared at the cases of uncommon and rare cards looking for literally anything to fill 4 empty slots in my deck. I eyed Genju of the Spires, figured out my deck loves quick and efficient damage and bought 3 immediately. Meanwhile for the last slot…
Me: “I need a random card for the deck.”
Albert: “Goblin Charbelcher?”
Me: “Decent, but I need something that pitches to Mox”
John: “Here I can loan you 3 Shatter and an Unforge.”
Me: “Hm. I don’t have room in the board for 4-artifact destruction spells. May as well run the random Unforge maindeck.”
And so here was the list I settled upon.
Sped Red
Mana
4 Chrome Mox
3 Blinkmoth Nexus
17 Mountain
Creatures
4 Vulshok Sorcerer
4 Adamaro, First to Desire
4 Zo-Zu the Punisher
4 Slith Firewalker
Spells
1 Unforge
4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Magma Jet
4 Pyrite Spellbomb
3 Genju of the Spires
Sideboard
3 Shatter
4 Fireball
4 Fractured Loyalty
4 Pyroclasm
I named it Sped Red in honor of one of my favorite Red decks of all time. It also described what the deck did really well; dump out really annoying creatures quickly. Everyone was really surprised I didn’t run any Arc-Slogger at all, but I felt ruining my curve and low mana count wasn’t worth it. In the end I basically proved myself right, but I’d reconsider at least running a few in the board. If you untap with Slogger in play, odds are you’re going to win.
Other than the one random Unforge in the maindeck, I was really happy with how the maindeck turned out. It was far superior to my original builds and Genju would prove to be a key figure in a couple of my games down the road. Meanwhile the board was half tech and half horridness. If I can give any advice to people, let me say this. Do not wait until 10 minutes before a tourney begins to attempt to figure out a boarding plan. Past a plan I had for Fractured Loyalty board-in, I had no idea what to board out to make room for the other cards. This was an awful mistake and the only real preparation error I made (changing my deck 45 minutes before the tourney wasn’t a mistake per say, since they were the right choices. Rain was a pile of poop compared to Genju once I played the rest of the deck optimized), getting a board plan would’ve helped in a few matches instead of just winging it.
Note: I’ll list a short reflection of what I’d change at the end of my report.
Anyway onto the actual tourney! I actually have all the names written down, but if I made a mistake in recapping games, feel free to correct me.
Round 1 – Allen – Troll and Nail
Game 1: I win the die-roll (a recurring theme, I don’t lose a die roll until my ninth round) and play. On turn 1, down comes the Slith and I start swinging into Allen. He proceeds to drop a Vine Trellis on turn 2 to stop the bleeding at 17. I swing into it and blow it away with a Hammer to clear the way for the next turn; I also proceed to drop a Genju. Sadly for me, he continues to build his mana supply while dropping obnoxious blockers like Sakura-Tribe Elder and Eternal Witness. Dropping Vulshok Sorcerer, I manage to clear the guys out and then swing in for a hefty ten points of damage and throw another Hammer at his head leaving him with four life remaining. He then drops the one spell that can ruin my life, Tooth and Nail, down comes Sundering Titan and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. He then copies Titan swings into me for 7, while completely totaling my mana base. With a 7/10 blocker, my mana consisting of a single Chrome Mox and my only way to deal damage being a Vulshok Sorcerer I pass the turn back. He then drops a second Tooth and Nail for Duplicant and Darksteel Colossus, so I simply concede knowing I’m doomed.
Sideboard: -1 Unforge, -3 Genju of the Spires (These guys aren’t very hot against the man-plan) +4 Fractured Loyalty
Game 2: I noted Allen sided in the man plan against me and I keep a hand with an early Slith and burn accordingly. I get off to a quick start again, with turn 2 Slith, and turn 3 Sorcerer. This allows me to get a significant amount of damage in while he’s building up mana to cast Iwamori. Most his turns consist of topping for some gas and dropping a Troll Ascetic while building up his mana. The Troll stops the bleeding for a short time by stopping Slith from getting through, but my Sorcerer is still pinging away. At that point I decide to simply throw all the burn I had been saving straight at his head. His life total over the next four turns drops from 13 to 12 (Ping), 7 (Shrapnel Blast), 6,5,4 (All pings), 2 (Jet) and Pyrite to finish him off.
Game 3: This game was surprisingly close compared to my usual post-board games against Tooth. I start off with a slower, but burn heavy start of 2 Shrapnel Blast, Chrome Mox, Magma Jet, Pyrite Spellbomb, Vulshok Sorcerer and 1 Mountain. I figure this is a pretty solid hand to race his creatures with and keep. I successfully draw into a random Red card and Jet on turn 1 which allows me to Scrying into another Mountain and Spellbomb. Meanwhile… In this game Allen gets off to a much faster start than the last game and proceeds to drop turn 3 and 4 Troll’s. On my side of the board my life points continue to dwindle in points of 3.
Game turn: 5
Life points: Me – 14 Allen – 14
Hand: 2 Shrapnel Blast and a Mountain
I then rip Fractured Loyalty… with 0 targetable creatures, and I pass the turn. He then drops Iwamori down and I’m incredibly happy. My life falls to 11 and he passes the turn. My turn takes about 15 seconds as I untap, draw, cast Fractured, ping Iwamori and steal it back. My glee is overwhelming as I now have a huge threat, 3 artifacts on the board with 2 Shrapnel Blast in hand and 2 open mana!
He then drops Duplicant removing Iwamori from the game. Nuts. He swings in with both Trolls and knocks me down to 5 life. At my end of turn I precede to Shrapnel Blast him (Saccing Mox), then untap, ping him, Blast him again (Saccing Spellbomb #1) and finish him with my final Pyrite Spellbomb on the table. Good times.
Record 1-0 (2-1)
Round 2 – Mike – Green Aggro w/ Arc-Slogger
Game 1: I get lousy starting hands and end up mulliganing to 5. I obviously get off to a slow start and he resolves Troll with Umezawa’s Jitte. That’s game boys.
Sideboard: -3 Genju of the Spires, -4 Zo-Zu, The Punisher / +4 Pyroclasm +3 Shatter
Game 2: A near repeat of game 1. I get off to a semi-slow start, while he plays a turn 3 Troll. I remove it with Pyroclasm, but he just plays another one. My Vulshok Sorcerer continues to ping away, but he follows the Troll up with an Arc-Slogger and I’m done.
Both games weren’t even close. I couldn’t get any fast early damage in and his bigger guys + Equipment just dominated me and kept his life way out of double Shrapnel Blast reach.
Record 1-1 (2-3)
Round 3 – Ben – MUC
Game 1: I get a turn 1 Genju down and that’s practically game already. On turn 2 I drop the 2nd Mountain and a Chrome Mox, activate and swing in for 6. I do this for the next couple of turns knocking him down to eight life and killing a Blinkmoth Nexus along the way. Ben can’t do much except draw some cards and lay a Thieving Magpie on the table. I kill it and sneak through another 2 damage from Pyrite Spellbomb. When he taps out for Meloku I throw double Hammer at him and kill him.
Sideboard: -1 Unforge +1 Fireball
Game 2: I get off to a slower start, going turn 1 Pyrite Spellbomb and turn 2 Adamaro. Meanwhile Ben casts Serum Visions in an attempt to improve his hand a bit and dumps a turn 3 Veldaken Shackles onto the table. I proceed to throw a Volcanic Hammer at his head and swing with Adamaro (Now a 5/5) and drop Ben to 12 life. He proceeds to steal Adamaro the following turn when I attack again and throw a Shrapnel Blast in his face. I then start to get beat down by a 3/3 Adamaro and casts Meloku and I sneak in another 2 points from Magma Jet. He swings into me again and I fall to 11 life, but then he taps out for a Magpie to go along with his army. This leaves him wide-open for Volcanic Hammer and my 2nd Pyrite Spellbomb to burn him out.
Record 2-1 (4-3)
Round 4 – Lokman – B/G Death Cloud
Game 1: I get off to a fast start with turn 1 Genju, turn 2 Magma Jet, turn 3 activate and swing. Meanwhile Lok plays a turn 2 Umezawa’s Jitte and turn 3 Troll Ascetic and passes the turn back. At this point my hand looks like, a few random creatures, Shrapnel Blast and the most important card ever. Take a guess.
…
Did you guess the most awful card in my deck? Indeed it was the one random Unforge. Oh hell yes. I simply pass the turn back to him and so he equips Jitte to Troll and swings at me. I cast Unforge and he’s in a bit of disbelief at the whole situation; Jitte dies and he taps out to regenerate the Troll. I simply untap and swing in for another 6 and get ready to win next turn with burn. He untaps, casts Cranial Extraction to get a look at my library and concedes.
Sideboard: -3 Zo-Zu +3 Shatter (At this point I think he’s MGA w/ black)
Game 2: I get a turn 1 Slith Firewalker to start working him over and follow it up with a turn 2 Genju with a turn 3 swing with everything. Lok mostly just sits there building up his mana and plays some random small black creature I forget.
Game turn: 4
Life points: Me – 20 Lok – 11
My Hand: 2 Volcanic Hammer, Chrome Mox and Mountain
He continues to build up mana and I play an Adamaro to help out my offense. He then hits my Slith with a Sickening Shoal, killing him and slowing my offense down. My Adamaro quickly follows suit as well, thanks to a Horobi’s Whisper. I’m in decent shape until he attacks with his small 2/1 black guy and then…
Everything goes straight down the tubes when he ninja’s out an Ink-Eyes, Servant of the Oni. Suddenly I drop to 15 and he steals my Adamaro back to play for his team. At this point I stare at my board, which consists of 5 Mountain and a Genju, while my hand is the same from above. At this point I could kill my own Adamaro (he’ll become 3/3 if I throw Hammer at him and hence kill him off) and swing into him with Genju to take him down to 5 life leaving him within burn range if I draw pretty much anything.
Instead I make the brilliant decision of throwing the burn spell at his head, knocking him down to 8 and blocking the Ink-Eyes, taking 3 from Adamaro and going down to 12. I draw… what else, another Volcanic Hammer. It’s at this point I realize my horrible mistake and that he should be dead at this point. It also dawns on me that I can’t play Genju, cast Hammer and swing all in the same turn. I play Genju and throw another burn spell at his head, lowering him to 5. He replays his random goon and a Sakura-Tribe Elder to make sure Genju won’t be hitting him again and swings again with Ink-Eyes. He swings into me and knocks me to 3 life. I draw, throw the final Volcanic Hammer at his head to drop him to 2 and I concede the game.
At this point I’m incredibly pissed off and disappointed. I had the game, the 6 points of damage I’d have dealt from getting Genju through would’ve easily won it. This was my biggest mistake of the tourney thus far and a real blow to me. All I could think about was how awful this would be if I actually lost the next game and hence blown the match.
Game 3: Shaken from my massive mistake from the last game, I resolve not to screw up and want to use this game to redeem myself.
From the play I keep a hand of: 2 Mountain, Adamaro, Zo-Zu, Chrome Mox, Volcanic Hammer and Vulshok Sorcerer
I start off with a really solid land-go. Surprisingly he does the same! I draw some Red card that I deemed awful and pitched it to Mox and played Zo-Zu on turn 2 which got killed at the end of the turn by Sickening Shoal. He then plays Naturalize on my Chrome Mox, slowing me down. Thankfully I rip a Mountain like a champ and play turn 3 Adamaro anyways. He then plays an Elder to chump for a bit while he continues to play land-go. Then Sorcerer comes down to ping STE and Adamaro swings in for 4. He lays a land and passes again, when I swing however he blows Adamaro away with a Horobi’s Whisper and that’s the end of that. I do ping him though. At this point we’re both running low on gas and play land-go for a bit, all while I continue to ping him every turn. The only relevant spells either of us plays through turns 4-7 were Lok hitting me with Cranial Extraction naming Magma Jet and me hitting him with a Volcanic Hammer.
Game Turn: 8
Life points: Me – 20 Lok – 9
My Hand: Shrapnel Blast, Adamaro and Chrome Mox
Finally on turn 8, something relevant happens. He plays Ink-Eyes and I get a big sad puppy dog look in my eye. On my turn I actually draw a 2nd Vulshok Sorcerer, play him Mox and blast his Inky back to where it came from. He’s not done with me though as he now has a 3rd Forest (6th Land) in play and down comes Kokusho, The Evening Star. I ping him down to 6 and draw… Shrapnel Blast, unfortunately I have 0 artifacts in play, but I do get to lay a huge Adamaro down (1/1)! On his turn he plays Kodama of the North Tree and beans me in the head for 5 with Kokusho. I draw a Mountain and pass the turn back. He throttles me for 6 and I drop to 9 life. On my turn I manage to draw Slith Firewalker and drop him down to play blocking duty. The board position is this
Me: 4 Mountain, Slith Firewalker (no counters), Adamaro (1/1), 2 Vulshok Sorcerer untapped
Hand – Shrapnel Blast and Mountain (OF DOOOOOOM!)
Life: 9
Lok: 3 Swamp, 3 Forest, Kodama of the North Tree, Kokusho, The Evening Star
Hand – 1 card
Life: 4
Lok draws, plays a land and thinks for a bit. He then swings into me with both of his huge creatures. I end up using everything to block Kodama and ping Lok twice for his efforts, dropping him to two. I also drop to 2 life and it’s my last chance to win. I do some quick math and realize I have about 16 cards I can draw (4 Pyrite Spellbomb, 3 Nexus, 3 Hammer, 3 Chrome Mox, 3 Genju) that win me the game. I rip Volcanic Hammer and win a game that was way too close.
Record – 3-1 (6-4)
Round 5 – Albert – 8 Land Belcher
I.D. We know each other and I sure don’t want to knock a friend out in round 5. Plus this gets my into the draw bracket where all of my best matches are (I.E. Control decks and Tooth), so this could work out very well.
Record: 3-1-1 (6-4 still)
Round 6 – Wilson – Mono U Tron
Game 1: I drop a turn 2 Zo-Zu and he never really gets going. A Genju strike on turn 4 later and no answers in sight and we move onto game 2.
Sideboard: None
Game 2: I play another early Zo-Zu, which ends up getting bounced. I follow it up with a turn 4 Adamaro I believe. Then I replay Zo-Zu, he finally gets a Triskelion down around turn 6, but it’s too little too late. I throw Volcanic Hammer and Shrapnel Blast at his head and he’s dead.
Sorry about the brevity of this match, my opponent really didn’t have a chance to do much other than play draw spells and get beat up.
Record: 4-1-1 (8-4)
Round 7 – Keegan – Troll and Nail
Game 1: I start the game off with a turn 1 Slith and proceed with the beatings. Keegan proceeds to drop a Forest and passes the turn. It’s at this point my poor memory of the days events is basically shot. I’m unsure if he played a Birds of Paradise here or just a Chrome Mox, either way I know he dropped a turn 2 Eternal Witness. I follow it up with a turn 2 Genju into a turn 3 swing with both (Slith being a 3/3). Keegan blocks the Slith and takes 6, dropping down to 11. He proceeds to use Top to look for some answers to this bleak situation. Meanwhile I swing with Genju and Slith again and the cute birdie blocks Slith, he drops to 5 and the next turn he has no answers as I show him the Shrapnel Blast.
Sideboard: Nothing (I couldn’t tell if he was boarding creatures in or just Oblivion Stone)
Game 2: I get off a similarly quick start like game 1 with a turn 2 Slith Firewalker and turn 3 Adamaro for a bunch of early damage. Keegan did manage to drop an Oblivion Stone, but ended up one mana short of activating it and I burned him out with Magma Jet and Pyrite immediately after.
Again, sorry about the brevity of the match, it’s just not much actually happened.
Record: 5-1-1 (10-4)
At this point in the tourney I’m really excited. After a disappointing match 2 loss I’ve gone onto win 4 in a row and am pumped about smashing my next 2 opponents and possibly making T8. Sadly for me, there was one other surprise in store…
Round 8 – Jonathan Wang – Flores Red
Why Me!?! Why Oh Why? This ticked me off and I simply couldn’t help but swear. A lot. And loudly too boot. Seriously, I come to the tourney and out of 300 people I get to play my two friends. The worst part was he actually got paired down from 6-1. This late in the tourney a draw will only ruin our chances of winning stuff, so we decide to play it out.
Game 1: A slaughter. I drop a turn 2 Adamaro and a turn 3 Genju with enough mana to swing on the same turn. I smash him for 11 on turn 3 and he can’t draw anything to save himself.
Sideboard: -1 Unforge +1 Fireball
Game 2: I keep an iffy 4-land hand, because I figure I have a lot of time to do things in this match. Big mistake. By the time I can get any pressure on him at all, he has a substantial mana base and a good deal of burn in hand. I died around turn 7, but I was dead from the get-go.
Game 3: John starts us off with an awesome mulligan. Meanwhile I play land-go for a bit and drop a Spellbomb. Turn 3 down comes Adamaro and for every turn after that, 5 of John’s life points. He drops from 20 – 15 – 10 – 5 – 1 (finally it shrunk!) and I finish him with a Magma Jet. In response I concede though, giving John the win.
I figured at this point I might be statistically eliminated already (I had god-awful tiebreakers) and I would have to win my last round, where John might only have to draw if he wins this match. That and he’s my friend and he has a better record. Since he has the better chance, I concede to him and l drop out of T8 contention.
Record 5-2-1 (11-6)
Record w/ no Concession 6-1-1 (12-5)
Round 9 – Donald – Ponza
Since it’s been a long 10 hours of Magic, I offer a prize split and he accepts. I figure whomever wins this match will be in the 20’s placement-wise and hence get 12 packs.
Game 1: I finally lose a die roll and go 2nd to start things off. Despite this, I get a 2nd turn Slith and a 3rd turn Sorcerer and deal a significant chunk of damage. He eventually burns away my guys and hits me a few times with a Blinkmoth, but the damage has been done. As he destroys a few of my land, I hit him with a Jet, Hammer and drop Adamaro to finish it.
Game 2: Turn 2 Adamaro comes down and simply hits him until he’s down to 5 life. At that point I simply throw two burn spells at his head and the game is over. I have pretty much 0 notes except for turn 2 Adamaro, so I assume Donald did nothing really relevant (I know he chump blocked once and blew up a few land though).
Record 6-2-1 (13-6)
Final Placing: 23rd
Reflection on the decklist
Other than the one random Unforge, I was absolutely in love with this deck the entire day. I mulliganed about 3 times the entire day and was just really happy with the Pulse to Genju of the Spires change. Genju ended up being relevant and doing at least 6 damage in a good third of my games. The sideboard on the other hand though… what a damned pile of garbage that was. If I could remake the board, here’s what I’d of run.
4 Unforge – The only artifacts I care about that I can destroy are Umezawa’s Jitte, Sword of Fire and Ice and Sword of Light and Shadow. Blowing it up and dealing 2 damage to the creature it was attached too is huge.
4 Pyroclasm – A necessary evil, if only for the WW and Beacon Green match-up. Being able to clear the board of annoying flyers and entire army of Beacon of Creation tokens for 1R is some good. By only dealing 2 damage, the odds on your own Slith or Adamaro living are worth noting as well.
4 Pithing Needle – This is a requirement to shut down Circle of Protection: Red and to help deal with Umezawa’s Jitte as well. If I had a set, I would’ve run them for sure.
3 Fractured Loyalty – Still solid for the MGA matches and to deal with the man plan board from Tooth decks. It really shouldn’t be a 4-of, because one is enough to deal with most board states, but it’s really quite useful.
You already can smash Tooth and Mono U Tron by virtue of coming out of the gate so quickly and being able to burn away a blocker or two. So there seems to be no real need for Sowing Salt or other LD in the board. Some Arc-Slogger may be worthwhile over a few Pyroclasm, since both cards would be there to help the aggro match. Unfortunately the mana base isn’t really constructed to cast 5cc creatures, so this might require a serious reconstruction effort. One alternative is running Seething Song, Slogger and Sword of Fire and Ice. It’s inherently risky, but could really help some of the aggro matches you struggle in.
As for the normal maindeck choices, I’d replace the Unforge with a Forge[/author]“]Pulse of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author] or two or possibly even Umezawa’s Jitte. Some real testing would be required for this final slot or two in the maindeck. The creature base performed admirably all day. Slith, Adamaro and Sorcerer were consistently dealing large quantities of damage out while being useful in the mid-game. Zo-Zu was a little more disappointing than I had hoped, but he still performed his role well against control the entire time. His inability to swing effectively was my only issue and he may drop to a 3-of because of that. As for Genju, I’ve already sung its praises earlier; it’s absolutely perfect as a 3-of Ball Lightning. The burn complement was great the entire day, Magma Jet and Shrapnel Blast being the MVP’s for the deck.
I think that sums it up for now. As for the obligatory Props & Slops
Props
Jonathan Wang for making Top 8 and loaning me a third of my deck
Albert Ye for being fun to talk to the whole time, since our matches were done so fast
All my opponents for being great sports
Tooth and Nail, for being popular
Mono U Tron, for being popular
MatchPlay for running a solid tourney and the judges for doing great work
Slops
Protection from Red, you suck
CoP: Red, you suck
The pairings for putting me up against both my friends
-Joshua Silvestri (Vegeta2711 on TMD)
Team Reflection
Email me at: joshDOTsilvestriATgmailDOTcom