{From Right Field is a column for Magic players on a budget or players who don’t want to play netdecks. The decks are designed to let the budget-conscious player be competitive in local, Saturday tournaments. They are not decks that will qualify a player for The Pro Tour. As such, the decks written about in this column are, almost by necessity, rogue decks. They contain, at most, eight to twelve rares. When they do contain rares, those cards will either be cheap rares or staples of which new players should be trying to collect a set of four, such as Wrath of God, City of Brass, or Birds of Paradise. The decks are also tested by the author, who isn’t very good at playing Magic. His playtest partners, however, are excellent. He will never claim that a deck has an 85% winning percentage against the entire field. He will also let you know when the decks are just plain lousy. Readers should never consider these decks “set in stone” or “done.” If you think you can change some cards to make them better, well, you probably can, and the author encourages you to do so.}
Section One: Dr. Romeo Backpedals on Magic the Gathering: Online
I’ve been playing Magic the Gathering: Online a lot more in the past year than I ever thought I would. Part of this, I’m sure, is due to the fact that I’m married. I spend a lot more time at home, which means I have a lot more time in front of the computer. When I’m not paying attention to my wife, that is. Before this, my extra time would have been spent watching movies. I’m so far behind on watching flicks that I still haven’t seen The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Heck, we spent a good chunk of change in the Spring of 2004 buying as many of the Oscar-nominated flicks as were out on DVD (e.g. Lost in Translation, Whale Rider, 21 Grams, Mystic River). [World Champ Julien Nuijten was quite good in Whale Rider. – Knut]
Total watched: zero.
Mostly, this is because Luanne has a much different work schedule than I do. (Don’t leave now. I’ll be getting to the point in a couple of paragraphs.) She works four ten-hour days. She’s up at 4:30 A.M. on those days. To get up so early, she goes to bed at about 8:30 or 9:00 P.M. on weeknights. Since I don’t get home until about 6:45 P.M., there’s not a whole lot of time to watch a movie if we also want to do anything else.
So, we watch a t.v. show or two that we taped, and then she heads to bed. Or we head out to do some sort of running around, and then she heads to bed. Whatever the scenario, I have a couple of hours before I go to bed. Sure, I could watch those movies, but I want to watch them with her. This is how I’ve ended up spending a whole lot more time on Magic Online.
Contrary to what you might think from past pieces in which I pretty much hammered the business model (which I still hate, but it’s making them money hand over fist) for MTGO and the stability of the system (which is tons better now), the concept is great: a game anytime you want in any style you want. As long as you have the fake cards. (The part I really hate, of course.)
A lot of folks have written to tell me, “Hey, why not try Apprentice or Magic Workstation.” I have. They’re great. You have access to every card you need with only the cost of the program. MTGO has one absolutely humongous advantage to me: rules enforcement. I haven’t enjoyed the few games on the other two systems because they require me to be a judge. There are a ton of folks on those who don’t know the rules very well. In the six or so games I’ve played on each, I haven’t finished one.
Some of the same helpful souls who have suggested Apprentice or MWS point out that I can schedule times to be online with my friends and play with just them. I’m a very social guy. It’s one of my favorite parts of Magic. If I could schedule a time to be online with my friends, I’d play in person. Meeting someone at 9:15 P.M. for an hour and fifteen minutes of play isn’t a very efficient use of time. It’s also a waste of gas.
Whenever I can, then, I test online. Since most of my decks use very few rares, I can do this without a big cost to me. (Plus, anything I spend can be written off of my taxes. God bless capitalists.)
Section Two: Dr. Romeo Explains His Rip-off, er, Tribute to JMS
This brings me to Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar. It’s no secret that I envy JMS. He has the life I want. He’s married to a woman much more attractive than he deserves. (I finally matched him there a year ago.) He has like three jobs that he loves, one of which he essentially created on his own. He’s a published novelist. (If you haven’t read Birthright, you should.) He’s the original cheap deck guy. Now, of course, he’s the “Official” cheap deck guy since he writes “Building on a Budget” on the official Magic website.
One of Jay’s shticks is to take a pre-con deck and modify it so that it’s competitive in the Casual Decks room of Magic Online. Since I want to be so much like Jay (published novelist, work from home, hyphenated last name), I’m going to try the same kind of thing for the next couple of weeks with one twist. I want this deck to be competitive in a tournament. That doesn’t mean that it has to win the thing. I just want it to win more than it loses.
The rules are simple. First, I’m going to spend less than $40 on the deck online. The first five or so games I’ll be playing with the deck, unchanged, so that I can get a feel for it. After that, I’ll reevaluate it every five games or so, changing no more than five cards at a time. I’ll get the new cards by trading tickets (one dollar per ticket) for them. The deck I’m going to modify is Rat’s Nest (Jay had already done the Ninjutsu pre-con from Betrayers):
Rat’s Nest (pre-con decklist)
24 Lands
24 Swamp
22 Creatures
1 Nezumi Shadow-Watcher
2 Nezumi Bone-Reader
3 Nezumi Cutthroat
1 Nezumi Graverobber
4 Skullsnatcher
4 Nezumi Ronin
2 Numai Outcast
2 Throat Slitter
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
1 Patron of the Nezumi
1 Genju of the Fens
14 Other Spells
1 Psychic Spear
1 Midnight Covenant
1 Ragged Veins
1 Rend Flesh
2 Horobi’s Whisper
2 Befoul
1 Dance of Shadows
2 Three Tragedies
1 Stir the Grave
1 Shuko
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
Right away, I’m down $22.58. “But, how can you be down $22.58 when the decks cost $11.29?” Well, genius, I’m buying two of them. There are a lot of one-of’s in this deck of which I’m thinking two (or more) would be good: Genju of the Fens; Patron of the Nezumi; Nezumi Graverobber; and, of course, Umezawa’s Jitte. Yeah, that’s really in a pre-con. Cool, no? In addition, there’s a few two-of’s (e.g. Horobi’s Whisper, Throat Slitter) that seem likely to end up being four-of’s. Given what the Jittes and Genju are going for online, it seemed as cost-effective to buy a second deck and get all of the extra cards, too. (Besides, I needed more Swamps for my mono-Black Singleton deck.) My hope is that the first few changes will all be internal to the pre-con deck (i.e. adding extra cards from the second copy).
Since tickets are a dollar each, I can only buy seventeen of them. Eighteen would put me at $40.58 for the deck, and I’m adhering strictly to the budget. Granted, forty bucks is more than the thirty tickets that Nate Heiss used as the budget for his decks, but, well, if you haven’t noticed, I’m not even close to being Nate Heiss, he who went undefeated at the 2003 Ohio Valley Regionals.
Section Three: A Pre-Play Assessment of the Cards
Before I even play the deck, I should take a look at what it has. This will tell me the strengths and weaknesses. It will also tell me which cards to keep an eye on for adding extra copies or lopping off altogether.
Swamps
Gee, it’s a mono-Black deck. Swamps seem like a great idea. Okay, no insight there. However, even though it’s mono-Black, not every land has to be a Swamp. Shizo, Death’s Storehouse, would work well with the Patron of the Nezumi. Stalking Stones are cheap. Blinkmoth Nexus flies. Heck, even Hall of the Bandit Lord would be nice in here.
Nezumi Shadow-Watcher
Killing Ninjas will be great in KBC. I’m sure that the randomness of MTGO decks means that the ability is pretty useless. In addition, I want this to be a deck I’ll take to a real tourney. Given that Ninjas have yet to break through the mono-Blue Control (MUC), G/B Control, mono-Red, and mono-Green phalanx, I’m discounting the ability from the start. On the plus side, it’s a one-casting-cost creature that will help with using the Ninjutsu abilities of the other guys. Of course, there’s only one in the deck.
Nezumi Bone-Reader
Already, I can see that this deck is going to have focus issues. Does it want to be a discard deck (see Three Tragedies, below) or a beatdown deck. Discard creatures can be great if they’re also good in a fight. Make this guy a 2/1, and I’m all over him. At 1/1 for 1B, he’s ripe for the boneyard. However, if there were a way to bring creatures back from the yard on the cheap (or even for free a la Shirei, Shizo’s Caretaker), this could be the way to go. Hit ’em with discard, and drop a bomb.
Nezumi Cutthroat
Now, this is my kinda Rat. A 2/1 for two mana that’s essentially unblockable except in the mirror match (now that artifact creatures aren’t running rampant). Potentially, this will be a four-of.
Nezumi Graverobber
Okay, I know that the pre-cons are supposed to focus on the cards from the new sets, but, sheesh, this guy is sooooooooooooo good. At a minimum, they should have put two in here. In drafts, I have often gotten him flipped on turn three, giving me a four-power attacker. When I can kill something else of theirs, stealing it back from the ‘yard with his “flipped” ability can be just huge.
Skullsnatcher
This is another little guy that’s on the fence. He’s a 2/1 for 1B. That combat-damage triggered ability is nothing to sneeze at, either. Given all of the decks that seem to start “4 – Eternal Witne$$,” ripping cards out of the other guy’s ‘yard is useful.
Nezumi Ronin
Another efficient Black creature. Three mana for a 3/1 is not bad. With Bushido, it’s very good.
Numai Outcast
I hate the Outcast. A 1/1 for four mana has to have some absolutely huge ability like “Sacrifice this: you win the game” or “Threshold – Krosan Beast gets +7/+7.” This doesn’t. It has Bushido 2, meaning you get a 3/3 for four when blocking or getting blocked. Call me loony, but I predict that this will just be let through most of the time. You can also pay B, spend five life, and regenerate it. I’d rather not, though, thank you very much. Close to the top of the “to be cut” list.
Throat Slitter
Whoa. If you can get this into play via Ninjutsu, it’s gonna make your opponents weep.
Okiba-Gang Shinobi
See Throat Slitter, above.
Patron of the Nezumi
I like the Patrons. The tricks you can do are fantastic. Stack combat damage. Sac a dying dude. Get this guy into play. Any of your opponent’s critters that were going to die hurt him/her. Killing lands via Befoul with this guy out is double-plus good.
Genju of the Fens
In a deck that wants to play with the Ninjutsu ability, Genju’s are not good. You lose the enchantment by picking up the land that was enchanted by the Genju. Still, this Genju can be like Tiger Woods when he’s focused. [So about 350yards and in the second cut of rough, but with a wicked short game. – Knut, no reason] If the board is clear, this guy can swing for large amounts of damage.
Psychic Spear
I tested this for a block deck. It was awesome. In Standard, though, Distress is much better. Distress will almost never miss. The Spear could easily miss at any time.
Midnight Covenant
I don’t like this one at all. If my opponent can’t deal with the creature this enchants, s/he probably couldn’t deal with a second creature, either. I’d rather this be that second creature. Tack this one’s picture up on the corkboard beside the Outcast.
Ragged Veins
Ragged Veins is one that’s intrigued me for a while. Pros will tell you how bad it is in Limited. They’re probably right. Yet, I’ve won many a Limited game with it. Swing with your guys. Your opponent wonders what’s up. You can’t get enough damage through to win. S/he blocks properly, in a way that would leave him/her at two life. You cast Ragged Veins. Game over. It works on any color or type of creature (protection from Black aside) where Dark Banishing and Rend Flesh don’t. Still, there has to be something better. On the cusp.
Rend Flesh
My favorite of the Dark Banishing reworks. So, it can’t hit Spirits. Big deal. In Standard, there are only a couple of Spirits you’d worry about in the Top 8 of a tourney: Kokusho, the Evening Star; and Keiga, the Tide Star. (Kodama of the North Tree couldn’t be targeted by any spell, Black or otherwise. So, Black just can’t worry about it.) Dark Banishing couldn’t handle Kokusho anyway. Keiga’s controller is probably holding countermagic. If not, we have…
Horobi’s Whisper
You will control a Swamp. At worst, then, this is Dark Banishing. At best, it’s free creature kill when you Splice it onto something. With Rend Flesh, this one pairs up to kill two creatures for one card, three mana, and four dead cards in your ‘yard. For two cards, six mana, and four dead cards from the ‘yard, you kill three things. Four if you include your opponent.
Befoul
Black’s Creeping Mold, Befoul is never dead. Actually, I guess it could be. If it is dead, that’s A Good Thing™. It means that they have no lands.
Dance of Shadows
This is another one that I’ll need to see in action. If I’m not facing Black or artifact creatures, this could just end the game. It’s also useful for getting the Rat Ninjas through.
Three Tragedies
How many of these “I’m just not sure” cards can one deck have? My experiences with this card are limited to Limited. One of two things happens with this card. It’s turn five or later, and my opponent’s hand is empty, leaving me wishing that this was something else. Or, my opponent has been holding a handful of gas, and this card devastates him/her. (In one draft, I got this off on turn five of game two. I took Kokusho, Swallowing Plague, and what would have been the sixth land. Ouch. Next game I lost to Kokusho and Swallowing Plague.)
Stir the Grave
One of the best of the recent “return” cards. If I had the mana to cast the thing, once I need to use this, I probably have the extra mana to bring it back. Also, color doesn’t matter. Hmmmm . . . I wonder about using this is a deck with a bunch of other creatures from different colors . . . Forget it. That’s not this deck.
Shuko
This could be the card that pushes White Skies over the top. The fact that it equips for zero means that I can be swinging with a Lantern Kami for 2 on turn 2 and still cast a Leonin Skyhunter. Of course, this isn’t a White Skies deck. Still, one extra point of damage for no investment beyond the card and mana to cast it isn’t bad.
Umezawa’s Jitte
If you don’t know the power of this card, you haven’t used it or faced it. Presuming the pronunciation is correct, there’s a reason that people say “Holy Jitte!” when it hits.
Section Four: Cards not in the Deck and about Which to Think, Stream of Consciousness Style
As far as Champions and Betrayers cards go, I like the Ronin Warclub, especially where Ninjas are involved. Ditto the Shuriken. Distress is distressingly absent from a deck that seems to want the opponent to discard. Eradicate is a very good card (think Darksteel Colossus) and costs the same as Befoul. Hideous Laughter is mass removal, though, in a deck based around creatures that are almost all two-toughness or less, it might stink. Marrow-Gnawer could be huge in this deck. (Note to self: see how many tickets it’s going for.) Kiku, Night’s Flower can devastate a lot of decks. She’s easy to kill, but they have to kill her. Nezumi Shortfang will be one to think about if the deck heads in the hit-’em-with-discard-then-beat-’em-with-a-big-stick route. Seizan, Perverter of Truth, can end the game simply because of the life loss. If not, this deck should draw into some nastiness. Soulless Revival could replace Stir the Grave. While the Revival doesn’t bring the creature to play, properly Spliced, it can bring back more cards. Swallowing Plague can be a useful creature removal spell.
Due to cost concerns, I probably won’t even be trying to pick up Ink-Eyes, Kokusho, or Cranial Extraction.
Outside of Champions and Betrayers, Loxodon Warhammer could be a piece of equipment that the Ninjas would like; trample with Ninjas is sweet. Obviously, Oblivion Stone would be needed to handle certain enchantments (i.e. Shrines, Circles). Duplicant is always good. These last two are going to be kind of expensive, though. (Don’t even suggest Chrome Mox or Death Cloud.) Blasting Station could help when the weenies are about to die in combat. Hey, here’s one that could be useful: Lightning Coils. Spawning Pit is another token-creature-making permanent to look at. Consume Spirit is a card this deck could really abuse. Beacon of Unrest might be a better five-mana sorcery than Three Tragedies. Devour in Shadow is great removal, but can we stand the life loss in this deck? Echoing Decay is probably better. Night’s Whisper would give the deck some card drawing. Grimclaw Bats is a nice evasion creature. Again with the life loss, though. Ravenous Rats is a Rat. Coat of Arms would put the Rats over the top, but I know we can’t afford that on this budget. Distorting Lens would be a great sideboard card against Circles of Protection: Black. Fodder Cannon’s a great way to turn dying Rats into even more removal. Ornithopter would be a four-of if we decide to exploit the Ninjutsu abilities. Fallen Angel and Abyssal Specter are efficient fliers with wonderful abilities. Speaking of sacrificing creatures (a la Fallen Angel), Phyrexian Plaguelord is the king or lord. Nekrataal has always been a great two-for-one card. Swarm of Rats could be huge in here, but any Tim-effect can off it. Finally, Zombify. I like bringing creatures back from the dead.
Section Five: The First Five Games
As I’ve already established, I’m no Jay Morethanhalf-Selfrepair. For example, he started his U/B Ninja thing with a 9-1 record. That was 4-1 in the first five and 5-0 after switching just a couple of cards. That could be a function of the deck being fairly strong to begin with, or it could be because of Jay’z skillz. As my man Napoleon Dynamite would say “You know, like nunchuck skillz, bowhunting skillz, computer hacking skillz. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skillz.” [I see how it is… can’t watch the Oscar noms, but he’s an expert on Napoleon Dynamite. – Knut, who also voted for Pedro] It’s probably a combination of both. I didn’t have high hopes for this deck. It just seems too unfocused (are we the control with discard, or are we the beatdown with Rats?) with way too many one-of’s.
Game 1 vs. frakk2000 playing mono-Green: He had a few Snake tokens thanks for Sosuke’s Summons. I had some Rats. Then, my wife came home from work very late, and I bailed. So, call it a draw (though technically a loss).
Game 2 vs. n00be playing Red/Green Something: His first creature was Elf Replica. I saw Genju of the Fens, Nezumi Graverobber, and Patron of the Nezumi (which I got out on turn 5 thanks to the Rat Offering). Those are all one-shots in the deck. The Patron went the whole way, and I ended at eighteen life. (1-0)
Game 3 vs. ossum playing Mono-Blue Control: This deck was not just a deck with nothing but Blue spells. This was the real thing, the Big Tourney Winning MUC complete with Vedalken Shackles and Bribery (which snagged my Patron, natch). It’s the kind of deck that really pi$$es people off in the Casual Room. I was testing, so it didn’t bother me as much. What did bother me was that I had a two-land opening hand but did not get the third down until turn 8. By then, he owned me. (1-1)
Game 4 vs. Mjesau playing Green/White Goodstuff: His first non-land permanent was Mind’s Eye, a great card-drawing engine if it doesn’t get nuked. I got another turn 5 Patron. At one point, I cast Psychic Spear, which was a complete miss. However, I saw that he had Pristine Angel in hand and two Plains on the board. I followed that with Befoul on his Plains. He played Rampant Growth on his turn getting a Plains. Uh-oh. That was quickly followed by a concession with no explanation. Hmmmm… okey dokey. I’ll take it. (2-1)
Game 5 vs. pjromer playing Mono-Blue: I didn’t see any Shackles, which, of course, doesn’t mean that they weren’t there. This game was lost, pure and simple, because I didn’t have enough removal. With him at two life and me at two life, he had a Spire Golem (tapped from attacking) and a Somber Hoverguard. I had drawn both Three Tragedies on the final two turns of the game. He had an untapped Somber Hoverguard. By swinging the Patron into the Hoverguard (boy, he shows up a lot for being a one-of, doesn’t he?), I got him down to one. If either of the Three Tragedies had been removal, I would have won since his hand was empty, and he couldn’t have countered it. (2-2)
At this point, Jay usually switches out cards. I still didn’t feel comfortable with the deck. I felt that I needed to know more about how it worked. So, on to games six and up.
Game 6 vs. steevjetson playing Mono-Blue Ninjas: I gotta hand it to steevejetson, it was an interesting idea. Not only did he have Ornithopter and Sage Owl (“Gee, Jay, does that look familiar?”), but he also had Sneaky Homunculus as a way to power out Ninja of the Deep Hours. Yes, you read that right: Sneaky Homunculus. He also got out the first Jitte. The first bit a’ killin’, though, came thanks to an unblocked creature that allowed me to Ninjutsu out a Throatslitter. Whoa, that card is nice. (Luckily, his Jitte had no counters on it yet.) For the same mana as a Rend Flesh, I get a creature and Dark Banishing. I never let another of his creatures stay in play. (3-2)
Game 7 vs. TWD Frodo playing Red/Green: I honestly don’t know what he had going on because this deck just rolled his. He had a couple of Kodama’s Reaches and two Ember-Fist Zubera (not at the same time). Still no Jitte, but I was at nineteen when the game ended. (4-2)
After six actual games, I think I can see some lame cards, pretty much ones I expected. Midnight Covenant, Psychic Spear, and Dance of Shadows have been almost completely useless. In addition, as expected, the Numai Outcast should be, well, cast out. As I said above (and it kept coming up), this deck needed more removal. I looked at what I could scavenge from the second copy of the deck and added two Horobi’s Whispers, the other Jitte, a Throatslitter, and the second Patron of the Nezumi.
So far, I am mighty impressed with the Patron. I have yet to play with any of the other Patrons (even proxied copies for testing), but if they’re as good as this one, look out. The fact that they can come into play at instant-speed for some mana and a creature that’s already dying is suh-weet.
Rat’s Nest, v.2.0
24 Lands
24 Swamp
22 Creatures
1 Nezumi Shadow-Watcher
2 Nezumi Bone-Reader
3 Nezumi Cutthroat
1 Nezumi Graverobber
4 Skullsnatcher
4 Nezumi Ronin
3 Throat Slitter
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
2 Patron of the Nezumi
1 Genju of the Fens
14 Other Spells
1 Ragged Veins
1 Rend Flesh
4 Horobi’s Whisper
2 Befoul
2 Three Tragedies
1 Stir the Grave
1 Shuko
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
Game 8 vs. Kaltag playing Mono-Black Ninjas: That included Ink-Eyes. When he cast Barter in Blood while he had two Ashen-Skin Zubera on board, not only did I lose my two critters but I also had to pitch a Patron. It wasn’t long after that that Ink-Eyes stole the Patron and killed me. If I can afford Ink-Eyes (highly unlikely with seventeen tickets to spend), I have to get one or two or three. (0-1)
Game 9 vs. bad_Juju playing Mono-Green Soilcraft: He was stuck on two Forests, but he did have a Soilshaper. When he didn’t block a Bone-Reader that was swinging on the third turn, I Ninjutsu-ed out a Throat Slitter. No more Soilshaper. Next turn, he had another Soilshaper, but I had my fourth land and was able to cast the Jitte (finally!) and Equip the Rat. He conceded with me at twenty. (1-1)
Game 10 vs. OSUAvenger playing Mono-Green Something: He kept a one-land hand, which was understandable considering his first turn was Forest, Ornithopter, Birds of Paradise. The problem for him was that he didn’t get any more, and, when I Whisper-ed his BoP on turn 3 and Befouled his only land on turn 4, it was game over. (2-1)
Game 11 vs OSUAvenger playing Blue/Green: Apparently, the land-light loss didn’t sit well with him, and I understood completely. When you lose because your deck punks out, you want a chance to prove yourself again. I don’t normally replay folks because they tend to bring a new deck to the table, one that they know your deck can’t beat before sideboarding. This guy didn’t do that. So, we played again. Turned out his was a Blue/Green deck. He again had first-turn Forest, Ornithopter, BoP. He also had in short order two Eternal Witnesses bringing back BoP’s that I’d killed. Oh, yeah, there was also Solemn Simulacrum. I had gotten a Jitte out and put it on a lowly Skullsnatcher. Twice, he bounced my Snatcher. He couldn’t do it a third time. Even though he blocked the Rat when it finally swung, drawing when the Solemn Speedbump died, I used the counters to kill his BoP and then a Witness. An Okiba-Gang Shinobi then took up the Jitte. I was able to stabilize at two life thanks to the Jitte. (It can gain you life, too!) The only card in my hand at the end of the game was Ragged Veins. (3-1)
Game 12 vs Swetz playing Blue Something: He left for a draft right after I got the Jitte out. This after getting Ninja of the Deep Hours in off of a Sage Owl. (Thanks again, Jay!) I was left holding Ragged Veins. Again. (Still 3-1 as far as I’m concerned since this ended too quickly to tell what was what.)
Game 13 vs. Gosford: I don’t know what he was playing because he said his doorbell rang. Good thing for me since I had a seven-land hand. (3-1 again/still)
Game 14 vs. legendarylegend playing Larva/Masticore Upkeep Skip (or whatever): His first two plays were Lightning Greaves and Oblivion Stone. He soon got out Razormane Masticore with two cards still in his hand. I swung with a Nezumi Ronin. He must have thought I had Echoing Decay or Lose Hope because he let it through. I Ninjutsu-ed out an Okiba-Gang Shinobi and took the two cards in his hand. One was an Eon Hub. Ah, he was expecting to skip his upkeep the next few turns. With no cards in hand, he had to sac the Masticore. That is some real card advantage. On my next turn, he used the O-Stone, leaving him with four lands. I got out more creatures including a Patron of the Nezumi, not good for him when Cosmic Larvae (plural) started showing up. (4-1)
Game 15 vs. antonbelo playing Blue: He Condescended my second-turn Nezumi Cutthroat and then conceded. I guess he didn’t like what he spied with his Scry. (I consider that still 4-1)
Game 16 vs. KnightGuy playing Mono-Red: Wow. How bad is Honden of Infinite Rage for this deck? I felt lucky to last until turn 13. This deck really drove home the bad side of mono-Black: no enchantment removal. I wondered how much Oblivion Stones might cost. (4-2)
Game 17 vs. Nedime playing White Weenie: He conceded with me at twenty life when a Nezumi Ronin wearing the Jitte was able to take out his team. (5-2)
This deck must have more creature destruction. So, it was time to go shopping. A lot of folks sell commons at 32 for one ticket. The trick would be to find someone who had a lot of what I was looking for so as not to waste tickets buying half from one person and half from another. I wanted to load up on what I thought the deck might need later, commons-wise. I found someone who had Ravenous Rats, Echoing Decays, Okiba-Gang Shinobis, Consume Spirits, and Rend Flesh-es in the same binder along with some other stuff that I thought might potentially go into the deck. I thought the deck might need true one-drops to power out some Ninja’s, and recasting Maggot Carrier isn’t the worst play in the world. I had sixteen tickets left.
Then, I saw someone trading a Patron of the Nezumi for one ticket. I had fifteen tickets left.
Next, I hunted for some uncommons that might go in here. Ornithopters were nowhere to be found. However, I found someone trading eight uncommons for one ticket, and s/he had two Stalking Stones, two Nezumi Graverobbers, and four Barter in Bloods (potential sideboard tech against Troll Ascetics, Pristine Angels, and Abunas-protected Platinum Angel). Fourteen tickets left.
At this point, I dropped the Ragged Veins, the Nezumi Shadow-Watcher, the two Befouls, and a Swamp, adding in four Echoing Decays and a Stalking Stones. The Befouls were the ones that I hesitated the longest on taking out. They had come in handy a couple of times already. The only problem seemed to be that the land destruction part seemed to be a “win more” type of thing. It only helped when they were already land light. I’d rather have instant-timed creature destruction. I’ll keep it in mind for sideboard against Tooth and Nail and G/B Death Cloud, though.
Rat’s Nest, v.3.0
24 Lands
23 Swamp
1 Stalking Stones
21 Creatures
2 Nezumi Bone-Reader
3 Nezumi Cutthroat
1 Nezumi Graverobber
4 Skullsnatcher
4 Nezumi Ronin
3 Throat Slitter
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
2 Patron of the Nezumi
1 Genju of the Fens
15 Other Spells
4 Echoing Decay
1 Rend Flesh
4 Horobi’s Whisper
2 Three Tragedies
1 Stir the Grave
1 Shuko
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
Game 18 vs. quaidb playing Sunburst: After he finally got Infused Arrows out, the game got very, very long. I was finally killed by a 31/12 trampling Nim Grotesque. Yeah, Rend Flesh would have been nice. The fact that it took him until turn 22 to kill me was encouraging. Still, I was beat. (0-1)
Game 19 vs. WNeill playing Mono-Black Control: This is another of those decks that should not have been in the Casual Room. When your opponent’s first play is a Chrome Mox Imprinting a Kokusho (yes, really), you know the deck is tricked out. He then played a first-turn Night’s Whisper, followed by a second-turn Phyrexian Arena. There were Solemn Speedbumps and, finally – mercifully – double Kokusho to end the game. I know that Rat’s Nest will need to face off with ones like this in the future. It’s not there yet, and that’s why I was in the Casual Decks Room. (0-2)
Game 20 vs. evensod playing Mono-Black: My only note from this game: “Turn 4 Patron is Some Good.” (1-2)
Game 21 vs. Krazy_Cooter567 playing Five-Color Bringers: Thanks to Pentad Prism and Channel the Suns, he had a third-turn Bringer of the Green Dawn. Ugh. Luckily, I had gotten Skullsnatcher out on turn 2. On my third turn, I cast Horobi’s Whisper on his Green Bringer. (I also had Rend Flesh but held it in case he had a Black Bringer, too. He did.) When the Skullsnatcher hit, I was able to remove the Bringer from the game. Call me crazy, but I worried that he might have reanimation in there. A fourth-turn Zombify would not have been good. Again, no Jitte. Again, Patron of the Nezumi came up huge, at one point forcing him to lose a Bringer by blocking. Yummy. (2-2)
Game 22 vs. Mana Burnt playing Door to Nothingness: The champ here was Okiba-Gang Shinobi. His deck essentially ignored mine except for Ethereal Haze in an effort to get off the Door win. The Shinobi emptied his hand, including one Door, by turn 6. Being in topdeck mode is no good for that deck. (3-2)
It had become apparent that the deck was still unfocused. While Three Tragedies sometimes came up big, I usually drew it and wished it was something else. Besides, if I’m going to pay five mana for a discard spell in a mono-Black deck, I’ll play Mind Sludge and get five (or more!) cards. The strength of the deck was not its discard, though, as the Shinobi showed, discard could be quite useful. The deck needed more creatures. In addition, as nice as the Nezumi Cutthroat sometimes was, the Graverobber was better. There was only one in the deck, but it had flipped on turn 3 many times. Moreover, I’d seen how huge the recursion ability could be. There was only room for one more slot of 2/1 Rats for 1B (behind the Skullsnatcher), and I was choosing the Graverobber. I could end up being wrong, but the Graverobber’s ‘yard emptying ability in a world full of Eternal Witnesses coupled with the reanimation ability of his flipped alter-ego seemed to trump Fear. In the Three Tragedies slot, I inserted two Ravenous Rats. Recasting Ravenous Rats thanks to Ninjutsu makes me happy.
By the way, you’ve no doubt noticed so far an absence of discussion of Genju of the Fens and Shuko. Neither has played a very big part in any games so far. The Genju often came out on turn 1 and did nothing. It’s very mana intensive and seems geared more toward use in a Mono-Black Control deck that can lay out many lands, strip the opponent’s hand, clear the board, and swing with a 9/9 Swamp Spirit. The Shuko’s just been, well, not doing much.
Rat’s Nest, v.4.0
24 Lands
23 Swamp
1 Stalking Stones
23 Creatures
2 Ravenous Rats
2 Nezumi Bone-Reader
4 Nezumi Graverobber
4 Skullsnatcher
4 Nezumi Ronin
3 Throat Slitter
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
2 Patron of the Nezumi
1 Genju of the Fens
13 Other Spells
4 Echoing Decay
1 Rend Flesh
4 Horobi’s Whisper
1 Stir the Grave
1 Shuko
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
Game 23 vs. Vyolynce playing B/G: This guy figured out who I was and that I was testing for these articles. He said that the point of this deck was using Lifespark Spellbomb and Eradicate (note: look into getting those) to wipe out my lands. Okiba-Gang Shinobi (boy, they show up a lot) and Ravenous Rats made sure that didn’t happen. In addition, the Jitte was very bad for his one- and two-toughness creatures that he had playing defense. (1-0)
Game 24 vs. Beakstress playing White Weenie: Hey! A first-turn Genju! A first-turn Genju that I never activated! The theme with White Weenie seems to be that the Jitte is very, very bad for them. It’s very, very bad for any weenie deck that can’t remove an attacker before it deals damage. (2-0)
Game 25 vs Vyloynce playing Five-Color Honden/Bringer: Normally, I don’t replay folks against whom I’ve had a full game earlier in the day. (Complete hosings a la OSUAvenger, seen above, are a different story.) Knowing that I’m playing the same deck, they tend to bring a different one that they know I can’t handle. This was the case. S/he dropped back in playing a Honden deck. If Rat’s Nest or any mono-Black deck without maindeck Oblivion Stones doesn’t win quickly, the lack of enchantment removal means that the Shrines are going to overpower the Black creatures. This was no different. For good measure, he ended the game by casting a second Kokusho with one already on the board. (2-1)
Game 26 vs. Elude playing Shrines: The power of discard. Ravenous Rats took a card on turn 2. On turn 4, I hit him with a Shinobi (yes, again) bringing back the Rats. Next turn, the Shinobi took two of his last three cards while the Ravenous Rats took the other one. He conceded with me at twenty life. I never thought I’d have a Shrine deck concede to me, let alone while I was at twenty life. (3-1)
Game 27 vs. theShaper playing Mono-Green Control: This is my favorite kind of game: a struggle from the get-go, one that I win. I had a two-land opening hand. I didn’t get a third in play until turn 5. I got nothing more all game. That was because he played Plow Under on turns 7 and 8. He played four creatures: second and third-turn Soilshapers (both hit with Echoing Decay); and two Rootrunners (both hit with Whispers) on turns 5 and 6. My sole creature, a Skullsnatcher, went the entire way, dealing all the damage and making sure nobody got Soulshifted back into his hand. The sneaky little Rat did that with no help. When I won, I was at twenty with one land in play. (4-1)
I was very comfortable with the deck after so many games and felt that I knew where the holes were. The Genju was dropped for the fourth Throat Slitter. I replaced the Bone-Readers for the less mana-intensive discard of the final two Ravenous Rats. I dropped the Shuko for a second Okiba-Gang Shinobi. Finally, I switched one Horobi’s Whisper for a Rend Flesh because I found that I had been needing to kill some Black creatures. (I was also anticipating future Cranial Extractions.)
Rat’s Nest, v.5.0
24 Lands
23 Swamp
1 Stalking Stones
24 Creatures
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Nezumi Graverobber
4 Skullsnatcher
4 Nezumi Ronin
4 Throat Slitter
2 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
2 Patron of the Nezumi
12 Other Spells
4 Echoing Decay
2 Rend Flesh
3 Horobi’s Whisper
1 Stir the Grave
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
This is where I’ll leave it for now since this thing is much longer than Ted really wants to read. Join me next week when we finish this up. In the meantime, I’ll be scoping suggestions on the fora. In a few games, I want to start taking this to the Tourney Practice room for best-two-out-of-three matches against top tier decks.
As usual, you’ve been a great audience. Wait . . . does the number eleven, the name Steve, or the month of May mean anything to any one in the audience?
Chris Romeo
CBRomeo-at-Travelers-dot-com
P.S. I don’t really care about a deck’s overall winning percentage during testing. All I care about is how the current version is working. For those who do care, though, overall, Rat’s Nest stands at 16-7. Not bad against a random assortment of decks, but it needs to be better.