The last few months have been hard for me. I’ve not enjoyed my job, lost my girlfriend of two years and now hate the flat where we shared the last year together. Consequently I’ve spent some time off work and generally not been a very happy bunny.
On the good side, I continued to get better at Magic and qualified for the English Nationals for the third year in a row. I’ve also been writing for StarCityCCG.com, which gave me at least one thing I needed to get up for every week – believe me, it helped.
Having fun has become very important to me. I don’t want to do things that are boring, I don’t want to go places I don’t enjoy and I certainly don’t want to have to put up with miserable people. That’s why I’ve changed my job, I’m moving house at the start of next month, and I’m playing my own deck in this year’s Nationals.
How many times have you sat down opposite an opponent and played a Peat Bog followed by a Phyrexian Tower, only to have the hopeful look of an interesting game torn from them by the knowledge that you’re probably playing Bargain and they’ve only got one more turn to live? How many times have you played an Island and a Seal or Removal, followed by a Plains and a Seal of Cleansing to see your opponent’s carefully neutral face make a slight frown, knowing that they’ll probably lose the first game because they can’t beat Replenish without sideboarding?
It’s a pleasant surprise to them when you cast a Birds of Paradise because they’re not quite sure about the rest of your deck. A Vine Trellis would really have them wondering, and an Armageddon will get them scared, and might even win you the game but they won’t be bored. They’ll start thinking how to play around it. They might even enjoy the game.
Almost all of the games I’ve enjoyed in the last few months my opponent and I have been playing our own creations. I played Replenish in the qualifiers because Blastogeddon wasn’t ready but it is now and there’s no way I’m taking anything else.
I also like to win. Don’t think that because I like to play my own decks I like losing. My ranking has been getting better over the last six months because I’ve been practicing a lot. In many cases I’ve known my opponents’ decks better than they have after a second mini-Replenish with no Opalescence on the table and a Disenchant in my hand I feel OK, I feel that my deck has a chance. I also like to watch my opponent’s trying to work out what I’m going to do next: Will I cast a Disenchant, maybe an Erase – hell, maybe even a Tranquility or a Reverent Silence. Mind you, most players won’t think of the latter because they’re not all over the ‘net.
So: Two weeks to the English Nationals. I’m really looking forward to it. A lot of my friends will be there, the whole team is going and we’re going to have a great time together. A lot of other people will also be going that cheer me up and who’ve helped me through the last two months and it’s going to be great. Whether I drop out after the first day to play booster drafts, or go all the way to the Worlds (a highly unlikely event) I’ll be enjoying myself.
If you think rogue decks will never work, fine. Just remember that all decks are rogue at some point, all of them. If you care more about winning than enjoying yourself, fine. If you care more about winning than boring your opponent, fine: Each to their own. Hopefully I’ll be playing some fun Magic this year and surprising some people at the same time.
For those that are interested Blastogeddon has changed a little again. Here’s the current listing:
Blastogeddon:
Creatures (20):
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Yavimaya Elder
2 Vine Trellis
4 Blastoderm
4 River Boa
1 Masticore
1 Uktabi Orangutan
Other Spells (15):
3 Parallax Wave
1 Wrath of God
4 Armageddon
1 Seal of Cleansing
3 Disenchant
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Worldly Tutor
2 Ring of Gix
Land (24):
4 Rishadan Port
4 Brushland
3 Treetop Village
7 Forest
6 Plains
Sideboard (15):
1 Masticore
1 Wrath of God
2 Light of Day
3 Reverent Silence
1 Planar Birth
1 Absolute Law
3 Enlightened Tutor
2 Splinter
1 Worship
As you can see there are only a few changes, the most important being the addition of two Rings of Gix. I found that there were a lot of times when I could have cast the rings without casting Armageddon on the next turn and they’d have helped a lot. With the one main deck Enlightened Tutor, I should see them quite often too. The Thran Lens and COP: Black have left the sideboard for a Worship and a third sideboard Tutor. It seems to work a little better against red decks now.
Finally, I had such a response about the Parallax Fish deck I built that I’ve started a discussion group about Fish decks in general. If you’re interested you can pop along to www.smartgroups.com and search for”fish” there’s a group called”Fish Players” that anyone can join. Comments on our decks and new deck lists are always welcome, we need all the help we can get.
That’s all for this week. It’s my birthday on Thursday and I intend to spend it in pleasant company both on-, and off-line. Next week I’ll spend a little more time looking into strategy and a little less on ranting. Enjoy yourselves and try to stay happy.
Cheers, Jim.
Team PhatBeats.