This was meant to be a series of articles leading up to my trip to Worlds in about one month’s time. A little a bit about Standard, a touch of Draft and maybe even a bit-sized portion of Extended, but no. Now it’s a freakin’ half-assed tournament report. What the hell is up with that? And what the hell is up with all of this PG-rated blaspheming? Jeebus Twice!
Anyway, a semi-bottomed tournament report doesn’t a series make, especially seeing as I don’t recall much of what happened other than me winning, which is probably the important part at least. However, I don’t think anyone would accuse me of being regular when it comes to this type of thing. I mean, I should be more regular, you know, now that Alice and I have separated.
(*Uncomfortable silence*)
Yeah, she broke the news to me the day after Nationals too. You know, where I qualified for Worlds?
(*Awkwardness to the left of me, awkwardness to the right*)
It was totally mutual though, and much of the unpleasantness has now past.
(*Collective sighing from the audience*)
So what’s my excuse for not having whipped anything up for you short of that 15000-word juggernaut of a tournament report for Nationals? Drafting. Lots and lots of drafting, I’ve done something like 17 real-life drafts with Ravnica so far.
I figured my Worlds prep would go something like this. I would draft as much of our local prerelease prize support as possible and wait for the Provincial Champs to play out so I could start NetDecking *cough* I mean playtesting the decks from that. Once I had that sorted I would then carefully study the metagame from Pro Tour L.A. so I could “playtest” those decks as well.
Great plan, right? Well you tell that to my local T.O. He figured he didn’t need me to judge at the State Champs like last year and the year before that, (and the year before that) and told me I was playing instead because apparently I need the practice.
:rolleyes:
Whatever, I’m a Pro now because I won over a thousand dollars in one sitting playing Magic. But just to show him, I did what all good Pros do and built a Gifts deck and started practicing with it. Actually, what I did was copy a Gifts deck from Jarrod Bright and started playing against my IRL crew. They soon informed me of the following facts in regards to Jarrod’s Gifts deck:
A is for Awful
B is for Boring
C is for Crap and
D is for Decidedly lacking in victory conditions.
And with that, I scrapped the idea of playing Gifts. Partly due to the reasons above, and partly because I had no real intention of playing Gifts at Worlds anyway. There’s very little chance I’m going to be out-playing Actual Pros with a complex control deck like Gifts Ungiven, so I plan on going with something a little more… aggro. The only time I’ve seen a Gifts deck go aggro is with a transformational side board, or when there is less than three minutes left on the clock.
You see, I have long looked up to Dave Price and his great cry of “there are no wrong threats, only wrong answers” to paraphrase it badly. Sadly, now that I’m finally going to some kind of Pro Tour, it seems that I have long missed the Meeting Dave Price Bus, as he appears to have since stopped playing. It’s probably for the best, I don’t think he was especially tall as far as blokes go, so in order to do any real looking up to him, I’d probably have to do a great deal more crawling about the venue floor than I’d usually enjoy. Actually, I’m beginning to wonder how disappointed I’m going to be by just how many of these so-called “Pros” fail to even come up to my chin, nose or other suitable body part which can be used to confirm a person’s height in relation to my own.
Anyway, the point being if I plan on playing an aggro deck at Worlds, I should no doubt play an aggro deck at States. The first and most obvious option is White Weenie with a splash of Red. The second and slightly less obvious to you but much more appealing to me is a more Red than White Weenie deck designed by Dave Crew. Sadly, I didn’t end up playing Dave’s deck, but. I know of two people who did, and one of them is won the Queensland provincial champs in Australia, and the other came second at the PA state champs held in Pittsburgh. Which, by the way, should be pronounced “Pitts-Borough.” At least according to John Cleese, who’s opinion I respect very dearly, not least because he has the good decency to be taller than me!
No, instead I decided to spend the evening before the Provincial Champs building a cock-eyed contraption based around Hokori and those new common dual lands that tap for two mana. From that I’m sure Mark Rosewater could tell you whether I’m a Johnny, Spike, Timmy, Delilah or whatever they are, but that matters not to me. I sleeved it up, played a few games verses Old-Man Francis and quickly decided that Woodelves sucked and Dredge was awesome. I swapped them out for Shambling Shells and basically threw the deck in my back for the morning.
Gah, what am I saying, it was already morning at this point, because we foolishly managed to stay up to something like half past four making everyone’s decks. After getting home and digging through unpacked boxes for cards to lend to the other guys to help them finish their decks, it was basically half past five before I got into my bed.
The following is the deck I registered in the morning. It’s an absolute pile by the way, don’t play it unless you’re me and blessed with an inordinate amount of luck. Actually, before the deck, I just want to talk about what it’s called. Someone, I don’t recall who, stated that we should all name our decks “WRU Digby” because Digby has gone to live in Brisbane in search of Real Life and General Grown-Upness. We miss him terribly, but we certainly don’t let on. Instead, we do nasty things like threaten in emails to find a new hippy to replace him and so on, but we really do miss wee Digby, hence the deck name “WRU Digby”. I have a funny feeling I am the only one who ended up actually calling my deck that. Well, me and James but James was copying my list so he had to do whatever I did, so maybe we’re the only ones who truly miss him.
“WRU Digby”
by blisterguy
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Elves of Deep Shadow
4 Watchwolf
4 Vinelasher Kudzu
4 Hypnotic Specter
3 Shambling Shell
3 Trophy Hunter
3 Hokori, Dust Drinker
4 Umezawa’s Jitte
4 Putrefy
3 Moldervine Cloak
2 Nightmare Void
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple Garden
3 Brushland
1 Llanowar Wastes
2 Selesnya Sanctuary
2 Golgari Rot Farm
2 Svogthos, The Restless Tomb
Sideboard:
2 Tempest Of Light
1 Trophy Hunter
4 Loxodon Hierarch
4 Cranial Extraction
1 Hokori, Dust Drinker
3 Seedspark
Oh yeah, Digby also won our State champs something like four years ago with a Green/Black/White deck, so that works too. Now for some card by card type shenanigans.
Birds and Elves
These obviously combo well with Hokori and three-mana spells on turn 2 in general, so they’re a shoo-in.
Watchwolf
If I wasn’t playing Hokori, I would still consider playing this guy. He was huge all day long. Playing three power creatures on turn two is way more effective than I thought it would be.
Vinelasher Kudzu
I figured having to replay lands due to Selesnya Sanctuary and Golgari Rot Farm would help break this guy into the nastiness zone. He was pretty killer, but I ended up siding him out in several matches, which was a shame, because I really like him. I don’t like him when my opponent has bigger ones because they’re playing Life from the Loam though, or when my opponent can guarantee that they’ll be able to Lightning Helix him before he gets out of hand. However he was pretty key verses Harvest Combo decks and Enduring Ideal decks.
Hypnotic Specter
I played my first turn 2 Hypnotic Specter in the finals, and even then it was promptly Lightning Helixed. It did manage to grab a Heartbeat of Spring out of a seven-card hand in round one however, so it was still pretty good. I also blocked several Hypnotic Specters belonging to other people with it, so it’s not like they were awful, it’s more that they weren’t given the proper opportunity to shine. This was probably because every time I played one my opponent promptly soiled his pants and threw everything thing they had at it to make sure they weren’t picked apart by it.
Shambling Shell
As I mentioned above, I threw these in at the last minute to replace the Wood Elves who were failing to perform. Simply put, these guys were insane. Three power on turn 2, and the ability to screw up combat math. This didn’t surprise me in the slightest however, because I had been drafting them so often that at the end of every draft several people would ask “so you went Black/Green again, right?”
Trophy Hunter
I ran these to give me something that owned White Weenie. I didn’t play any White Weenie, so naturally my next build of this deck won’t feature any Trophy Hunters. I will then no doubt get smashed by small White flyers, but I can perhaps sideboard them at least. On the day they were really just a weapons platform for Jitte and Moldervine Cloak, but that was at least acceptable.
Hokori, Dust Drinker
I’m almost certain that this is the primary reason my deck did any good at all. Being able to sideboard in the fourth one was also quite mighty. I remember beating Giles and his Ideal deck simply because he was forced to Wrath of God a Hokori off the table, and I could follow his Wrath with a second one to lock him out of the game.
Umezawa’s Jitte
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. *shrug*
Putrefy
I had three for a bit in the hour or so that I actually tested the deck, and it didn’t take me long to add the fourth over a third Nightmare Void. Sadly, I really missed that third Nightmare Void.
Moldervine Cloak
I can’t believe I only played three of these. I must have somehow missed the fact that this was utterly nuts in a Green-based creature deck. Luckily, I kept drawing them so it didn’t matter too much that I had neglected to have the correct number in my deck.
Nightmare Void
This was much better than I thought it would be, and just like Shambling Shell and Moldervine Cloak, I wish I had played another one in the deck. If I played this deck again, and I guess I have to admit it’s quite possible, I would cut the Trophy Hunters for those three cards.
The Lands
The mana is basically four common Guild dual lands, and a bunch of other dual lands. The ratio of the remaining lands as I played it was eight Ravnica duals and four painlands, but that could easily have been six of each, and possibly should have been. I could think about the mana in this deck for days and not get bored, that’s how cool and yet complex it is. When playing the deck, you always come across some interaction that makes you rethink the actual balance of lands.
I was seldom color-screwed, which was a bonus, but I do remember the occasional horrible opening hand that had only one land and no mana creature. Somehow those hands were mulliganed into the same hand again, but this time the land was a Guild dual, which is only funny in hindsight. Thankfully, we get to play the best of three!
Don’t let me forget Svogthos, The Restless Tomb! He smashed in the practice games, did nothing during the tournament, and utterly crushed the day after when I played him in a Ravnica Block Constructed tournament we played the day after (more on this later). Despite having done nothing, I wouldn’t cut him because I know just how much of a house, no, apartment block he happens to be.
The sideboard
The two Tempest Of Light and three Seedspark were terrific. Some people have asked why I ran Seedspark over Naturalize, and while I don’t remember why exactly, I certainly wouldn’t change it. Think of Seedspark as an instant-speed Viridian Shaman who can also hit enchantments, and it starts to feel a little saucier. Seedsparking a Jitte before blockers will warm your toes on a cool winter morning, too.
The Cranial Extractions and Hokori were also top notch cards. Running only three Extractions is like saying “I want to bust up your combo, but not really. I’m quite happy if I don’t actually beat you” which is frankly very silly.
As far as the fourth Trophy Hunter and the Loxodon Hierarchs go, I’m not so sure. I boarded in the Hierarchs verses some pretty odd stuff like Fungus Fire and the only deck that beat me in the swiss, a Green/Red Wildfire deck. Oddly enough, I didn’t bring them in when I played him during the swiss rounds, but I did when I played him again in the semis. If I remember correctly however, it was just the fact that I Extacted for Wildfire early and often that did it, the Hierarch just looked pretty wearing a Jitte more than anything else. Oh and I’m pretty sure I sneakily made a Hokori into a 3/3 with a Shambling Shell to help it avoid Pyroclasm too, which gave him a few fits.
Normally you would expect someone to go over the matches in the tournament individually at this point, but do you think I can remember what happened now? All I know is I played Harvest Combo in the first round, Enduring Ideal in the second and that I played several people twice, or something. Oh, and that I beat IRL crew Dave in the finals, because his Sunforger deck drew waaaay too many lands in games two and three.
Okay, now that I’ve typed all of that, I’m kinda in love with the deck again. Maybe you should try playing it a bit. This time, I’d play this build if I were you.
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Elves of Deep Shadow
4 Watchwolf
4 Vinelasher Kudzu
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Shambling Shell
3 Hokori, Dust Drinker
4 Umezawa’s Jitte
4 Putrefy
4 Moldervine Cloak
3 Nightmare Void
3 Overgrown Tomb
3 Temple Garden
4 Brushland
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Selesnya Sanctuary
2 Golgari Rot Farm
2 Svogthos, The Restless Tomb
Sideboard:
1 Life From The Loam
2 Tempest Of Light
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Cranial Extraction
1 Hokori, Dust Drinker
3 Seedspark
Despite what you’re thinking, the Stinkweed Imps in the sideboard are not me just hoping in the Benniewagon. I played them in the block tournament the day after so I had already grown to love the little guy. The Life from the Loam is a token gesture against Wildfire decks. It’s also something that might help verses Wrath and Counter heavy decks to fuel up the Svogthoseses. The other option would be having some Pithing Needles to stop things like Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree and Sunforger and so on. I guess the choice is yours. Unless I’m playing the deck again, then the choice is mine, all mine! Bwahahaha!
There really wasn’t in point in that was there? Anyway, on to the bonus Block Constructed deck, which will be of no use what-so-ever to anybody, because by the time we actually start thinking seriously about Block Constructed, the next set will be available.
“WRU Digby Lite”
(no really, that’s what I called it.)
3 Life From The Loam
4 Putrefy
4 Moldervine Cloak
3 Nightmare Void
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Golgari Rot Farm
2 Svogthos, The Restless Tomb
5 Forest
2 Swamp
Sideboard:
4 Carven Caryatid
4 Sundering Vitae
1 Stinkweed Imp
1 Plague Boiler
2 Keening Banshee
2 Netherborn Phalanx
1 Drooling Groodion
I finished third on the strength of Life From the Loam I think, that’s another card from Ravnica that is stone-cold nuts. You’ll notice that the deck has only 17 lands to go with its eight mana creatures. Life From the Loam made sure I seldom missed a land drop, and in the process fattened up my graveyard nice and quickly.
I made two mistakes in building this deck. The first one didn’t cost me in the slightest. I assumed this deck would play much like my deck from the day before and get all in there for the quick beats, when instead it played much like an old-school Survival of the Fittest slash Recurring Nightmare deck. Golgari Guildmage was just plain silly here, and after dredging up half of my deck, I could pick and choose what I wanted to play with.
The second mistake was to have Sundering Vitaes in the sideboard over extra Nullmage Shepherds. The Nullmage was really solid every time I drew it, and I lost in the semis solely because I couldn’t play out an extra Nullmage to smash off the Faith’s Fetters on the first one.
Oh well, you lives and learns, don’t you? Anyway, onward to next week, where I will possibly talk about draft, and or possibly talk about Extended. I might get stuck back on Standard though, so be on your toes.
Take care, but make sure nobody sees you taking it, because then it’s stealing.
(gon’ japan)