Picture yourself on a Carnival cruise ship, gently making your way through the West Caribbean. There are over 2000 guests aboard, 86 or so of which are Magic Players playing in tournaments, going out to dinners, partying, socializing, and discussing Magic theory and Magic culture. I had the time of my life this past week. I want to share some of it, and then get into the decks I played in the Standard and Extended tournaments held on board.
Cruise Diary
It was 82 degrees and sunny. Everyone was in good spirits, and there was no end of activities to keep one busy. The company was good, and the times were too.
The cruise ship contained eleven clubs/bars, dozens of stores, restaurants, and everything from a casino to a comedy club. There were several swimming pools, hot tubs, a spa, and a water slide. It didn’t matter if you wanted cheeseburgers or lobster, sushi or steak, French toast or ribs, the food was whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, all free of charge.
There may have been a charge for the drinks, but considering the free food and how much stronger the effects of alcohol seem to be on the high seas, there was not much room to find fault.
Aside from all of the great non-Magic aspects of the Cruise, there was what amounted to a fantastic Magic Convention. Mike Turian, Evan Erwin, and I all gave lectures on everything from R&D to Cube to building decks in the new formats.
There were many tournaments, including a Cruise Championship in which one talented player won their cruise fee returned to them for winning through a combination of Sealed, Constructed, and Draft rounds.
There was an Extended PTQ, which I will talk about in a moment. There was a Two-Headed Giant tournament. There were countless side drafts. Good gaming was available 24 hours a day, though attendance was never mandatory, as people should be free to game when and where they please.
Going into the Cruise, I had high hopes. It seemed like a fun idea, but I didn’t realize just how much awesome could be contained in six days. I guess the best way to put it is for you to ask anyone who attended to tell you the amount of fun they had. Everyone had a blast, and talk is already underway discussing the possibility of the next Magic Cruise. I am sure the vast majority of Cruise-goes are going to try to go to the next one, and hopefully many new Cruise-goers will be able to attend to make the next one even more of a success.
What is better than 86 gamers on a Cruise ship in paradise? 186!
The stories I have from this week will fill more than one volume, but there are a lot of good tales to tell. There were so many wild adventures… such as the night on which we were going to the nightclub “Stripes.”
Stripes was a trendy dance club that played primarily top 40 songs, hip-hop, and electronica. There would regularly be between 50-200 club-goers depending on the day and time. The dance floor was home to many great moments, such as dance battles with a dancer from the movie “Honey,” popping, line dancing, and belly dancing.
I am sure you can picture a hip dance floor with many attractive people getting into the spirit of things. Remember that we are on a cruise ship. The boat would rock back and forth sometimes, if the weather ever got turbulent. While this was not a constant thing, it made for some interesting scenes, such as being there one night when there was rough water outside, causing the boat to sway so much that, every so often, the people in the club would all be pulled to the side of the room and then pulled back.
It was if hundreds of people, all dancing or walking or standing, suddenly all took a step to the side together as gravity changed direction. The visual effect was stunning. The fact that gravity did not always point towards the ground only added to the effect.
Before I actually get into some of the crazy stories, I want to talk about the Extended PTQ. I have gone over 600 words without much technology, so let’s talk about that for a second before we get to men in dresses.
Going into the Cruise, I didn’t realize that I would be able to play in the PTQ, as I am assured a spot in Hawaii from PT points and rating. Still, it was far too great an opportunity to pass up, especially since I was ineligible for the other big money tournament on this ship (the Cruise Championship).
I contemplated a totally new brew, and threw something together a Previous Level Blue / Faerie Hybrid, but ended up just wanting to play a Faeries Gifts deck similar to my GP deck. I actually wanted to play Herberholz’s deck, but did not have the cards and did not want to play it badly enough to borrow the cards for it. I knew the Gifts deck better anyway, from practice, so I felt good about building a version.
During Gunslinging, I experimented with Path to Exile, which was testing awesomely (decent in Standard, amazing in Extended), but I ended up cutting it due to the strain on the manabase (risky manabases are not the best bet for strong players in a field against which they think they have significant edge).
Here is what I ended up running.
Creatures (10)
- 1 Triskelion
- 1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
- 1 Sower of Temptation
- 4 Spellstutter Sprite
- 3 Glen Elendra Archmage
Lands (24)
Spells (26)
For information on this archetype, read Manuel Bucher article here, or my article here.
Darkblast was an amazing new addition that had great synergy with Gifts and Loam. The only major oversight on my part was probably the omission of Vendilion Clique. I probably should have played 2-3. Black/Green wasn’t very heavily played, so I was not madly in love with the Bitterblossoms, or the Black for that matter. I think it is reasonable to consider a build with White instead, possibly instead of the Red too.
Round 1: I played against Mono-Red burn, which is always an easy match-up for careful Faeries players. You just have too many Time Walks, and the card advantage breaks them. Against Red, Gifts for Umezawa’s Jitte, Life from the Loam, Academy Ruins, and Mutavault, or for four of the following: Spellstutter Sprite, Glen Elendra Archmage, Mana Leak, Azami, Thirst for Knowledge, Gifts Ungiven, or Flashfreeze.
Round 2: Mu opponent’s Blue/Black Faeries deck with Bitterblossom and Dark Confidant mulliganed heavily in one game and couldn’t beat a Darkblast. I won fairly easily, but a quick Bitterblossom can be scary.
Round 3: I played another Faerie deck, this time a Visions / Glen Elendra / Stifle version that was somewhat Japanese, but with Ancient Grudge and Firespout instead of Black. He resolves a Visions, but eventually succumbs to Mutavault beatdown.
Round 4: I faced another Mono-Red burn deck, this time with maindeck Blood Moon. I stabilize game 1 on two life with Blood Moon in play, eventually winning with Glen Elendra Archmages thanks to a Gifts for Island, Snow-Covered Island, Chrome Mox, and Gifts Ungiven. I stabilize game 2 on one life, locking things up with the Gifts for four counters, then Gifts for four more counters. At one point I Grudged an attacking Blinkmoth Nexus, leaving the Burn Mage without an artifact for several turns where he was sitting on lethal Shrapnel Blasts with no fuel.
Round 5: I face Brian Kowal with Heezy Faeries and lose two straight. I think the match-up is close, and Gifts might even have edge, but I am light on land and cannot keep up. Still, the Heezy build is so much more consistent, if less powerful, leaving me to suspect it might be a better PTQ deck (though perhaps less good for GPs?).
Round 6: I intentionally draw with Bill Stark piloting Affinity.
There is actually a five-hour break between Round 6 and the Top 8, as there are cruise activities going on. When we get back, I am matched against a R/W/G Zoo deck featuring Wild Nacatl, Kird Ape, Mogg Fanatic, Keldon Marauders, Viashino Slaughtermaster, Tarmogoyf, Lightning Helix, Tribal Flames, Might of Alara, Sulfuric Vortex, and some Seal of Fires and Tarfires.
Game 1: I have a reasonable draw, but he comes out of the gates fast with Nacatl into Marauder into Tribal Flames and Might of Alara and so on. Game 2: I keep Spellstutter Sprite, Thirst for Knowledge, Glen Elendra Archmage, and four land on the play. Turn 2, turn 3, the three cards from Thirst, and turn 5 see me draw land. Turn 4, I drew a Chrome Mox, and turn 6 I drew a Flashfreeze. Suffice to say, I did not pull it out.
This sort of match-up is certainly not my deck’s strong point, but I think it’s fine. Still, take it how you will.
The Zoo player who defeated me went on to reach the finals before succumbing to Affinity (The winner, Sean, was one of two Affinity players in the Top 8, with Bill Stark being the other). In addition to two Affinity decks and a Zoo, the Top 8 contained a Storm, a B/G, and lots of Faeries. There may have been a Burn deck instead of the Storm or B/G, as I am not positive of who won in the last round, but they were the other side of the bracket.
The Conflux cards that seemed to have the biggest impact were Path to Exile, Might of Alara, Viashino Slaughtermaster, and Noble Hierarch, though people discussed the potential of Volcanic Fallout and Knight of the Reliquary quite a bit.
Here is a build of Faeries/Gifts I want to try, but have not yet tested.
Creatures (13)
- 1 Triskelion
- 1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
- 1 Sower of Temptation
- 4 Spellstutter Sprite
- 3 Vendilion Clique
- 3 Glen Elendra Archmage
Lands (24)
Spells (23)
I am not positive whether or not I will be able to attend the Extended GP in Germany next month, but if I do, you can be sure my main focus will be Faeries, although I must say I am intrigued by the power of Path to Exile in the format.
There is a part of me that wonders if a Knight of the Reliquary / Path to Exile / Tarmogoyf if possible, perhaps with a Gifts Shell. Richard Feldman has had some interesting ideas lately. It seems probable that Faeries is still the best, but there is definitely stuff to consider as a result of Conflux.
I believe the PTQ was my first ever Wednesday PTQ, but it makes sense, as Saturday and Sunday were our first days at sea, and Monday and Tuesday were spent docked in a couple of beautiful Mexican cities, such as Cozumel.
Spending a day in Mexico is always a wild proposition, especially when Evan Erwin decides that the Tequila Diet is the future. Oh sure! Blame it on the Tequila!
Aside from drafting several times a day, most of my games on Monday and Tuesday were gunslinging. I played some Faeries decks in Extended, as I said, but had a little fun with Standard. Not surprisingly, I played a Five-Color Control deck (of course, I switched to Faeries whenever someone ran their mouth).
The specific list I played is not worth reprinting, as it contained a dozen random miser’s cards like Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker and maindeck Celestial Purge, just to spice things up and to have some fun with a ton of new Conflux cards.
I had a ton of fun with the deck, learned a few things, and was reminded that Five-Color is just great. Of course, it should be noted that I did lose some games, whereas I think I ended up 10-0 with Faeries, though I did not play it nearly as much as I did Five-Color. One thing I noticed was that no one seemed to build decks that can beat Faeries. Just because the tools exist, doesn’t mean that Faeries is going to lose on its own. You have to actually do the work necessary to beat them.
If you are playing Mulldrifter / Reveillark, B/W Tokens, R/W Boat, Planeswalker decks, or even many Red decks, I think you really have to ask yourself what you are doing to beat Faeries. Faeries is like Five-Color: everyone always says they beat it, but I suspect they do not play against strong enough Faeries and Five-Color players. There are some who say that Faeries is easy to play. I suspect those players do not realize what it actually takes to be a great Faeries player.
Yes, Bitterblossom is more important than the other 56 cards, and it decides games, but there is so much more to it than that. Yes, the mirror is pretty miserable, but on the whole, there is a ton of play to Faeries. For instance, I think the vast majority of players don’t mulligan nearly enough with Faeries. Faeries is a deck that mulligans very well. There are many four-card hands that are better than many seven-card hands.
ManuelB, Heezy, and I have had Faeries win on mulligans to three, three times (and this is just in the past month of playtesting).
I included a Five-Color list last week, but here is an update to think about, this time with sideboard.
Creatures (10)
Lands (26)
Spells (24)
- 2 Wrath of God
- 1 Terror
- 1 Remove Soul
- 4 Cryptic Command
- 1 Negate
- 3 Courier's Capsule
- 2 Cruel Ultimatum
- 3 Esper Charm
- 2 Path to Exile
- 1 Banefire
- 4 Volcanic Fallout
Sideboard
You will notice the strong emphasis on Faeries, as Faeries is the only other good deck in the format. There are plenty of tools against Red, White, Tokens, and Hierarch. Reveillark is not what you want to face, but their just isn’t enough of it to warrant too much attention.
Besides, many people play R/W Boat as their Reveillark deck, which I personally think is pretty easy for Five-Color, especially when you have access to Celestial Purge. The key is that, in their deck, Reveillark doesn’t even win the game… he just requires you to kill him, then sweep the board. The amount of value they derive from Fanatics and White Orchids and Siege-Gangs is very low. Plumeveil is just a disaster for them.
I have to get ready for some Valentine’s Day plans, so let me leave with a story from the last night on the Ship.
It was two or three in the morning, and I was partying up in the club with an awesome mix of Magic Players, GFs / Wives of Magic Players, and girls from the club. We were all doing the Cupid Shuffle when all of a sudden people start running in, wearing life vests. People were going crazy, and there was much confusion.
The boat was on fire.
This is obviously the type of emergency that could be potentially really bad, or easily not so bad and just alarming, but a fire on a cruise ship is the single biggest hazard by a mile. We were five hours from American soil at this point, so if things got bad, they could get really bad.
I led a group of people to find out what was going on, as there were sirens and mass hysteria. All of the staff members were telling people to go to there rooms to get their life preservers, then go to their muster stations to await further instructions, and review the escape procedure in the event that we would have to flee the boat.
The boat was the size of a small city, so there was a lot of room to get away from things, but upon trying to return to our rooms, we found hallways filled with smoke. One hallway was actually unable to be entered, as it was filled with open flames!
Our rooms were actually fairly far away from the fire, so we were able to return to them by simply taking a different route, but it was certainly surreal to see a fire spreading though the halls.
When I returned to my room, I awoke Evan Erwin (who was fast asleep).
Chapin: Evan, Evan, wake up, you have to get up. It is an emergency, the boat is on fire. I know this sounds like a joke, but I swear to you, the boat is actually on fire and we have to go to our muster station.
Evan: Shut up! [rolls over]
Chapin: Evan, seriously, you have to wake up. This is not a drill, and I am not messing with you. The boat is actually on fire, and it is very serious. I do not think the boat is going down or anything, but the fire is a very big problem and everyone has to get up, get their life preserver and go to their muster station.
Evan: What?
Chapin: Evan, I swear to you on my life and on anything else it will take for you to believe me. The boat is actually on fire, and we need to get up. It is not safe to sleep here, as we may need to leave the boat if they cannot put it out before it gets too bad. The door to our room is open… listen outside, there are sirens, and the people that pass by our door have life preservers on. This is really happening. Most likely they will put the fire out, but it is a life or death situation if they cannot, so you have to get up.
Evan: Are you serious?
At this point Evan was finally convinced and got out of bed, but it occurred to me how awkward it is to try to convince someone, who last saw you drinking a few hours before, that the cruise ship you are on is on fire. What was I supposed to say? I am not one to joke about such serious matters, especially not to the degree of continuing to stress that someone needs to wake up and face an emergency after being asked several times if I am serious.
Still, it is a tricky situation.
Anyway, the long and short of it is that a blind woman was smoking in her room in an interior cabin (which is certainly nowhere near legal). She put the cigarette out in a trashcan, and the fire caught. To make matters worse, the fire started by her door, and she could not figure out how to escape at first and ended up suffering severe third-degree burns. A number of other people were burned or passed out from inhaling smoke, plus many rooms were totally torched, but they did manage to put the fire out and no one died.
How does this sort of stuff always seem to happen around me? Still, we did not let this situation dampen the mood, and most people seemed to turn it around and use the experience to help lift the night. Talk about a crazy event to unite us together. After the fire was announced to be completely out, and that everyone was able to return to their rooms (if they weren’t in one of the three hallways that were hit), people even started singing.
‘The boat, the boat, the boat is on fire. We don’t need no water, let the muthaf***** burn!”
Despite this bizarre turn of events, the cruise was a huge success, and I think more than anything, the fire added a memory that gave us a challenge to overcome. So much happened throughout the week, it hardly stole the focus, but was certainly a memorable event.
I want to thank Steve and Lindsey for inviting me to participate in the first ever Magic Cruise, as well as give a big thanks to everyone who attended. This was a really good thing for Magic, and I am proud to have been a part of it. I cannot wait until the next one!
See you guys next week.
Patrick Chapin
“The Innovator”