This weekend, I decided that I would examine some of the tournaments on MODO, as I think they will give a good preview of what you will see in Regionals. For people who don’t have access to MODO which is essentially a 24 hour always open card shop and testing ground, it will help to enlighten you on what the current metagame looks like. At the tournaments I have been to in real life, the decks and overall metagame of the tournament have been nearly identical.
In some of the tournaments I played, but mostly, I’ll be focusing on other matches. After I get brutally owned in the first round and watch my sub 1500 ranking sink even lower, I will watch the matches that have finished. Admittedly, the beginning will be a somewhat biased representation, as the matches that finish first are the only ones that are available for viewing. So if a game takes twenty minutes to complete, it will be either not available for me to view when I’m looking, or, it will be so far down the list I don’t get to see it before the round ends. Note, that this is only valid for the early rounds, and has no bearing on what is in the top 8 or how fast the matches in the top 8 finish.
It’s a Magic weekend. We have no family fun scheduled. No commitments. No children. No gathering of friends. Just chores around the house and me playing Magic, Mare playing WoW.
The first tourney of the weekend is at 8:00 am on Saturday. Thirty-one players make the opening morning bell. I’m playing a modified “One Dozen Eyes” that has done very well in testing. Like the old one, it has Cloudposts, Reap and Sow to go get them, and main deck Creeping Mold. Hoping the Land Destruction will give me game against Tooth. It also has Tornado Elemental for WW, 4 Beacon of Creation, 2 One Dozen Eyes, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Wayfarer’s Bauble, Viridian Shaman and a few other things I can’t remember. Apparently it’s total garbage as I don’t win a game with it. Or maybe it’s because I mulliganed down to four on about six of the games that I played.
I lose my first round and start watching games and recording.
MrGone vs. Swoon. Swoon plays a first turn Slith, Gone concedes on turn 1.
S_C_epter Vs Serge_Pedan. Both play a Power Plant. Serge can’t find a Green mana Source, and S_C_epter gets the Tron going by turn 4 and Serge concedes.
Gilwon vs. Ashduck – Ashduck plays a Plains, Suntail Hawk. Gilwon plays a turn 2 Zo-Zu, turn 3 Seething Song -> Arc-Slogger. Ashduck refuses to concede and soldiers on, playing a Jitte and instant soldiers but its to no avail. Gilwon wins on turn 6.
Rungee vs. Shawn Fisher – Shawn plays Mountain, Genju. Shawn plays Forest, nothing, Forest, second turn Scrapper. It’s Red vs. Red / Green with mono Red having a Zo-Zu on the board. Red keeps the path clear for Zo-Zu and the game ends on Turn 5 for Rungee.
Yoshiaki vs. Laidely – Laidly plays a Mountain, Yoshiaki plays a Forest, then a Tower. Laidly destroys the Tower. As Tooth is likely to do, Yoshiaki just happened to be holding a spare. Yoshiaki Tooths on turn 5 and Laidly concedes.
The round ends and I can’t replay any more first round matches.
Round 2
Yoshiaki vs. Arlekin. Arlekin is with Green/Black and plays out two Tops. Yoshiaki plays out Forest, Power Plant, Tribe Elder, Tron and Tooth by turn 4.
Rungee vs. 1Fly. 1Fly plays Forest, Forest, and Elder. Rungee plays Mountain, Blinkmoth and stalls there. 1Fly plays Troll Ascetic + Blanchwood and Rungee concedes on turn 4.
Stone_ vs. Gilwon. Mountain vs. Mountain. Gilwon plays Slith which is Bolted. So he plays Seething Song -> Arc-Slogger. Stone_ plays Bone Splitter, Frostling, Sorceress, and is dead by turn 6.
Round 3
Gilwon vs. 1Fly – 1 Fly plays three Forests, Kodama’s Reach. Gilwon has a slow start and plays a Stone Rain, then Mox, Komano Master Yamabushi. Gilwon thins land out of his deck and plays a Karstaderm. Troll Ascetic, Beacon. ZoZu joins the party as Kaman starts to work on the Beacons. Another Beacon for 7 and Gilwon is at one life and concedes turn 7.
Yoshiaki vs. RogueDesigner – Rogue plays a Bird, Sakura Tribe Elder. Yoshiaki plays a Tron piece, Forest, and gets Plowed Under for his trouble. Yes, Rogue designer is playing the little known Tooth deck. Rogue plays the under utilized and often disrespected Darksteel Colossus and a completely janky Kiki-Jiki. What is he going to do with those? Oh My God he’s copied the Darksteel! Who would have seen that coming? Yoshiaki concedes on turn 5! Women are throwing their panties at this young rebel as he walks from the stage!
(In all honesty, Rogue’s deck is different from standard Tooth, running Wood Elves, Birds, and a few other creatures to make it a very creature heavy Tooth deck. Also, against everyone he played that I observed, he was always gracious in defeat and victory. Despite the ribbing I give him here, he gets props from me for his behavior. And he makes two consecutive top 8s with his deck.)
Arlekin vs. Octopus Disco. Arlekin mulligans to five and faces a turn 2 Slith Firewalker from Disco. Arlekin starts off slow with a Top, Swamp and Forest. Disco plays Zo-Zu the Punisher and Arlekin concedes on turn 5 facing a 4/4 Slith, ZoZu, and only six life remaining.
Rungee vs. LukeLuk
Round ends before I can see what they are playing.
Round 4
I am 0-3 and my opponent says “Have Fun” instead of “Good Luck” and I start to look forward to my game with him. This lasts until turn 1 when he plays a Mine, Top.
I play a Beacon; he plays an O-Stone. I Creep two lands. He blows the Stone. I Beacon. He plays another Stone. I Beacon again. He plays a Trike and has the whole Tron engine on the board.
I concede turn 11, when he Tooths.
I beat him game 2. Game 3 he recurses Plow under on me and I’m so sick of waiting for him to finish using the Top five times a turn I just concede before I even know if I’m beat.
Other round 4 matches. 35 Minutes left in the round as I type this. I mention that because none of the rounds have gone to time, and some of them have ended a full twenty minutes early.
LukeLuk vs. Hozyain They draw in.
Gilwon vs. Jugan Holiday Star -Gilwon starts off strong with a first and second turn Slith. Jugan plays Forest, Forest, Elder, Swamp. Gilwon plays Seething Song -> Slogger which is Terrored. Two Troll Ascetics hit the board. One chumps a 3/3 Slith and no mana to regen it. A 5/5 Slith is still on the board. Another Troll and Zo-Zu join the battle. The 5/5 Slith dies. Kumano starts pinging Jugan and goes all the way. Gilwon wins on turn 11.
Stone_ vs. Yoshiaki – They draw in.
Szuler vs. SleepyX – SleepyX is apparently asleep and loses to timing out.
DOOM vs. RogueDesigner. Rogue mulligans to 5 but recovers well with a Sylvan Scrying times two. DOOM appears to be playing the new Blue Urzatron deck only its got Plains in it. Rogue designer has Wood Elves and Eternal Witness on the Board and starts recursing Plow Under. Doom searches for pieces and plays an Oblivion Stone and Crucible of Worlds. I have no idea what’s going on. Rogue goes for the Plow again and gets Condescended. Next turn Rogue gets the Tooth off for Kiki and Darksteel and DOOM dies to the Darksteels on Turn 11.
Gilwon vs. Jugan Holiday Star – Gilwon gets a second turn Stone Rain off a Mox. Jugan plays a Bird. Eternal Witnesses back a Forest. Whoa! Jugan Persecutes the mono Red deck on turn 4! [Ow. – Knut] Gilwon has a Hearth Kami and a Sorcerer on the board. Both stall for a bit and just Terror and Shock each other’s creatures. Slith hits the board and gets Terrored. Iwamori hits the board to be matched by another Slith. Jugan is at 13 and Gilwon is at 12 on turn 12. Gilwon concedes to the Iwamori when he can’t find an answer to the Open Fist Monk
I have a Bye this round as I am 0-4! Go Go One Dozen Eyes!
Valuable Tech Tip for those of you who demand strategy for your hard earned Premium Dollar! – Don’t play my decks! They’re crap! There, see, I just saved you a string of losses and a 1490 rating!
Round 5 matches
LukeLuk and Yoshaki draw in.
RogueDesigner and Spike Feeder Draw in.
Hozyain and Stone draw in
Albert345678900 and Teun draw in.
MrGone vs. Szuler – Szuler is with Rats. MrGone is with Flores Red. Nezumi Shortfang is met with a Blinkmoth Nexus and a Top. Next turn Nezumi is met with a Magma Jet. “Rat you” says Szuler. MrGone thaws land via Wayfarer’s Bauble. MrGone plays a Slogger. Szuler plays some more Rats. Flores Red not really a fan of having 1 card in hand and that’s the situation he finds himself in now. But he recovers to give 12 to the head and win on turn 7.
Jugan Holiday Star vs. ashar. Jugan is Black/Green. Sword of Fire and Ice. Ashar plays some rat ninja’s. Jugan plays an Iwamori and Iwamori gets his Throat Slit. Eternal says “Hello, what do you think you’re doing?” A rat sneaks up behind her and her final words are “gurgle… gurgle….” Two Sword of Fire and Ice are on the board. A tiny, old snake dares to pick one up. A Nekrataal drops out of the sky and kills him! Rats swarm in for a victory turn 8!
YBBIB vs. Laidely. Tooth vs. Burn with the unique twist of Frostwielder in the main to remove Witnesses (I suppose.) First turn Slith looks good for Burn. Molten Rain a Tower! A couple Witnesses recover land and chump. Oblivion Stone clears the board for Tooth while he’s at 4. Sundering Titan comes in for the beats. Tooth plays a… Plains? Laidely plays a Slith Firewalker. Laidely gets the Magma Jet and ends the game at a scant 6 life with a Titan coming in next turn.
Ashar vs. Jugan Holiday Star game 2. Ashar sits on one land and Jugan Holiday Start Persecutes him on turn 4 for his whole hand! Ashar concedes.
Ashar vs. Jugan game 3 – Ashar has problems again and mulligans down to 5 and keeps a Blinkmoth Nexus hand. He gets the Swamp and plays a Nezumi Graverobber. Ashar has a Sword of Fire and Ice on a Bird and is going to town with mad card drawing and fire raining down from the sky. Jugan plays a scary Troll as well. Oh! Now Jugan has played a Kokusho! Ashar dies with a Nezumi Cutthroat and a Swamp on the board. What a savage mana hosed beating.
MrGone vs. Szuler game 2 – Gone starts with a Mountain, Top. Szuler starts with two Swamps and a Nezumi who quickly eats a Magma Jet. MrGone plays a…O stone… Huh. Szuler plays another Nezumi Shortfang and a Chittering, who attacks and becomes a Throat Slitter. Gone plays an Arc-Slogger but Horobi Whispers “Death” in his ear. It doesn’t look good for MrGone as he has one card in hand and is at 11 to Szuler’s 17. Another Slogger hits the board but Horobi whispers “Death” in his ear faster than you can read it. Ink Eyes hits the board! Ink Eyes hits the board! But there’s a horrible Flamebreak or two that takes her out! Another Ink-eyes hits the board! Arc Slogger is raised from the dead on Szuler’s side and it looks bad for MrGone again. Solemn gets him a land and a chump block. But it’s not enough and Szuler takes him down.
Szuler takes him down in a close game 3 as well. The rats were just too much and eventually Szuler got a Jitte on the board and it stayed.
YBBIB vs. Laidely game 2.
Laidley starts off slow with 2 Mountains and no third turn drop. Ybibb starts off strong with a Forest, Mine, Sakura Tribe Elder. He then uses 2 Reap and Sow to deprive Laidly of two Mountains. But Laidley tops 3 Mountains and Mox and the game is back on. YBBIBB plays an O Stone. Molten Rain and Stone Rain kill every tron piece on YBBIB’s side and then Laidley plays consecutive Firewalkers. Ybibb plays a Plains and eventually a COP: Red.
Laidley plays a Blood Moon. YBBIB taps out to play Tooth with no tron engine playing Kiki and Trike. Kiki is slain in short order. Mindslaver hits the board. Arc-Slogger is the response. It’s a touch and go battle, but Laidley can’t get enough damage through the COP: Red and dies on the 22nd turn.
The Top 8 are Jugan Holiday Star, Yoshiaki, Hozyain, Stone, LukeLuk, RogueDesigner, Spike Feeder and Teun.
Hozyain – Beacon Green with Plow in the Main and Cranial in the Side.
Vs.
Rogue Designer – Tooth and Nail.
Yoshiaki – Tooth and Nail
Vs.
Spike Feeder – Red.
Stone – Red
Vs.
LukeLuk – Red
Teun – Ninja Rats
Vs.
Jugan Holiday Star – Green/Black. Trolls. Kokusho, Echoing Decay, Terror. Birds.
Top 4 –
LukeLuk –
Jugan Holiday Star
Spike Feeder
Hozyain
Top 2
Spike Feeder, LukeLuk. They split in the finals, no games were played. That’s two Red decks folks.
And what did we learn? Seems like there’s a lot of Red, and a lot of Green. Zero Blue. Zero White. An appearance by Black.
It’s early afternoon when I stop watching. So, it’s time for me to mow my lawn, and it’s a nice ninety degrees out and a hatefully humid day. I break out in a sweat filling the mower with gas. Not a good sign. I realize I haven’t had lunch yet and go inside to eat some Uncrustables and look over decks and see what I can play for tonight’s 5:00 tourney. And give me something to think about as I mow.
Champion looks pretty fast. Trolls and Blanchwood beat Red. Forestwalking weenie rush beats Tooth sometimes. Sometimes. If you get a perfect draw and they happen to have a massive coronary just as they play their first land.
I look over past incarnations, different builds, loading up about five different versions wondering what would be good now that WW and Blue seem to have been abandoned by the player base.
I got nothin’. Nothin’ that makes me happy anyway or looks like it might be feasible. I’m just at a loss and very discouraged. For those of you who have never built your own deck and tried to take it to a tournament and lose money and rating points, over and over and over again, let me assure you, this is a very common feeling.
It is always darkest before the dawn.
Hold that thought as I have to interject the results from the next two Premier Tournaments before I get off track.
Top 8 – 39 players
Stone – Red
Trawd- Red with Goblin Cohort
Fogbeast2000 – Red with Goblin Cohort
Nagul – Tooth
PhiDelta125 – WW
InfernoCat – Red with Shivan Dragon
RogueDesigner – Tooth
CallmeCannon- Green/Black
Rogue Designer doubles up his appearance, making top 8 again.
Stone also doubles up his top 8 appearance playing burn.
The Red decks with Cohort were nearly identical. Running Lava Hounds and Viashino Sandstalker and some Goblins I had never even seen before.
One again, Tooth and Red are the most popular decks in the final eight.
Top 8 66 players on Sunday Night. A very good crowd.
MoggCannon – Mountain
DrinkerofPower – Mountain
Fosprey – Black/Green
Trunk monkey – Tooth.
7:05 Turn 5: trunkmonkee.
7:05 trunkmonkee plays Urza’s Mine.
7:05 trunkmonkee plays Tooth and Nail.
7:05 Fosprey has conceded from the game.
Jolnrbs – Mountain
Sneakyrobot – Tooth
7:08 Turn 5: JoINrbs.
7:09 JoINrbs plays activated ability from Arc-Slogger targeting sneaky robot.
7:09 JoINrbs plays activated ability from Arc-Slogger targeting sneaky robot.
7:09 JoINrbs plays activated ability from Arc-Slogger targeting sneaky robot.
7:09 JoINrbs plays Shrapnel Blast targeting sneaky robot.
7:09 sneaky robot: : /
7:09 Playback finished… Exiting
Do you notice a theme here? There are a ton of turn 4,5, and 6 kills in both Tooth and Red.
And what are the most popular decks in the format?
That’s right.
How much better is this environment than Affinity?
One turn better?
Two at most?
Fosprey – Top, Plow Under, Eternal Witness, Kokusho
Trunkmonkey – Tooth
Game 2 was Fosprey playing Plow, Witness, Plow, Trunkmonkey concedes.
Game 3
7:27 Turn 6: trunkmonkee.
7:27 trunkmonkee plays Forest.
7:27 trunkmonkee plays Tooth and Nail.
7:27 trunkmonkee reveals: Sundering Titan.
7:27 trunkmonkee reveals: Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.
7:27 trunkmonkee plays triggered ability from Sundering Titan:.
7:27 Fosprey plays activated ability from Sensei’s Divining Top.
7:27 Fosprey has conceded from the game.
Luckyheadshot – Mountain
AKD – Blasting Station Green Control – with Worship, Trolls, and Kodama…
Top 4 –
AKD
MoggCannon
Jolnrbs
Trunkmonkee
Top 2 – MoggCannon vs. Trunkmonkee
That would be Mountain and Tooth in the finals. Again.
Back to me mowing the lawn day and trying to come up with a deck.
Joshie comes over and we chat a bit. I have a skeleton of a deck built on the screen and he tells me how the deck should be built. I’m pretty sure he’s insane. His version has no utility at all. No late game. Just beat beat beat. He wants me to test it against Two Minute White, but I have eaten, and now I need to get some work done. I tell him to make up his version and play it and see if it’s not a total pile. I go mow the lawn and Joshie plays his version of Green Beats on my account.
I come back inside, stinky and dripping sweat. Joshie is playing his league on the middle computer and his Green deck is loaded up on my screen and I look it over.
JoshieGreen
4 Elvish Pioneer
4 Jukai Messenger
4 Rushwood Dryad
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Troll Ascetic
4 Iwamori of the Open Fist
4 Beacon of Creation
4 Blanchwood Armor
4 Umezawa’s Jitte
24 Forest
Sideboard
4 Naturalize
4 Matsu-Tribe Snipers
4 Might of Oaks
3 Dosan the Falling Leaf
I am, understandably, skeptical. Couldn’t the forestwalkers go out for Elves and find a way to fit Champion in there? Why Blanchwood and Jitte, but no way to give someone trample? Why 24 land and Sakura0Tribe Elder? Couldn’t the Tribe Elder’s be Slith Predator? And Jitte? Isn’t that a little slow for a deck that purely an aggro rush deck? How about we put the Might of Oaks in the main and remove the Jitte entirely? Might of Oaks is huge on a Forestwalker.
This is going to get smashed.
Joshie tells me it did really well in the practice room and I’m like, “Whatever dude.”
I tell him to enter an 8-man tournament with it.
He does, and wins it.
Huh.
I enter my version of his deck in a Premier Tournament the next day (with Slith Predators and Might of Oaks as opposed to Jitte and Sakura Elders) and go 0-4 drop.
I enter an 8-man right after with Joshie Green and I win the tournament. Beating MUC in the finals.
Some random snippets from that tournament.
8:04 Secret Force joined the game.
8:05 ThrusH chooses to play first.
8:05 ThrusH keeps this hand.
8:05 Secret Force keeps this hand.
8:05 ThrusH plays Forest.
8:05 Turn 1: Secret Force.
8:05 Secret Force plays Forest.
8:05 Turn 2: ThrusH.
8:05 ThrusH plays Forest.
8:05 ThrusH plays Sakura-Tribe Elder.
8:05 Turn 2: Secret Force.
8:05 Secret Force plays Forest.
8:05 Secret Force plays Rushwood Dryad.
8:05 ThrusH plays activated ability from Sakura-Tribe Elder.
8:05 Turn 3: ThrusH.
8:05 ThrusH plays Forest.
8:05 ThrusH plays Kodama’s Reach.
8:05 ThrusH reveals: Forest.
8:05 ThrusH reveals: Forest.
8:05 Turn 3: Secret Force.
8:05 Secret Force plays Forest.
8:05 Secret Force plays Blanchwood Armor targeting Rushwood Dryad.
8:05 Turn 4: ThrusH.
8:05 ThrusH plays Forest.
8:05 ThrusH plays Plow Under targeting Forest, and Forest.
8:05 Secret Force put a card on top of their library.
8:05 Secret Force put a card on top of their library.
8:06 Turn 4: Secret Force.
8:06 Secret Force plays Elvish Pioneer.
8:06 Secret Force plays triggered ability from Elvish Pioneer.
8:06 Secret Force plays Forest.
8:06 Turn 5: ThrusH.
8:06 ThrusH plays Forest.
8:06 ThrusH plays Eternal Witness.
8:06 ThrusH plays triggered ability from Eternal Witness targeting Plow Under.
8:06 Plow Under is returned to ThrusH’s hand from the graveyard.
8:06 ThrusH plays Beacon of Creation.
8:06 Creating 7 tokens.
8:06 Turn 5: Secret Force.
8:06 Secret Force plays Forest.
8:06 Secret Force plays Beacon of Creation.
8:06 Creating 4 tokens.
8:06 Turn 6: ThrusH.
8:06 ThrusH plays Forest.
8:06 ThrusH has conceded from the game.
I side in Might of Oaks and take out one of a few things. Like, one Iwamori, one Beacon, etc.
I kept a one land hand that had too much goodness in it.
8:06 Secret Force joined the game.
8:06 ThrusH chooses to play first.
8:06 ThrusH keeps this hand.
8:06 Secret Force keeps this hand.
8:06 ThrusH plays Forest.
8:07 Turn 1: Secret Force.
8:07 Secret Force plays Forest.
8:07 Secret Force plays Jukai Messenger.
8:07 Turn 2: ThrusH.
8:07 ThrusH plays Forest.
8:07 Turn 2: Secret Force.
8:07 Secret Force plays Forest.
8:07 Secret Force plays Rushwood Dryad.
8:07 Turn 3: ThrusH.
8:07 ThrusH plays Forest.
8:07 ThrusH plays Sword of Fire and Ice.
8:07 Turn 3: Secret Force.
8:07 Secret Force plays Elvish Pioneer.
8:07 Secret Force plays triggered ability from Elvish Pioneer.
8:07 Turn 4: ThrusH.
8:07 ThrusH plays Forest.
8:07 ThrusH plays Beacon of Creation.
8:07 Creating 4 tokens.
8:07 Turn 4: Secret Force.
8:07 Secret Force plays Forest.
8:07 Secret Force plays Blanchwood Armor targeting Rushwood Dryad.
8:07 Turn 5: ThrusH.
8:07 ThrusH plays Forest.
8:07 ThrusH plays activated ability from Sword of Fire and Ice targeting Insect token.
8:07 ThrusH plays triggered ability from Sword of Fire and Ice targeting Jukai Messenger.
8:07 ThrusH plays Birds of Paradise127547,461:.
8:07 Turn 5: Secret Force.
8:07 Secret Force plays Blanchwood Armor targeting Rushwood Dryad.
8:08 Turn 6: ThrusH.
8:08 ThrusH plays Forest.
8:08 ThrusH: fn lame deck
8:08 ThrusH has conceded from the game.
Round 2 I played a Tooth deck. I beat him on turn 4. If I remember correctly, he had the entire Tron on the board, but it was tapped since he just went and got the last piece. He was going to go off turn 5, but I killed him before he ever saw it.
I side in 4 Might of Oaks.
8:30 Secret Force joined the game.
8:31 mekkas chooses to play first.
8:31 mekkas keeps this hand.
8:31 Secret Force mulligans down to 6 cards.
8:31 Secret Force keeps this hand.
8:31 mekkas plays Forest.
8:31 Turn 1: Secret Force.
8:31 Secret Force plays Forest.
8:31 Secret Force plays Jukai Messenger.
8:31 Turn 2: mekkas.
8:31 mekkas plays Urza’s Mine.
8:31 Turn 2: Secret Force.
8:31 Secret Force plays Forest.
8:31 Secret Force plays Sakura-Tribe Elder.
8:31 Turn 3: mekkas.
8:31 mekkas plays Forest.
8:31 mekkas plays Troll Ascetic.
8:31 Secret Force plays activated ability from Sakura-Tribe Elder.
8:31 Turn 3: Secret Force.
8:31 Secret Force plays Forest.
8:31 Secret Force plays Blanchwood Armor: targeting Jukai Messenger.
8:31 Turn 4: mekkas.
8:31 mekkas plays Urza’s Tower.
8:31 mekkas plays Kodama’s Reach.
8:31 mekkas reveals: Forest.
8:32 mekkas reveals: Forest.
8:32 Turn 4: Secret Force.
8:32 Secret Force plays Beacon of Creation.
8:32 Creating 4 tokens.
8:32 Turn 5: mekkas.
8:32 mekkas plays Urza’s Power Plant.
8:32 mekkas plays Duplicant.
8:32 mekkas plays triggered ability from Duplicant targeting Jukai Messenger.
8:32 Turn 5: Secret Force.
8:32 Secret Force plays Forest.
8:32 Secret Force plays Might of Oaks targeting Insect token.
8:32 mekkas: this is so stupid
Huh.
I beat MuC in the finals. First game I had the Forest, Pioneer, Forest, turn 2 Troll draw and eventually got out a Jitte and put it on him.
Game 2 he got mana screwed and sat on two land for a bit and I rolled him.
Maybe there is something to this Joshie Green?
Sunday Afternoon comes and Joshie comes over in the afternoon and I’m exhausted from doing chores or lack of sleep or too much nookie, or something. I can’t remember. But I tell him to take over for me and enter a tournament while I watch Justice League that I TiVo’d the other night.
Best Justice League ever.
Sure there were tons of plot holes in it. And lots of things unsaid that would of resolved issues if someone would have logically spoken up at the appropriate time. But, other than that, best Justice League ever.
In this continuity, Captain Marvel has just been recruited to the JL. He and Superman meet for the first time. And despite the fact that the big red cheese idolizes the man of steel, the first meeting is less than a party.
As Superheroes’ are wont to do, they end up getting into a huge fight, and destroy a couple city blocks. Hurling buses at each other. Hitting each other with punches where the shockwaves shatter windows all around them. Superman actually tears a safe out of a bank… not a little safe, a bus sized safe, out of a bank, and smashes it onto Captain Marvel’s head, and then does it again. And then again. And you can see Marvel under it being crushed with such force that he’s bouncing off the ground before the bus-sized safe smashes him down into it again.
They even include the now age old scene of Captain Marvel saying “Shazam!” and holding Superman in front of him so the Lightning bolt hits Supes right in the center of the chest and doesn’t get through to Captain Marvel. Marvel does this three times and Superman’s S is incinerated and it looks like he’s got third degree burns on his blackened chest.
The thing that was best about the show, was the characterization. Superman a little annoyed that he’s no longer the only “go to” guy in the JL. Batman giving Clark orders that he knows he’ll follow. Lex being smart and setting Superman up. Captain Marvel being a complete Boy Scout that makes Superman look edgy and gritty by comparison. Batman actually has to call for backup and J’onn saying –
“Are you asking for help?
“Yes!”
“But you never ask for help…”
And Superman and Batman discussing the Captain Marvel situation at the same time they are fighting 4 Super Villains at once and acting like it’s no big thing. Just another day saving the world.
Batman – “We like Marvel. He’s such a Boy Scout.”
Superman – “I thought I was the Boy Scout?”
Batman – “You were until I met Marvel.”
The fight between Superman and Marvel is something I’ve always wanted to see animated, and the show didn’t disappoint. Easily the best fight scene ever on Cartoon Network. Wait, scratch that. When Peter Griffon takes a bad coupon from the Chicken, which was pretty damn good too.
So I’m watching JL and ever now and then I go over to see Joshie playing his Green deck in a standard 8-man. He takes second place in the tournament.
Huh.
He finishes at 6:45 and takes off, and I enter a Premier tournament with 66 people in it on Sunday night.
I lose in the first round to Blue Tron, but, no worries. I know I just had bad draws and he had amazing ones.
I win the next three rounds. Beating Tooth, Mono Black Control that Cranialed all my Trolls, and had a Night of Soul’s Betrayal on the board In Game One! That’s right. Night of Soul’s Betrayal and Cranial in the main. Iwamori picked up this cool Jitte he found lying around and split Kokusho in half. Then he found some cool armor and trampled in for the win.
Then I battled another Tooth Deck. Those things are everywhere. Really nice guy who I chatted with the whole game.
9:41 Secret Force plays Might of Oaks targeting Rushwood Dryad.
9:41 PutnamT: huh
9:41 Secret Force: gg man
9:41 PutnamT: gg
I’m now 3-1 with the deck and I call up Joshie. “I’m going to bed. If you want to take over for me there’s 30 minutes left in the round.”
Joshie loses the next two rounds to mistakes and inebriation and various other external universal forces we can scarcely control.
Annoyed, he enters an 8-man and wins it.
Not even kidding.
My rating has risen from 1497 to 1575 since we started playing Joshie Green.
We post the deck to my guild forums and Oberion asks –
“So, you totally spank Tooth… But don’t you drop faster than Paris Hilton’s panties at a frat party to Red?”
To which I reply –
“No, we totally spank any deck running Forests. This is 75% of the field.”
Red?
Some Red Decks will concede to a Jitte on a Troll.
Unless they are holding an *ssload of burn and mana to play it, and you’re below ten life all Red decks will concede to a Troll with Blanchwood and a Jitte. (Remember, you can gain 2 life per counter with the Jitte. If you are playing it against a Red deck, it’s like a Spirit Link.)
These are the cards we have that are good against Red.
Troll
Blanchwood (on anything) (5/5 Pioneer! Whee!)
Iwamori of the Open Fist
Beacon of Creation
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Jitte – on anything.
If they are not running Sorcerer, Beacon is a beating against them.
I’ve even beat MuC with Joshie Green.
Might of Oaks is in the side.
Dosan is also in the side and Red hates him. It doubles the cost of all their spells if they want to burn you out because they can’t do any damage to you at the end of your turn.
They will go to extreme measures to kill Dosan. Which is just fine because we have 3 in the side, and drop another one, or once they do kill him, then we drop an Iwamori and they go “WTF…”
Iwamori + Blanchwood is pretty good against Red too.
That’s today’s rambles.
See you next week when Joshie and I take Joshie Green to Heroes Kingdom for an NAC qualifier.