“I would be building the deck just based on a rumor and heresy.” — Ben Bleiweiss, Thousand Year Elves
I know Ben meant “hearsay,” but as written it is quite funny, so god bless the editors of MagictheGathering.com for letting that one through! I wanted to name my column “Rumor and Heresy” this week in honor of this, but nothing was really going on for me in Magic that really “fit” that title. I’ll save it for another time. In the meantime, it was nice to be inspirational for such a cool and fun deck! Dare I bring it to a FNM sometime?
Last week I detailed how I drove Adrian Sullivan beautiful Ferrari right into the ditch, and afterwards jumped into a draft, in which I did pretty well. I don’t talk about Limited much here because a) I don’t do it often, b) I’m not all that good at it, and c) I have a lot more fun building Constructed decks. Still, I do enjoy the occasional Limited games, so I wanted to let you all know how it went and elicit any advice from those of you out there who are much better at the format than I. Sure, I could pore over the copious Limited articles available out there, but there are only so many articles a man with three jobs and two kids has time to read!
In my first pack of Lorwyn I flipped through my cards, and the rare immediately grabbed my eye… Dauntless Dourbark.
He’s Green, he’s a Treefolk, and can get huge if you build your deck to complement him – what’s not to like? As my very first pick, I can try to steer my draft towards that goal. So I nabbed him. Second pick? Shriekmaw! Must have been a nice rare in that pack, chief. Okay, so Green/Black it is, not hard to do with Treefolk.
Then I noticed a good number of elves floating to me, so I nabbed some of the better ones. I decided to also value the Changelings higher so I could help both the Treefolk and Elf themes, and was pleased to eventually snag a Changeling Titan in the second pack.
I opened up my Morningtide pack, riffled back to the rare, and Chameleon Colossus is staring back at me -Ho! That’s a mighty big Treefolk/Elf there (not to mention a pricey rare that paid for my draft right there). I don’t remember what pick Greatbow Doyen came around for, but with a fair number of changelings (and at least one other Archer), the Elf wouldn’t be half bad. Here’s what I ended up playing:
1 Skeletal Changeling
1 Elvish Warrior
1 Woodland Changeling
1 Battlewand Oak
1 Elvish Branchbender
1 Lys Alana Bowmaster
1 Lys Alana Huntmaster
1 Dauntless Dourbark
1 Chameleon Colossus
2 Moonglove Winnower
1 Weed-Pruner Poplar
1 Changeling Titan
1 Greatbow Doyen
1 Everbark Shaman
1 Shriekmaw
1 Mournwhelk
1 Veteran’s Armaments
1 Fertile Ground
1 Lignify
1 Revive the Fallen
1 Moonglove Extract
1 Hoarder’s Greed
1 Rootgrapple
6 Swamp
10 Forest
Sideboard:
1 Facevaulter
1 Warren-Scourge Elf
1 Scarred Vinebreeder
1 Boggart Loggers
1 Moonglove Changeling
1 Gilt-Leaf Seer
2 Elvish Branchbender
1 Bog-Strider Ash
1 Heal the Scars
1 Reins of the Vinesteed
1 Wellgabber Apothecary
1 Oakgnarl Warrior
1 Needle Drop
1 Veteran’s Armaments
2 Deglamer
1 Pulling Teeth
1 Boggart Shenanigans
1 Rebellion of the Flamekin
1 Morsel Theft
I have a question – has anyone ever won the Clash with their Revive the Fallen? I’ve played that card in several drafts, and have *never* won the Clash. Grrrr.
I win my first match against U/B/W Merfolk/Faeries, it was a long and hard slugfest that went to three games, and the last one came down to getting back my Colossus with Revive (lost the clash, frown), and eventually drawing Doyen to basically make him unblockable. The second match was against another Merfolk deck! Cripes, those little Blue men are difficult, but I again win it in three, with Colossus sticking and making my opponent’s life difficult (whoo-hoo for broken rares!).
During the first game in the match, one of the fellows in my draft sits down and watches our game. Turns out he’s long since won his first two matches and is waiting for us to finish to play the winner. “My deck’s pretty fast,” he says. Gulp – mine’s not!
As I wrapped up the second match, he’s got some friends popping by telling him they’re rolling out to some steak house, so I ask him if he wants to just split the prize and go on with his friends. He agrees to the prize split but says he’d like to just play it out anyway. The first game I go first and get a pretty good draw, ramping up from Elvish Warrior to Battlewand Oak to Huntmaster. He’s playing an Elemental deck that’s got mostly smaller creatures, so my fast start with relatively high toughness holds the ground long enough for my fat creatures to win. The second game I get a little overconfident with an aggressive draw and fail to keep blockers back, so he shows me the true power of aggro elementals, taking me from 16 to 2 life with two 2/1 attackers. Ouch!
The last game was tight, he had me on the ropes early but I stabilized with about half my life and some large creatures on the board. He gets the right combination of cards to alpha strike, forcing me lose a good number of my creatures and bringing me perilously low in life. Some burn finished me off.
So, based on what I drafted, would you have built the deck differently?
Checking over my part-time schedule for March, I was pleased to discover that I had off every Friday, so I eagerly jumped over to Richmond Comix’s website to see what FNM they had going on! After all, they were given out foily, alternative art Eternal Witnesses as prizes! I hate foils, but I love Eternal Witness, so I’d be happy to snag one if I could.
Sadly, the schedule showed Sealed Deck on Friday, Draft the next, then Standard, then Draft again. Sigh. I guess I’ll be getting crushed at Limited for the month of March.
I really dislike Sealed Deck; it’s the most constricted of the formats offering you no real opportunity to shape your card pool – what you open is what you’ve got to deal with. Sometimes you get broken stuff; sometimes it’s absolute crap. I know some people really enjoy the challenge of trying to build a winning deck out of crap, but I often find it frustrating, which is why I don’t travel to Limited PTQs. However, this one is just down the road, so why not? So I got my Lorwyn tournament pack and Morningtide boosters and sorted them by Tribes:
Merfolk
1 Tideshaper Mystic
1 Silvergill Douser
1 Silvergill Adept
1 Ink Dissolver
1 Merrow Commerce
1 Streambed Aquitects
1 Stonybrook Schoolmaster
1 Paperfin Rascal
1 Waterspout Weavers
Elementals
1 Flamekin Brawler
1 Brighthearth Banneret
2 Seething Pathblazer
1 Stingmoggie
1 Glarewielder
2 Spitebellows
1 Walker of the Grove
Elves
1 Elvish Eulogist
1 Wren’s Run Vanquisher
1 Scarred Vinebreeder
1 Elvish Branchbender
1 Lys Alana Scarblade
1 Lys Alana Bowmaster
2 Winnower Patrol
Kithkin
1 Goldmeadow Harrier
1 Kinsbaile Skirmisher
1 Preeminent Captain
1 Plover Knights
Faeries
1 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Mistbind Clique
1 Latchkey Faerie
2 Final-Sting Faerie
Goblins
1 Prickly Boggart
1 Frogtosser Banneret
1 Boggart Harbinger
1 Spiderwig Boggart
1 Mudbutton Torchrunner
1 Stinkdrinker Daredevil
Treefolk
1 Battlewand Oak
1 Bog-Strider Ash
1 Sentry Oak
1 Oakgnarl Warrior
Giants
1 Hillcomber Giant
1 Giant’s Ire
1 Lunk Errant
1 Lairwatch Giant
Changelings
1 Mothdust Changeling
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Fire-Belly Changeling
1 Ghostly Changeling
1 Avian Changeling
1 Shields of Velis Vel
Non-tribal cards
Artifacts
1 Springleaf Drum
1 Thornbite Staff
Blue
1 Disperse
1 Negate
1 Captivating Glance
1 Glimmerdust Nap
1 Cryptic Command
Red
1 Hurly-Burly
1 Roar of the Crowd
1 Titan’s Revenge
White
1 Graceful Reprieve
1 Weight of Conscience
1 Entangling Trap
1 Earthbrawn
1 Lace with Moonglove
1 Luminescent Rain
Black
1 Nameless Inversion
1 Eyeblight’s Ending
Land
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Vivid Creek
Pro-Player Card
1 Rich Hoaen
Hey, check it out – Rich Hoaen was in my tournament pack! That’s gotta be a good sign, right? I close my eyes and try to channel Mr. Hoaen. What Would Rich Do?
Looking at the tribal piles, it seems pretty obvious the Merfolk are going to be played; there is some good quality and deep selection, and the Blue support cards are good – Cryptic Command! Sorry, Elves – you just don’t hold a candle to the little scaly dudes in this card pool. So what to pair with the Merfolk? Sadly, the White looks uninspiring, but maybe I can get away with splashing the Schoolmaster. Black? How can you argue with Nameless Inversion and Eyeblight’s Ending? So I’m leaning towards U/B/w Merfolk/Faeries — yawn, how typical! Still, it looks like a solid, reasonable choice.
Then I glance down at the Red stuff. Titan’s Revenge. Hurly-Burly. Roar of the Crowd. Mudbutton Torchrunner. Two Spitebellows? That’s some serious removal spells! In a draft, I would never even consider cobbling together a four-color deck, but this has me thinking. Is Rich Hoaen trying to tell me something? I can’t tell whether it’s go for it or good God no, what are you thinking?
What are my mana options? I’ve got Vivid Creek, Springleaf Drum, and Tideshaper Mystic to give me decent splash potential. Ah, screw it. You only live once!
Here’s what a cobbled together:
1 Mothdust Changeling
1 Tideshaper Mystic
1 Silvergill Douser
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Silvergill Adept
1 Ink Dissolver
1 Paperfin Rascal
1 Streambed Aquitects
1 Mudbutton Torchrunner
1 Stonybrook Schoolmaster
1 Waterspout Weavers
2 Spitebellows
1 Springleaf Drum
1 Thornbite Staff
1 Hurly-Burly
1 Disperse
1 Negate
1 Nameless Inversion
1 Merrow Commerce
1 Eyeblight’s Ending
1 Cryptic Command
1 Roar of the Crowd
1 Titan’s Revenge
1 Vivid Creek
1 Plains
2 Swamp
6 Mountain
7 Island
Yes, it’s 41 cards; I couldn’t figure out what to cut at the end. Merrow Commerce, I suppose? I end up going 1-2 in the Swiss; I lost the first match in three that could have gone either way – he had a really good deck and made it to the finals, but my quality removal spells and close games had me thinking that I had made the right choices with my deck. The second match I swept my opponent, which had me even more convinced I’d done the right thing.
The last match I get swept by a very aggressive deck that’s helped out immensely by my mana hosing me quite a bit, especially in the last game. I suppose you play fast and loose with your mana, sometimes you get bit.
So how would you have built this card pool? Would you have tried to include more colors than just the safe U/B build?
As an aside – aren’t the tiger-skinned, bikini-clad Merfolk in the Waterspout Weavers art lovely? Eric Fortune does art for some great cards – Mulldrifter and Masked Admirers among them. I would totally buy a print of Waterspout Weavers to hang alongside my Elephant Ambush!
Dear Pete:
How about Eric Fortune as a guest artist for an upcoming prerelease?
Love,
Bennie
Sadly, Waterspout Weavers is the only art clearly depicting a female creature…
Dear Wizards:
How about Eric Fortune doing more artwork for scantily clad female creatures?
Love,
Bennie
By the way, just as a public service announcement: the movie 10,000 B.C. requires Herculean suspension of disbelief — and likely a hefty level of intoxication — to really enjoy. Lacking the intoxication, I enjoyed the movie fairly well and successfully ignored all the glaring historical paradoxes and inaccuracies. I found it a shame they didn’t find the opportunity to show off the lovely Camilla Belle, who was covered up in formless animal skins for most of the movie. At least she was in a dress at the end.
Speaking of the end – Fairy Godmammoth. A friend of mine coined that term, and it’s perfect. If you see the movie, you know what that refers to. Wayyy too funny!
A TRIBUTE TO E. GARY GYGAX
Before I sign off this week, I wanted to say a few words about the passing of Gary Gygax. Driving home from work last week, I was dismayed to hear on NPR about Gygax’s passing. Gygax was responsible for bringing us Dungeons & Dragons, which revolutionized the gaming world.
D&D made a huge impact in my life. I was a quiet, bookish comics geek in middle school when my cousin came to visit one summer with his AD&D books in tow. The book covers were breathtaking – the demonic Efreet towering over the hapless adventurers on the cover of the Dungeon Master’s Guide immediately made me think of the Balrog from Fellowship of the Ring (I had just finished reading the Rings trilogy that past winter). But the coolest was the cover of the Player’s Handbook, with the adventurer hanging from the side of the huge grinning statue, enticed by the gigantic ruby eyes.
I loved reading fantasy novels; the idea that I could actually play in a fantasy world was breathtaking! Tom and I spent every day playing AD&D for a week, and then he went back to New York but left the books for me. It took a while for me to gather together a group of D&D gamers; only one other kid had even heard of the game, a bad-boy class cutup named Al, but eventually the two of us cobbled together a group of folk across the social strata – Brian the computer nerd, Dave the preppy kid, Darren the jock, Mike the stoner; yeah, we were our very own Breakfast Club (sadly lacking in cute girls). We eventually became fast friends and party-buds in addition to hard-core RPGers, and once we graduated from high school we merged with another group of D&D fellows who were a few years older. In subsequent years we had a grand time gaming, partying, and going through life’s passages together.
Some of the guys have fallen out of touch in the years since, but some have remained fast friends. Bad-boy Al now has a large house with a huge, custom made gaming room we get together at every Monday night to adventure in his campaign. To think we’ve been friends – and have been playing D&D together – for nearly 30 years is rather mind-boggling. Last night my buddy Nuge — a friend for 20+ years — brought a bottle of Single Malt Scotch, filled up some sort of traditional Irish drinking cup, and we all took a sip and toasted Mr. Gygax, who helped bring us all together and forged wonderful friendships and adventures. I’m not fond of Scotch, but this was actually pretty smooth and left a nice warm feeling in my belly.
Of course, D&D inspired Magic, another game that has brought me friendships, fun, and writing opportunities I would not have had otherwise. It’s nearly impossible to figure out how different my life would have been had it not been for Dungeons & Dragons, but I have no doubt it would have been drastically different. One of my old D&D pals introduced me to a group of student commuters at the Student Commons of VCU who were into playing Spades, Hearts, and Bridge, and that group is where I met my wife. VCU is a huge school, I may not have met her and had my two awesome kids if I hadn’t had my D&D pal to introduce me to that group of card players.
So I have to salute Mr. Gygax for bringing the world his wonderful game, which has brought me countless hours of fun and some really great lifelong friends. Thank you so very much.
At the end of the NPR piece, the reporter said that Mr. Gygax was survived by his wife… and SIX children. Six kids! I smiled and thought he went and had his very own adventuring party…
Rest in peace, good sir.
‘Til next week,
Bennie
starcitygeezer AT gmail DOT com