Just a quick apology before I begin the report. I didn't take any notes and forgot my score-sheet so I can't give a very detailed report but I'll try my best to make it as enlightening as possible. I'm going to refer my opponent's with nicknames so I just want to say that they are not supposed to be offensive in any way!

We decided to go this event ( James Allton and I) on the Friday before so deck choices were limited as we both only had two Rath Cycle decks from the Doncaster team event the week before (we were team INQUISITION and came joint 3^rd out of nine teams). Needless to say we both hastily amended our decks to standard versions and went with them. My deck is below and James went with a suicide black:

Recurring Death Kastle

Round 1 - Sex Monkey Guinea Pig - Burning Bridge Deck

A perfect match up for an easy 2 -0 victory. Recurring sex monkey just slaps his deck senseless. Cursed scroll?, snigger. Ensnaring Bridge? Huh Huh!. Scalding Tongs? Bwah hah hah hah hah hah! (too many Giffen & DeMatteis JLA comics I guess). Sideboard in two more monkeys and the Oath's to repeat the 1^st game raping. Spike feeders ensure my life never gets much lower than ten.

Matches 1-0

Round 2 - Sex Monkey Guinea Pig's Dad - Suq-Aqa Machine Gunner.

I manage to win the first game after a pretty long duel of casting creatures and counterspelling. I am able to recur more creatures than he has counterspells and beat him down with a well placed Living Death and hordes of hungry critters. At one point he casts an Intruder Alarm which is Eagled away so I don't actually give it much thought and he doesn't get his combo out so I am blissfully unaware of what his deck does going into the 2^nd game.

I sideboard in the Scrag's , Lobotomy, both Oath's and the Surgeon. He pummels me this game and all I have to say is that of all the deadly game winning combo's this one is pretty high up on the cheese scale, Apathy/Curiosity/any type of Annoying Tim (pinger). Now I board in the Eagle's and at this point there is only about 15 minutes left and he states that he'd be happy with a draw but I have other plans (what a fool I was). Get a damn good start and I am able get out a survival and merrily search for my Scragnoth's. Sadly I already had a Wall of Blossoms out which halted one of the Scrag's after being (al)lured away, but things were looking better when the second one hits the deck. Then the shit hits the fan! INTRUDER ALARM. This card backed up with clever counterspelling is about 1 zillion times more powerful than Propaganda, it must be to cause a creature recursion deck to completely stall and pray for the draw. Which is the end result as he doesn't see his combo (good job he overlooked adding ANY deck manipulatorion).

Matches 1-0-1

Round 3 - Friendly Chap - 5 Colour White.

I scrape the first game due to clever use of spike feeders and living death, managing to pull off a bloom style 0 life comeback. His visionaries spoil my plans for survival of the fittest abuse and I realize I have no real way to combat this. In goes the surgeon, 1 eagle and the coffin queen (Sorry, but I'm finding it too much hassle to continue with capitals in the card names, o'kay J ). Second game goes his way as shadow beatdown consumes my appetite for life. The third game sees me making no changes but getting a good start with two early surgical removals, these being 1 visionary and a cataclysm. This alone is not enough though as the removal of the cataclysm allows me to spot an armageddon which duly seals the game for his shadow swines to do the necessary pummeling.

Matches 1-1-1

If you ever get to play this person then you can be excused for calling over the judge and complaining that he's stalling. I understand the need to seriously think about some plays but there isn't too much to think about with a fast black deck and I really can't believe any one can enjoy magic much when they play at this guy's speed. Anyway enough moaning, all I have to add is that he got what he deserved. A 2-0 royal spanking!

Matches 2-1-1

Round 5 - All Round Good Egg - Another Relatively Fast Black Deck.

Black decks unless they are suicidal nearly always struggle against my deck and this was no exception. The only scare I had was when I thought his murk dwellers? would be able to get through unblocked and cause a fair amount of damage. This never happened as an assortment of top decked critters held them off until a weaver could but me the time to cast a HUGE L.D. Hee hee. The 2^nd game was relatively painless and at the end of the match he genuinely congratulated me and said it was nice to play against and lose to a different deck (meaning one other than an Oath of Druids deck). At one point I started a rather nice recursion loop with a man-o'-war and a Volrath's Stronghold to see off all his non- first strike 2/2 creatures.

Matches 3-1-1

Round 6 - Nice Chap - Bloody Oath Of Druids (not so nice now though)

I happily agree on a draw to see us both through to the top 8 as I really can't be arsed to play this deck from hell.

Matches 3-1-2

Quarterfinal - Cardinal Biggles - Suicide Black.

Biggles is really James Allton (my team-mate). We have ended up playing each other at most tournament's and always draw if possible but obviously we can't this time. We start and because we playtested these decks against each other we knew that James had to shadow me to death within the first 5 or 6 turns. This doesn't happen in the first game which I happily take the credit for. The 2^nd game is a perfect one for his deck and he summarily dispatched me to whichever hell he chose. I claim the honours in the 3^rd game with a perfectly timed man-o'-war to confuse his overly enchanted shadow nasty. This bought me the necessary time to build my graveyard for a masterful living death to see me through to the semi's.

Matches 4-1-2

Semifinal - Sex Monkey Guinea Pig - Burning (Down) Bridge

SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY! SEX MONKEY!

Matches 5-1-2

Final - Diamond Geezer - Draw Go!

I went into this match expecting a proper good hiding from a very stable deck. I was pleasantly surprised to escape relatively unscathed with a 2-0 victory. The first game was won solely due to the power of Volrath's Stronghold and unstealable beasts, along with a helping hand from a friendly monkey. Sideboard in both Scraggies, eagles, monkeys, oath's and the surgeon. I won solely on the awesome ability of the 2^nd turn survival and prompt appearance of both Scragnoth's. With no nasty INTRUDER ALARM surprises his defeat was swift and merciless. Sadly he managed to counter my Oath of Ghouls or the victory would have been all the more fun.

Matches 6-1-2

Conclusion

I went with this deck for two main reasons: 1, it was nearly already made from a previous tourney and 2, to get some practice for the Birmingham Grand Prix in October. I figure that even if I don't play this deck now then I guess I'm a little more prepared for it. Overall, as the day progressed I enjoyed it more but the staleness of the Oath Decks present and my opponent in round 4 made the day pretty damn boring. It must be said though that Oath decks can be whupped and there isn't too long until gaea's blessing goes to bed. So until that day comes, I'm gonna be packing for all you Druidy types.

Catch ya later dudes,

Paul `Cardinal Xaminez' Sweeting.