From: Sean McKeown Topic: New York State TII Championships, 081697. I decided to step through this a few days in advance of the tourney, so that at the least I can *think* I prepared for it ;). I am 17, but I decided to play in the Masters division because that is where the real competition is... plus I am a masochistic overachiever, so it seemed like the right thing to do... I chose my deck in a strange way. I made up a Necrodeck that I was considering playing...since I have 4 Necropotences in my binder that I have never, ever used... but I started playing around with a Fish Sligh/Orb deck a week or two before the tourney, and came to the eventual realization that Blue is THE suckiest color for Weenies. So I chose Black, with a touch of Blue, not exactly Forgotten Orb, not exactly anything really. I curved the mana supply to stop at three mana, with something like 22 spells in the 2cc range ;) and ~20 creatures to commence a beatdown while the 4 Orbs and 4 Anhks wreaked havoc with my opponent's mana supply. I tested several different versions, and pulled a few tricks out of my hat to tweak the deck. Playtesting beat the tar out of U/W decks, as I toasted both Turbo-Abeyance and CounterPost. And most anything else, if I got a decent draw. Funny thing is, with my deck I designed the mana supply to give you 3 Lands in the first 9 or 10 cards, no more no less (21 Lands/60 Cards), and most of the games I lost I only drew a mere !!FIVE!! Lands. In my opening hand. So I decided to thoroughly invest my time in shuffling, as I decided at the last PTQ... now I know it beforehand ;) Here is the decklisting... WELCOME TO ANGBAND!! (For all who don't know, Angband is the Black Prison of Morgoth, it's a Tolkein thing. Look at my email adress and you'll see I am kinda hooked on Tolkein. I coulda just called it Black Prison, but I made it so I can name it whatever the hell I want to! =) Artifacts: (10) 4x Winter Orb 4x Anhk of Mishra 2x Null Rod Spells: (6) 4x Contagion 2x Vampiric Tutor Creatures: (23) 4x Black Knight 4x Fallen Askari 4x Skulking Ghost 4x Man o' War 3x Necratog 4x MOLE WORMS (Yes, Mole Worms! Remember them???) Lands: (21) 3x Quicksands 2x City of Brass 4x Underground River 12x Swamps Sideboard: It sucked balls for the environment, in Layman's Terms ;). I was totally prepared for C-'Post, C-Burn, Buried Alive, Turbo-Abeyance... my deck was 50-50 against Green Machine, kicked Sligh's ass because they tap out as often as possible, making it ridiculously easy to lock 'em up with Orb. AT LEAST 80% of the field was Green Machine or a variant with Burn or Control spells added in, and all I had to SB against them was a measely 2 Dystopias. 2x Dystopia 1x Null Rod 4x Straw Golem 4x Hydroblast 4x Ebony Charm If I had even an inkling of how uncreative and unimaginative the players I wouldbe facing were, I would have had Glooms, Dystopias, and other useful cards in the spots I reserved for playing against what I was *expecting* from a well-balanced field...the only Turbo-Abeyance deck there was played by a Kevin who played as a Junior and went 0-4.. because I made his SB, and I didn't expect so much Green. If I see another Green deck in tournaments, I will be very VERY annoyed... Get an original idea, people... Much as it doesn't look it, this plays very similar to Prison, in its white incarnations. "Thrash with Trash", as I say ;) A few days before the tournament, I manage to convince a friend to come with me to States. He's a friend of mine from the local comic shop, Mint Condition in Port Washington, NY, and we assemble a Turbo-Abeyance deck for him and teach him how to play with the control/recursion aspects of the deck. For two-folded purpose... because by thoroughly learning the inner workings of the deck, I can learn how to beat it. Whenever I play him with Angband, I win. Whenever we switch decks, him using Angband and me using Turbo-Abeyance, I win. Cool. Rather than prepare for the tourney the traditional way (Tear our decks apart the night before, play till 5 or 6 AM, and just generally trash all our valuable experience ;), we actually are pretty content in ourselves and our decks, and we both agree to get a GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP beforehand. I guess I am just an unconventional player... went to bed at like 2 AM for a 2:30 PM tournament. I got the phrase of the day just playing around, when Kevin tried to 'ignore' my Orb and do a full untap... "One, please..." I already know beforehand that I am going to be meeting Seth Burn there, we 'know' each other from a while back, when we met on the Beyond Dominia forum rooms as the protege master deckbuilders in residence. We've met and played before, but this time it's a bit of a challenge for me... he won State Sealed Deck, so in my opinion I have to win State TII's to meet or beat him ;). He tossed me out of the running for Chicago at the last qualifier I attended, so this could prove interesting. I'm a bit off of my game, I suppose, seeing as my life is in complete disarray what with my best friends leaving for college, me myself uprooting within the next week for freshman year as a Chem Engineering major at NYU... but like a good M:tG junkie I push RL aside for a day.... Turned out Seth didn't show, and the tourney couldn't have had more than 35 or 40 people. Pretty sad, for the State Championships.... Match One: vs. a R/G Land Destruction Deck Cool matchup, since I function well off of only one or two Lands. Never saw an Orb this match, and I SB'd out the Anhks...why help him win?? Game one: Over really, really fast. I get a God draw of three Lands (one of which was a U. River) and 4 Man o' Wars in the first 12 cards. I went totally Weenie on him, and I Man o' Warred the Balduvian Horde he summoned to stop the bleeding. Harsh. Dead in 5 turns. Game two: I get an OK draw, start going Weenie on him with Ghosts and Askaris before he starts to kill all my Lands and creatures, etc. to kill me with an Autumn Willow (I think.). I didn't even know that he was playing a Land Destruction deck, the first game was over so fast.... so out go the Anhks, in go the Hydroblasts. I took out the Null Rods for my two Dystopias, since I saw Willow and a Deadly Insects to boot. Game three: Again, no Orbs. He kills my Land, ignoring my creatures until it is too late. I have a full hand, being unable to cast spells, and I discard creatures to feed my Necrotog ;) for a win. Game record: 2-1 Match Record: 1-0-0 Match two: vs. a White WeeniePost deck, only one Geddon. Not a great deck, hardly even a good one. Solid player, he managed to Outpost me to death before I can get a lock going. Game one: He uses Icies, Disks, Biskellions, and Arrows to kill off my critters before I draw the Rod, and Posts me to death. Made me sorry my best point-source Land Destruction was the Mole Worms, when he Plowed them. Game two: Very similar, except I get a City of Brass as my only Land and I have to shift over to Suicide Mode if I want even a chance of living through the game. I am at 12 before he even hits me, and I am just beaten down before I get started. Observation #1: Fix the Land. 21 was OK in Playtesting, but better safe than sorry... 2 more go in before I touch it again. Or why not go really nuts to ensure I get enough mana, and just add another 39 Lands? (Sorry, just pissed off...it happens ;) Game record: 2-3 Match Record: 1-1-0 At this point, my Masters Division dreams are totally flushed since there are only another 2 rounds to go and I won't win the tiebreakers. I wuss out and tell them I forgot to register as a Junior, playing dumb, when they say it's the last chance to announce it. Match 3: vs. a Big Blue deck. The usual tricks...when I die, I die a rainbow death. Should have won, but my deck betrayed me at a key moment. Game one: First time I drew an Orb this tournament. I get him in the lock, and he sneaks out a Disk when I don't have a Rod. I try and topdeck one at the absolute last possible moment, and get a Land for my troubles. He phases out the Rainbow Efreet, and blows the Disk. Counters the Orb I play, when I try to Anhk and Orb on the same turn. He has me, and the Rainbow has me for lunch. Game two: I Weenie him to death, using the Man o' Wars at key moments and recovering the lock after he Disks, because I had both Anhk and Orb in hand. I end up killing him with a Fallen Askari...yeah, block THAT and phase out, Mr. Rainbow ;) Game three: He squeaks by, after a second-turn (for him..) Anhk stunting his land supply. I get him to 2 with my creatures, I am at 9. He has Rainbow and Disk, does his trick. Where are my Rods? I even SB'd one in, taking out a Man-o-War since he is fairly creature-light but not enough to warrant the Golems. I buy myself a turn to get a Skulking Ghost..or any other critter for that matter.. by pitching a Contagion at the Rainbow during his upkeep. With only 18 creatures capable of serving up sufficient beatdown, I don't get one in the 4 turns I bought myself to do a measely 2 damage to him. Game record: 3-5 Match record: 1-2-0 Match 4: vs. a Green Speed/Machine deck. A fairly unexperienced newbie, who packed the deck with Scaled Wurms, Forces of Nature, and Crashes of Rhinos. If I couldn't beat THIS, I had no right playing Magic. Game one: Dead very, very fast. I killed his Elves with Contagions, and overran him with Askaris and Skulkers. It's a race to the bottom, for him. Game two: Same as before, except he tries to play a LifeForce when I have sufficient creatures to kill him in 3 turns. He tapped out to cast it and a creature, leaving 2 open for one use of the Lifeforce. Hello, Mr. Orb. Gruesome... he even tried to stop the bleeding by summoning a Force of Nature to block (using a Sylvan Hierophant...who would have guessed? With scrub decks, you never know what is inside) when he is at 2. To make myself feel better, I anhilliate him next turn. I play a needless Dystopia to rub it in, and kill him with a Skulking Ghost ;) Game record: 5-5 Match Record: 2-2-0 My god, I am running with a 50% Win Ratio and I still make it to the Top 8. If that is not personally embarrasing, I don't know what is....what does WotC think these championships mean, if you can make Top Eight in any division with a wimpy, wimpy record?? I didn't deserve to make it, but I didn't deserve the little flaws my deck made to spite me from a 3-1 or even a 4-0 record... so I look forward to playing the #2 seeded Junior, who is playing a Red/Green Machine. Same concept, extra colors for more Flank Knights and Direct Damage. QF Round: vs. a Red/Green Weenie/Blitz deck A solid deck, run by a knowledgeable player. I take my time shuffling, and don't even notice I didn't de-sideboard from my last match (2 Null Rods => 2 Dystopias). I find out when I try to sideboard for the second match, and tell him so. He decides not to be an ass about it, since it didn't have any impact, when I point out that the Nevi's Disks he is planning on SB'ing in are by no means tourney-legal in his deck, so I lend him 2 of mine as a 'goodwill' gesture and promise not to deck-check him, which he thought I would do when I made the comment about their condition.... Game one: Over really, really fast as he gets a flanker offense just a few steps before I can deal with them. I disrupt his play with Man o' Wars and hit him with Ghosts/Askaris, and lay 2 Anhks (didn't draw Orb until too late) just to wierd him out and wonder what the hell I am playing with ;). I get him to 11, he gets me to 0...because I tapped out my Quicksands and he hit me with Punishemnt, the Yavimaya Ants. Oh, well. Live and learn. Game two: Welcome to Angband, baby. The deck ran like greased lightning, locking him up when he tapped out after the third turn (I had cast a Worms) for a Suq Lancer. On my fourth turn, I play a Land, then Anhk and Orb at once. Keep his Lands paralyzed with the 'Icy Manipulator' to my lock, the Worms, he takes 2 a turn to play Lands for a while and casts another Suq. I've taken a good bit of damage already, I am at 11, and I respond by Contagioning both of their asses. I go to 10, he is at 12. He tries to Incinerate my Worms, I say 'No' with a well-timed Hydroblast. Black Knights and a Skulker end the ordeal. Game three: Suicide mode kicks in when I draw a City of Brass as my only Land, and Tutor (putting me at 17) for a Swamp. The head judge, who is observing our game, tells me that Land is the most commonly Tutored-for card. Sure, that reassures me a LOT. I hold of some Suq's with 2 Contagions, buying me a bit of time. When I have 4 Lands, I Anhk, and he actually takes a bit of damage from it so he can cast his bigger spells. I 'Sands his Punishment, and with my remaining 3 Lands I pray for the creatures I need to over-ride the one damned Flank Knight that is hurting me to an untimely death. I want a Hydroblast, Black Knight, Necrotog, or Man o' War to buy me time, because my opponent is already getting a bit nervous.. I am at 7, he is at 12. Hell of a comeback, from Suicide Mode. It just doesn't happen though; we trade blows a bit (I still have either an Askari or Skulker to damage with) and my deck plays its tricks on me...serving up the Man o' War I wanted when I am at one life, and my only means of casting it is with a City of Brass. So close I could taste victory... I scared my opponent shitless with my comeback strength. Best game of the tournament that I played, against a worthy opponent. Oh, crumbs. -----------------------FUTURE NOTES------------------------------------------ Mana-screws held me down, so I would replace the Quicksands with another Swamp and 2 Cities of Brass. I would go more heavily into Creatures, if the Weenie environment remains so popular, replacing the Null Rods and Vampiric Tutors with 4 Knights of Stromgald and leave Null Rods entirely in the SB. Fix the sideboard, dammit! I don't know WHAT I was smokin' the night before the tourney, when I made my SB, and left out 4 Dystopias. I'm an idiot, I guess, or just a total scrub ;) since I have yet to get past the quarterfinals at any Pro Tour Qualifier...bad luck mostly, and well-timed mana screws... and why didn't I use Glooms? Gloom, the Type II Nether Void. I actually considered MANA CHAINS for my sideboard, the night before... Bad pizza maybe? The Hydroblasts are great, and the Ebony Charms are also good against the right kind of deck (Maybe I will eventually play against a Buried Alive deck, who knows? Worse comes to worse, hit a Hammer out of there...) I 'lent' the deck idea to Dan Brothers in Cincinatti for a upcoming tournament, also on Saturday, and according to him he placed 2nd in the tournament against a varied field of skilled players. He contacted me through my articles on Beyond Dominia, he wanted a deck to play and was looking through the most recent article and wanted to play a U/W fun deck I wrote up last month... I couldn't let him do that! He also played Angband, all the way to the top... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Masters Division finals was played between a monoblack Necrodeck (Just rambling, but it couldn't have been much different from the one I built to test for States a week ago...) and a R/W/G Good Stuff Weenie/Control deck. Sorry that I couldn't tell you who won, but my guess would be the R/W/G deck... I saw some of Game 3 before I took the train home, and it wasn't looking terribly pretty for the Necro player.. he'd lost both Shades to Wraths of God or Burn, the second one because he didn't think to Coerce first, and the only damage he had dealt was through Drain Lifes. He was handling the game admirably enough, in fact they both were exceptional players, but the Necrodeck was staring down a Scalebane's Elite with 8 life, and he'd already used either 2 or 3 Dystopias. The only way he could kill it was with 2 Quicksands, and I think the R/W/G player had either a Giant Growth or Armageddon coming. Cute line by the Necro player, because he sacrifices the Necropotence that is becoming a bore to the R/W/G player's Nature's Wrath by playing a Swamp... and says 'That's cool, I should use Nature's Wrath in MY deck!!!' Hoping to begin another Black Summer, except not quite so Black and a little late in the summer...;) --Sean McKeown --Gandalf@BDominia.com "Look up into the bright blue sky, Can't you feel life passing by? If you could, wouldn't you, Try to soar over everything? All the pain this world can bring, Once I flew now I've lost my wings..." --White Town, "Once I Flew" by Jyoti Mishra