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Here is my report form Origins '99 where US Nationals were held at a 4 day gaming convention. Mostly I played in Urza's Constructed so that I can help the team qualify. The first Urza's Constructed tournament that I played in, I played Mono-Green. I basically played it because I didn't have anything else that I felt good about. Little did I know that the deck despised me. Here is the deck list or at least one really close to it. 4 Pouncing Jaguar 4 Elvish Lyrist 4 Elvish Herder 4 Wild Dogs 4 Albino Troll 3 Ticking Gnomes 4 Rancor 4 Symbiosis 2 Hunting Moa 3 Might of Oaks 2 Splinter 4 Treetop Village 18 Forest Notable SB cards 2 Splinter 4 Thran Lens- good against blue because they put in Hibernation 1 Giant Crockadile- I wish I would have had more because they are good vs. Controlish non-Wildfire decks. You can just sit on an Elvish Herder and beat them with a 5/5 I went 1-2 because the deck hated me. I was playing 22 lands, and twice I had to discard about 3-5 times because I couldn't find my second land. I still think that the deck is good, but just didn't want to play that day. First round I played against a U/R control deck that ran red for Ghitu Slinger, Parch, and Arc Lightning. It was really close with me getting fast starts and then finishing him off with Treetop Villages. It is really hard for control to deal with the Villages because they can't Arc Lightning or Parch them. I think that he really should have run Powder Keg because it is a good way to get rid of creature lands and also a good way to kill creatures in general. Second round I played against his friend with the same deck and lost to it in a close 3 games. I just didn't draw as many Treetop Villages as I did in the first match. Final round I don't remember too much about besides I had to discard a lot and lost when I didn't feel I should have. Second day I played Mono Black. It was the deck that won the previous day. I saw the guy play it and he played really bad and was undefeated, so I figued that the deck had to be good. Here is an approx. listing: 4 Skittering Skirge 2 Flesh Reaver (Horrible, shouldn't have been in there) 2 Skittering Horror 3 Bone Shredder 4 Unearth 2 Masticore 4 Duress 3 Attrition 4 Expunge 2 Erridicate 4 Soul Feast 4 Dark Ritual 2 Yawgmoth's Will 18 Swamps 2 Spawning Pool I think that it needs another Yawgmoth's Will and maybe one more land. You should probably remove a Soul Feast because they are basically late game cards. The Attrition weren't as good as I though they were going to be, but that will come in later. I also think that 1 Expunge should be switched to another Bone Shredder. First match I lost to a person playing an Enchntress deck that I will speak more of later, because I can't draw a Soul Feast. I was literally more than 1/2 of the way through my deck and hadn't seen one yet. Second round I played a guy playing Darkest Hour (all creatures are black), pro Black creatures, and Worship. I think that I might have won a game with Soul Feast, but I lost the match. I couldn't deal with the Pro-Black guys because the Darkest Hour turned my Masticore into a black creature as well. Then I beat a guy that was trying a Yawgmoth's Bargain Combo deck with the Skirge that gives you mana for discarding things, Bubling Muck, Corrupt, and Sould Feast. He said that it had been working the day before, but he changed 6 cards and now it wasn't. All I know is that he went 0-3 and dropped. In the 4th round I played the guy that played the deck the day before and won. I beat him though because I'm just a better player. He didn't make as many errors as he did the previous day, but I believe that I got better draws as well. Then came the 3rd day. I met with Chris Senhouse on the 2nd day and he showed me this U/R deck that was a lot like "Where's the Phoenix?" that Labrre made top 8 with at NY. We proxied it and started to test it. That is what I played on day 3. 4 Powder Keg 2 Powersink 4 Miscalculation 4 Crater Hellion 1 Masticore 2 Morphling 4 Theiving Magpie 4 Treachery 4 Parch 4 Arc Lightning 4 Ghitu Encampment 4 Farie Conclave 11 Islands 9 Mountains The deck was suppose to contain 2 Masticore, 10 Islands, and 8 Mountains, but somehow when I put in the real cards that I had for the ones that he had proxied, land got added and a Masticore got taken out. A person won the day before with the deck, but their's contained Wildfire and Avalanche Riders. I played a person playing Mono-Black that I just crushed. Mono-Black really has no way to deal with other black creatres. Since I know that, I stole a lot of his Skittering Skirges and beat him down with them. He couldn't mount much of an offence because I would just Parch/Arc Lightning/Crater Hellion everything that he played, and eventually I just killed him. I'm not exactly sure what all I played that day, but I lost to the Wildfire version of the deck in the last round of swiss. In top 4 I beat the black deck again, and then beat the Enchantress deck from the day before in 3 pretty close games. Treachery was absolutely amazing the whole day. I think that if I were to play in another tournament, I would play the deck again becase it allows you to control the field early with burn, Treachery a creature if you have any problems, maybe Crater Hellion away some other creatures, and then kill them with Creature Lands. It is a great feeling to be in total control of the situation the whole game. Magpie is amazing when it comes to card advantage by the way. Masticore is less than Amazing in the deck though and it has some problems when it comes to dealing with Masticore and some Enchantments. I think that if someone gets a Rivalry down against you you have to start racing it and then you probably lose. I think that Masticore is wonderful if you are going to win the game in about 3 or 4 turns, but other than that I think he does more harm than good. Since this deck takes a while to kill, Masticore needs to leave I believe. Here is my current version of the deck: 4 Arc Lighting 4 Parch 4 Powder Keg 3 Power Sink 3 Miscalculation 4 Treachery 4 Crater Hellion 4 Thieving Magpie 2 Morphling 11 Island 9 Mountains 4 Ghitu Encampment 4 Faerie Conclave As you can see, I left the land count the same as it was the day before even though it was mistake. I really liked the way that I always had enough land to do what I wanted to do and the fact that 8 of the lands also count as your creatures makes it so that you can play that many lands. I'm still experimenting a little with it though. Things I'm considering are taking out 1 Power Keg and a Mountain and putting in 2 Avalanche Riders in their places. Most decks were running 2 colors, so you might be able to mana screw them a little bit early on and the Riders would be blockers or attackers vs. slower decks. Also I'm not sure about the counter magic. It didn't seem that useful in the tournament, but I have tested it a litte since I got home and it seems like I need it. Here is a SB that should be decent for it. 4 Hibernation 3 Annul 3 Avalance Riders 3 Viashino Heretic 2 Confiscate This is a rough estimate of the deck that got 2nd two days in a row. I played against it both days, losing to it with the Black deck because I couldn't draw any of my Soul Feasts for a ridiculously long time, and beating it in the finals with the U/R deck. I think that it definately has some potential because it uses lots of enchantments which are hard to get rid of. Here it is: 4 Argothian Enchantress 4 Yavamya Enchantress 4 Faith Healer 4 Mother of Runes 4 Exploration 4 Rancor 4 Brilliant Hallow 4 Worship 4 Fertile Ground 4 Treetop Village 4 Forbidding Watchtower 8 Forest 8 Plains It's a pretty approximate deck list because I never looked through the deck. The life gaining and card drawing can get silly when you have a Faith Healer and either a Rancor or Brilliant Hallow out. You just sac and recast for little mana giving you life, and cards if an Argothian Enchantress is out. The way that it took a game from me when I played the U/R deck was it went first and played Forest, Exploration, Treetop Village. Next turn it played Plains,Yavayma Enchantress (which is is a 3/3 now on second turn). Then on his turn three he played a Brilliant Hallow on it (making it a 5/6). The rest was pure beat down. There was basically nothing that I could do about it. If I would have gone first I might have been able to get off an Arc Lightning when it was a 3/3, but since I didn't I had no way of dealing with it in time. I think that the U/R deck is one that is going to be a major archetype. I think that it can be taken out though with some good Enchantments because it doesn't have any way of dealing with them. I'm actually considering adding main deck Annul's to the deck so that it has more of a chance against Enchantments. I guess the thing is that not many enchantments scare the deck, but those that do basically mean game over. I was testing it vs. Rivalry and just died because I couldn't deal with it. Any suggestions would be appreciated. |