"Good
ol' rock. Nothing beats rock." -Rhirhok, goblin archer
Since the
birth of my son last year, and the resulting chaos that ensues, its been nearly
a year since I last played in any Magic competition. So I got some time off for
good behaviour, and went to WARPCON for the weekend. The Saturday was a
pre-release, which was great as I had yet to own a card from Onslaught. I’m still undecided about Legions.
Interesting mechanic, that Provoke. The pre release was fun, made more so by my
game loss in round 3. I was playing a Red Blue deck. The judge came over, and
told me I had filled out my deck list incorrectly. I had written down my total
lands in the lands played column. So I got a game loss, and had to add 4
Mountains, 3 Islands and 8 Swamps to my deck!
This
meant I now had 31 land in a 53 card deck. Which I had to play in game 2 of
this round, though I could side them out in game 2 from now on. My opponent,
Peter Bunyan was shocked when I beat him with the 53 card deck. The shock
lasted until game 3, when I took out the extra land, and won the match. A good
omen!
Though of
course, I got hammered in the next two rounds, by two gleeful members of Team
5FU – Cormac and Noel.
Anyway,
onto the PTQ. I didn’t really like Rock, considering it a bit slow. In
playtesting, I was driven mad by the choice of creature kill – Smother, Terror,
or Edict. I often was holding a Smother while getting beaten down by an Arrogant
Wurm. Or Edict, when some useless creature is sacrificed. Worst of all, the
mirror match was a bit random – there was nothing you could do about Spirit
Monger. So I decided to add Red for Terminate. I wasn’t overly happy until I
discovered Avalanche Rider for the sideboard. Now that’s fun with Genesis! As
my team mates know, I do love graveyard recursion. There’s a price to pay for adding Red. You can’t really play
loads of multi lands, as this means the Elders become less useful in the long
game. And Rock is ALL about the long game…
So I
removed Volraths Stronghold and a Treetop to make 14 basic land. I moved Living
Death to the board as its useless against loads of decks.
24 LAND
7 Swamp
6 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Llanowar Wastes
1 Dust Bowl
3 Karplusan Forest
2 Treetop Village
18 CREATURES
1 Ravenous Baloth
2 Spike Feeder
2 Spiritmonger
4 Yavimaya Elder
1 Genesis
1 Boneshredder
3 Wall of Blossoms
4 Birds of Paradise
18 SPELLS
2 Vampiric Tutor
3 Cabal Therapy
3 Terminate
2 Living Wish
4 Pernicious Deed
2 Duress
1 Buried Alive
1 Haunting Echoes
Sideboard:
1 Choke
1 Terminate
1 Engineered Plague
1 Living Death
1 Avalanche Rider
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Masticore
1 Crypt Creeper
1 Filth
1 Faceless Butcher
1 Coffin Queen
1 Silvos, big huge trampling guy.
1 Genesis
1 City of
Brass
1
Dustbowl
Due to
time restraints, there’s only going to be 5 rounds, though we have enough
players for 6. Thomas Ralph is head judge, and does his usual good job. Theres five
5Fus playing – me, Darragh and Cormac with Rock, Noel with his
Guiltfeeder/Ensnaring Bridge thing, and Steve with Tog.
ROUND 1
G/W Madness with Geddon
This was
more of a type 2 deck really, but it was fast. I won game 1 fairly quickly.
Game 2, I was holding off his horde with a Baloth and some Walls, when he plays
two morph guys in a row. Of course, I know its Exalted Angel. Anyway he turns 1
over, and gains some life. Same next turn with the second one, and I’m in
trouble. Top deck a Deed though, and wipe his overextended side of the board to
take control and win.
ROUND 2
Draco Explosion – Greg McRandall
I have no
idea what hes playing for a few turns. First I thought it was CounterBurn, but
a Duress soon reveals what it is. Luckily I took no damage from pain lands, so
when he does Brainstorm to set up Erratic Explosion with a Draco I’m still on 4
life. One Fire/Ice gets me to two, but I have enough beatdown with Treetop and
Elder to kill him before he draws into it.
Out with
3 Terminate, 2 Deed. In with Rider, Coffin Queen, Creeper, Choke and Masticore.
In game
2, I don’t get any early pressure, though I get Dustbowl going. However, he
still goes off and kills me.
In game
3, I wish for Silvos. Hes in the board, as sometimes you want to get something that
ends the game quickly. Greg does manage to Draco me to 4, but I deed away his
Scroll Rack and Silvos eats him. CHOMP!
ROUND 3
Mono Green Beats – Max
Game 1 is
very, very fast:
TURN 1
Max: Lay
Forest, play elf.
Me: Lay
Swamp
TURN 2
Max: Lay
Forest, tap out to play Pouncing Jaguar and Albino Troll
Me: Oh
oh. Goto 18, Vamp for Deed. Untap, lay forest
TURN 3
Max: Pay
echo, play forest, Cast Rancor on the Troll. Attack to bring you to 11.
ME: Play
land, Deed. “Just you wait till I untap”
TURN 4
Max:
Attack, cast Symbosis, hit you for 12
Me: Wail!
So I got
3 turns before I died. Out with 2 Duress, Haunting Echoes and both Spirit
Monger. In with Flametongue, Faceless Butcher, Masticore, Crypt Creeper and
Terminate. Game 2, I have a hand with only 1 land (Karplusan Forest), and 1
BoP. However its filled with blocking goodness of 2 Elders, 1 Feeder, and a
Wish to top it off. Play Bop, Wish for City of Brass and I soon have total
control. I use another wish for Coffin
Queen, and keep recurring Bone Shredder until Max concedes.
Game 3 is
closer, but Deed clears the board, and I win. Phew!
ROUND 4
Rock - Cormac Smyth
Yes
indeed, time the patented Cormac and Diarmuid ID. Noel was unlucky to face two sligh
decks, so he dropped, and Steve is out as well. Darragh is still in contention
though.
ROUND 5
Dave Kearney
And
another ID.
QUATERFINALS
Rock - Cormac Smyth
I feel I
have the slight advantage here, as Corm is playing pure G/B with no way to
target Spirit Monger, while I have Terminate for his. But you never know! Our
first game is real weird. When the game ended, I had drawn no painless source
of green, and neither of us had drawn an Elder. My Boneshredder does about 4
points of damage, before I Vamp for a Spirit Monger, and eventually get through
Cormacs chump blockers.
Game 2, I
side out the 4 Bops, 2 Duress, and 1 Deed, to bring in Terminate, Living Death,
Flametongue, Crypt Creeper, Masticore, Filth and Faceless Butcher.
I have
Haunting Echoes and Living Death in hand when Cormac Therapys me for Elder. I
have none, but he flashs back to remove the Echoes. I then do the same on him!
So, at least we don’t have to worry about Echoes ending the game. I get
Masticore going, but Cormac has Faceless Butcher for it. Then he plays Genesis.
Cormac knows I have Terminate, but hes not too worried as he has Genesis. It
takes me a while to draw the second black for Living Death, but by then I
can’t, as he has a lot more pressure, and would just Butcher my Masticore when
the creatures come into play. The Genesis/Butcher thing really causes me
problems. Eventually Butcher is back in Cormacs hand, and I have Masticore is
in the graveyard. Cormac casts Living Death himself. Time is running out, and
I’m at 8 life, so hes going to get back loads of weenies – two feeders and two
elders and some walls. Masticore does sterling work by killing two elders and 1
feeder before Cormac can untap. Corm Butchers the Masticore, and I chump block
his initial attack, but I’m at 6. Time is called. I have a Wish in hand, and
draw Baloth. I wish for and cast Genesis , which dies to block his feedered up
4/5 Butcher. But this allows me to recur a Wall, and with a drawn Spirit Monger
and Baloth in play I survive the extra turns. Good games!
SEMI
FINAL Angry Hermit - Alan Meaney
I had
seen this deck, but I couldn’t remember what was in it. Alan mulligans to 4,
and I cast Cabal Therapy. I know Hermit Druid is in the deck, so that’s what I
name. All Alan has in some land and Anger. I Therapy some more on the following
turns, but Alans drawn nothing, and my turn 5 and turn 6 Mongers end his
misery.
Game 2
I’m unsure what to take out, so I take out a Deed, Bone Shredder and Buried
alive for Terminate, Coffin Queen and Crypt Fiend. Alan mulligans to 5 this
time, and I get Dustbowling early, reducing him to a single mountain at one
stage. He does manage to get to 2 land, and then re-animates a Crater Hellion
to slow me up. Which, for some reason, I Terminated, even though there was no
way he could pay the echo. He gets a Mox, which I deed, and I get Coffin Queen
into play to stop any graveyard messing on his side. He dies shortly after, so
I never really got to see the deck working.
FINAL
Rock – Darragh Long
Great to
see Darragh in the finals. He worked hard, so he really deserves it. We split
the prize money, with me getting the slot and he gets the extra booster.
PROPS
Team 5FU
– 3 in the top 8, 2 in the finals. We’re like a good looking, Irish version of
YMG.
Steve for
the Apprentice playtesting.
The
judges for a great day
SLOPS
Man, I
hate those new card layouts.
See ya
Diarmuid