So, my wife and I have been renting the TV series "Alias" using our Blockbuster infinite rentals membership. It's a very addictive show, and as soon as we finished a disk, we were rushing back to get the next one. The only problem is they only have one copy of each disk at the store, and when our next disk is out, oh man, do we unload a host of curses and plagues upon whoever is hoarding that thing. Fortunately, I found a way around the problem by getting the missing disks from the library, and all was good.

You may be wondering what this has to do with Magic. Well, I've been attending a few Kamigawa Block sealed qualifiers, and although I think it's a fun format, I cannot seem to get a decent sealed deck to save my life. I'm always forced to play three equal colors, and even then I have to fill it out with a few sketchy cards - which seem to be the only cards I actually draw. It's almost like a curse... and then I realized with that dawning horror that goes right to your bones: we've had Alias Season Three, part 2 sitting on our coffee table for almost three weeks. Oh man, the bad karma and imprecations that other Blockbuster patrons must have unloaded on me... it's no wonder that my sealed decks have eighteen playables across all five colors, that I draw ten lands in a row, while my opponents get their bombs early and often, and of course they always hit their one-outers just when I think I've got the game. No wonder at all.

Okay, so I'm a mathematical kind of guy and I don't really believe in luck. But still, it wouldn't hurt, would it, to return that DVD in time for the last PT: London qualifier in Vancouver, BC, and see if things have changed...

Well, maybe there's something to this karma thing, because I was not disappointed to receive:

White:
2 Blessed Breath
Hundred-Talon Kami
Kami of the Tattered Shoji
Kitsune Blademaster
Lantern Kami
Mothrider Samurai
Quiet Purity
Samurai Enforcers
Samurai of the Pale Curtain
Silverstorm Samurai
Terashi's Cry
Terashi's Grasp
Waxmane Baku

Blue:
Eye of Nowhere
Hisoka's Guard
Kaijin of the Vanishing Touch
Kami of the Twisted Reflection
Minamo's Meddling
Ninja of the Deep Hours
Phantom Wings
Soratami Mirror-Guard
Soratami Seer
Teardrop Kami
The Unspeakable

Black:
Ashen-Skin Zubera
Befoul
2 Crawling Flith
Cruel Deceiver
Devouring Greed
Genju of the Fens
Horobi's Whisper
Ink Eyes, Servant of Oni
Nezumi Cutthroat
Nezumi Ronin
Night Dealings
Numai Outcast
2 Psychic Spear
Ragged Veins
Skullsnatcher
Wicked Akuba

Red:
Akki Blizzard-Herder
Brothers Yamazaki
Brutal Deceiver
Crushing Pain
Goblin Cohort
Ire of Kaminari
Ishi-Ishi, Akki Crackshot
Lava Spike
Ronin Houndmaster
Ryusei, the Falling Star
Sokenzan Bruiser
Torrent of Stone
Yamabushi's Flame

Green:
Child of Thorns
Feral Deceiver
Genju of the Cedars
Hana Kami
Harbinger of Spring
Kashi-Tribe Reaver
Lifespinner
Lure
Matsu-Tribe Decoy
Orochi Leafcaller
Orochi Ranger
Petalmane Baku
Serpent Skin
Thousand-legged Kami
Vine Kami
Vital Surge

Land/Artifacts:
Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai
Hankyu
Shuko

The easy part of building this deck is that Black and Red are definitely on the team, with two bomb rares and great removal. However, I was just a couple of cards shy of going two colors straight up. I could do it, but it would mean playing some real bottom-of-the-barrel cards. Kamigawa sealed is a slow enough format that you don't want to compromise too much quality for the sake of consistency. In this case, the Red/Black build would have to be on the all-to-face plan, running Lava Spike and a very weak Devouring Greed. However, in sealed deck a lot more people (relative to the draft format) will have something like Hideous Laughter or Genju of the Fields that lets them get back into a game against the pure dorks-and-burn strategy. Consequently, I decided to bring in some White cards and played:

Genju of the Fens
Cruel Deceiver
Wicked Akuba
Skullsnatcher
Nezumi Cutthroat
Horobi's Whisper
Nezumi Ronin
Befoul
Ink Eyes, Servant of Oni
Goblin Cohort
Ishi-Ishi, Akki Crackshot
Brutal Deceiver
Yamabushi's Flame
Ronin Houndmaster
Torrent of Stone
Ryusei, the Falling Star
Blessed Breath
Kitsune Blademaster
Waxmane Baku
Terashi's Grasp
Mothrider Samurai
Kami of the Tattered Shoji

8 Swamp
5 Mountain
5 Plains

In hindsight, I may have been better off going for a much smaller Blue splash for a couple of fliers, instead of the heavier White. The real experiment today was Terashi's Grasp. I hypothesized that everyone would have a Genju, Honden, or good piece of equipment, and so in this more controlling build, I would want to have an answer. How did that work out? Let's find out...

Round 1 vs Tim
The Grasp proved useful right away when Tim put a Cage of Hands on a critical guy and tapped low on mana. Three life later, I had the game in hand. In the second game, he played a Honden of Infinite Rage, which would kill my Nezumi Ronin in play and two more creatures in my hand. Again the Grasp bailed me out. However, I then drew all of my Red cards and no Mountains, and started taking beats from a Ronin Warclub-bearing flier. When I finally did draw a Mountain and played Ryusei, Tim had the Cage of Hands. For the third game, Tim got a poor draw and put up little resistance.

1-0

Round 2 vs Jeff
By way of introduction, Jeff informed me that this is his first PTQ and second-ever tournament. He then dropped multiple fliers and unloaded Torrent of Fire, Befoul, and Blind With Anger on my creatures, and my Limited rating was in dire peril. My Ink-Eyes comes out, but I'm down to six life and so I have to also drop Ryusei to stop his fliers. For one dangerous turn any removal for Ryusei will kill my whole team and none of his guys. Luckily he is all out, and his air force turns into chump blockers for Ink-Eyes.

For this match I boarded out the Grasp for a Sokenzan Bruiser. He arrives on time to top out my curve and it's over quickly.

2-0

Round 3 vs Justin
Justin was my ride up, and we are the only two Seattle players present. So obviously we get paired at 2-0. Unfortunately this epic match was over quickly as I draw only lands in game 1, and only spells in game 2. At least this gives us time to go get lunch.

2-1

Round 4 vs Aaron
In the first game I have an interesting situation where I get in with Ink-Eyes and can take either Nezumi Graverobber or Moonlit Strider. Strider is the right choice, as he taps out for Konda next turn. Using the Strider to give Ink-Eyes pro-White, I force him to chump with his Pus Kami while he's tapped out. With Pus Kami out of the way, I can finally drop Ryusei and finish the job in the air.

In the second game I drew nine land and three spells versus his board of Nagao, two more Samurai, and Nezumi Cutthroat. Not winning that one.

The third game is very close. I get an early advantage, but I can't seem to draw enough lands, while he keeps playing creature after creature. Finally I get a couple of more Swamps to go with my Genju of the Fens. My opponent makes a puzzling alpha strike, where he throws away a guy into my Genju. It turns out that he thought it regenerated (like Spawning Pool) instead of pumping. This oversight is doubly bad as I can attack back and pump for exactly lethal damage.

3-1

Round 5 vs Ben
We split the first two games, and so my Top 8 hopes are hinging on the last game. I cast a turn 1 Cohort and a turn 2 Psychic Spear, seeing three land, Waking Nightmare, Moonlit Strider, and Gibbering Kami. I really want to take Waking Nightmare - he has cast it every game so far. However, I do have a Waxmane Baku, a four-drop, and a couple of cards I can pitch, so instead I take the 1/4 and go aggro. He doesn't draw any more creatures in time. At the end of the game, I have to pull local player Jason Gray over to my table, because he keeps coming by and seeing my matches when I have Ryusei and Ink-Eyes in play, and he seems to think that's the only way I can win. I demonstrate my victorious board position of a couple of dorks with just Psychic Spear and lands in the graveyard and he looks dubious.

4-1

Round 6 vs Jason
Speaking of Jason, we get paired up the next round. He is clearly in the Top 8 with an intentional draw, but my tiebreaks are not very good. There are ten people who will end up with 13 or more points, and I am currently eighth in tiebreaks. However, one of the people below me will end up with 15 points, pushing me to ninth unless my tiebreaks improve by over 2%. So I reluctantly play.

In the first game, I get a mediocre draw, while Jason curves out with fliers. I get Ink-Eyes down, but he can comfortably chump block while the fliers kill me. I try to ambush his Jetting Glasskite with Kami of the Tattered Shoji and another flier, but Jason is wise to my trick and holds back a turn, so I'm forced to burn my arcane spell (Horobi's Whisper) just to deal with Minamo Sightbender, of all things. After that the Glasskite takes me down. Jason's deck is very good UW/b with Keiga, and although my deck is very strong too, I figure that I have a better chance running the tiebreaks gamble than winning two straight. I ask Jason if he'll still do a draw, and after consulting the standings he graciously accepts.

4-1-1

So now I have to cheer on my previous opponents. I find Justin, and discover that he's playing another guy I played, so no help there. Finally I find Tim, my first round opponent, and demand that he win. It turns out he does, and Justin wins too (taking him to 11^th place at the top of the 4-2s). Incredibly, my tiebreaks go up by 5% and I make it in at 7^th seed. That means that someone actually did ID his way out of the Top 8, but it wasn't me.

Top 8 draft
In my first pack I'm happy to see a Hideous Laughter... always a good way to start things off. Unfortunately, the next-best card in that pack is also Black - Nezumi Cutthroat, along with an Order of the Sacred Bell and some decent white card. For my second pick I receive Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang, but I have to let it go so that I can take a Rend Flesh instead, so as to avoid a signaling disaster. For the same reason I third pick Devouring Greed over Ronin Houndmaster. However, the next pack is rife with Red cards. If Red is underdrafted, then I'm happy to be B/R and grab a late Frostwielder. To try and mollify the signaling situation, I let a few good Green and White cards go by very late, so that I am hopefully not sharing both colors with my neighbor.

Alas, as I found out later, I did end up feeding another B/R player, and paid for it in the second pack. On the up side, Red and Black turned out to be very deep. The pack I open is terrible and I take Kami of Fire's Roar, but the next pack has Rend Spirit, Painwracker Oni, and He Who Hungers (the guy to my left took Gutwrencher Oni out of that pack). I'm tempted by the Painwracker, since B/R can potentially pick up a lot of ogres, but instead I take the all-around-solid He Who Hungers. My legendary-spirit count goes up with Seizan, Perverter of Truth, who can be reasonably decent in a B/R deck, especially with Devouring Greed. I also pick up a deliciously late Frostwielder and Wicked Akuba.

In the third pack I have a tough call between Patron of the Akki and Ronin Warclub. I go with the Patron, which could be a mistake, but he is a lot better than most people think. Even if you straight-up cast him for six mana, he's a 5/5 who usually attacks for around 11. A couple of picks later I take Frost Ogre over Blademane Baku, thinking of my Hideous Laughter. This turns out to be a huge error as I get two more Frost Ogres later on, and my curve is becoming disastrous. I also take an Ogre Recluse over Goblin Cohort. Cohort is cheap and he can feed the Patron, but the Recluse can just put so much pressure on.

My deck ends up as follows:

1 Frostling
1 Akki Avalanchers
1 Hearth Kami
1 Ashen-Skin Zubera
1 Wicked Akuba
1 Shinka Gatekeeper
1 Takenuma Bleeder
1 Kami of the Waning Moon
2 Frostwielder
1 Kami of Fire's Roar
1 Ogre Recluse
2 Frost Ogre
1 He Who Hungers
1 Seizan, Perverter of Truth
1 Soul of Magma
1 Patron of the Akki
1 First Volley
1 No-Dachi
1 Rend Flesh
1 Hideous Laughter
1 Devouring Greed

9 Mountain
8 Swamp

Top 8 vs Morgan
Morgan comes out fast with an Ember-Fist Zubera, Pain Kami, Yamabushi's Flame on my Frostwielder, and splices a Glacial Ray onto Psychic Puppetry to kill another guy. He then plays Teller of Tales, and spends the next two turns casting back-to-back Consuming Votex, with the Glacial Ray spliced on.

This looks like it's going to be a rough match. I replace the clearly-terrible Seizan with a potentially-amazing Sideswipe and shuffle up for game 2. My opening hand is a little slow, but it has Hideous Laughter and Frostwielder, so I have to keep. My opponent again has a great draw: turn 2 Floodbringer, turn 3 Ninja of the Deep Hours. I'm still lacking a second Black for Laughter, so I drop the Frostwielder in case I need to stop the Ninja-Ophidian.

On turn 4, Morgan hits for another card and replays his Floodbringer, along with a second Floodbringer. I draw my second Swamp and play Frost Ogre, who receives a Yamabushi's Flame from Morgan, and so my Frostwielder makes the trade with Ninja of Deep Hours.

Now at six mana I play Patron of the Akki. This time Morgan makes a Mistblade Shinobi and bounces the Patron, replaying a Floodbringer. I consider answering back with Laughter to take out three creatures, but I decide to wait and just replay the Patron. He Puppetries the Patron and bounces it again with Shinobi, dropping a post-combat River Kaijin.

At eight mana, I play Ogre Recluse, hoping that that will make my opponent play one more creature pre-combat so my Hideous Laughter will be optimal. Morgan draws his card for the turn and his eyebrows go up. He does some calculations and casts a pre-combat Devouring Rage to tap my Recluse, sacrificing the River Kaijin to push through for the exact kill. Instead of taking lethal damage, I instead cast Hideous Laughter, wiping out his entire board and getting the five-for-one. I'll go ahead and count that as optimal.

After that, my Patron comes back down and after eating another Consuming Vortex I can start attacking for 14 every turn and make the comeback.

In game 3 Morgan curves out nicely with Goblin Cohort, Blademane Baku, Cunning Bandit, and a second Blademane. I'm one Swamp away from another one-sided wrath with Hideous Laughter, but he's one Island away from being able to cast his Blue Spirits and flip Cunning Bandit for a huge attack. As it turns out, neither of us draw our lands, at least not until I get my Ogre Recluse smashing while some other guys hold the fort.

Top 4 vs Shu
Shu is another old-school player, and he was my teammate at Pro Tour: Boston in 2002. He has mostly switched over to Poker now, but decided today to eschew the local monthly Poker tournament for a PTQ. It looks like that worked out well for him, and he drafted a great B/R weenie deck in the Top 8.

The game starts off with a double-mulligan for Shu. Strangely, the last couple of times my opponents have double-mulliganed, I have lost terribly. This game looks to be one of those as I get some early beats in and then draw unbounded quantities of land as Shu bounces back from his mulligan, dropping Gutwrencher Oni as his last card.

My last chance to get in the game is to drop Seizan; not ideal against a cheap aggro deck, but I currently have a 17 to 9 life advantage, so I have to run it. Working to my advantage is that fact that the Gutwrencher will cause him to discard one of the Seizan-drawn cards. I try to build up my army, and swing in with Seizan, forcing some chump blocks. A couple of turns later with the life totals at 8 to 5, I can push through for the win.

In game two, Shu mulligans once again. I get an early Frostling and Hearth Kami. The Kami trades with Shinka Gatekeeper, which I think is a good deal until he plays a Ronin Warclub that I now cannot destroy. Ronin Houndmaster picks up the Club running, and my only rejoinder is Soul of Magma. Seeing my lack of board development, Shu loads the Hounds up with an Uncontrollable Anger and I fall to 10 life. I comment that this would be a great time to draw Rend Flesh... and then proceed to do exactly that! How lucky. After that sick mise, my horde of Frost Ogres arrives to mop up.

For the finals, my opponent has no intention of going to London, and so we arrange a split. I've never been to Europe, but I have to attend a wedding there in July so I'm hoping to work the PT into my itinerary. So long as I remember to return my high-demand videos before boarding the plane, it should be good times.

- Brett.

Post Script:
Some of you may have read Noah Weil's article on Cube drafting, which took place in my apartment. As a service to others interested in the format, I have put the full list of my Cube on the web:

http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/allen/cube/

Enjoy!