Man, iTunes is an insidious thing. I initially loaded it on my computer at work so that I could subscribe to some podcasts to listen to at work when I’m doing some of the more tedious, mind-numbing tasks. Then I brought some of my favorite CDs in and uploaded a bunch of songs. So far, no problem.
However, the producers of some of the radio programs I podcast fill their breaks with music, much of it kick-ass and catchy, the kind that makes you go “damn, I forgot about that song!” So I start wandering over to the iTunes store… it’s only 99 cents, right? That’s not all that much… click! Instant music fix.
It’s so damn easy, and 99 cents is the perfect price point – it feels cheap and yet it’s basically a buck a pop, and several pops add up quick. Then you get your little email invoices that come in, $2 here, $5 there, and you start to feel like there’s a virtual hole in your online wallet that’s got a steady leak.
So iTunes steps in and makes you feel better with its free downloads. I initially thought these would be junk, but I’ve been surprised at how good many of them are. Here’s a few of the recent ones I’ve downloaded:
The Story, by Brandi Carlile
I love this song; it sounded cool the first time I heard it and I grow fonder of it with every listen. She starts out sounding like a pleasant-voiced folksy singer, starting out quiet, but then the song morphs into a hard-rocker before getting quiet again, and she pulls it off without sounding gimmicky or contrived. She’s quite attractive too. I think I’ll probably pick up her album.
Pieces of the Sun, by Test Your Reflex
This has got a great New Wave vibe that carries me back to the 80s, like the Psychedelic Furs with a higher pitched voice on the singer. As they say on their MySpace page, they are like a danceable, hum-able, heartfelt daydream. Good stuff!
Don’t Let Go, by Pacha Massive
Man, what a sexy groove! Latin funk flavor trip-hop, I could see tossing this on stereo at a party and everyone just bobbing their head enjoying the smooth sounds.
The Guide, by Borne
These guys are from Melbourne, and have the same vibe as Coldplay; this particular song is very catchy and has a real hopeful tone to their lyrics.
You Know I’m No Good, by Amy Whitehouse
Wow, this gal just blew me away! What a great classic, sultry strut that sounds straight out of the 40s that sounds fresh and delightful today.
I’m grateful for the free stuff, but at the same time I can’t help but wonder if it’s all part of the scheme, to make you feel good about the free stuff so you continue to click that BUY button with reckless abandon.
As a long term Magic addict, I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised by the behavior, eh?
One thing I’ve been trying to do more of lately is play Magic Online. Once Wizards took away the MTGO column and replaced it with Online Tech That Sometimes Throws Other Formats a Bone but is Mostly MTGO Standard, and I lost my weekly gig there, I suffered through some pretty serious god account withdrawals. I’ve slowly been building a collection though, picking up bulk commons and uncommons of interest, and snagging some bargain rares when I find ‘em. I’ve got the Dredge deck I built for the StarCityGaems.com Battle Royale series, and while I’ve updated it with Fa’adiyah Seers I haven’t yet been able to scrounge up any crucial Damnations. I’ve got a pretty good casual deck similar to the Harvest Green deck I talked about, packing a playset of my honey Saffi Eriksdotter and her big buddy Teneb the Harvester. I’ve got three Spectral Forces and three Stonewood Invocations, and Magus of the Disk and Loxodon Hierarchs. It’s getting there. I just need to bite the bullet for some duals when I have a little extra cash.
A few weeks back, I ran across SpikeBoyM, “Pauper Deck Challenge” advocate extraordinaire and all around Good Man, and he mentioned that there were some ideas floating around for a pauper Dredge deck, with the focus of the deck built around getting a Tangle Golem into play, attached with the Dragon enchantments from Onslaught block that had been Dredged into the graveyard. The key was Grim Harvest, a gem from Coldsnap utilizing the Recover mechanic.
Hmmm… pauper Dredge eh? As the godfather of Dredge, I was naturally intrigued. With those ideas bouncing together, I put together a deck that I thought would work pretty decent if given a chance.
The chance came this Saturday; when I logged on, SpikeBoyM notified me that a PDC tournament was about to fire up. Reading the rules right quick, I was pretty sure my deck was legal, though I needed to throw together a sideboard in a few minutes time. Here’s what I ended up playing (double checking on the Wall of Roots… so long as they were originally printed as commons, you can play ‘em in pauper):
Creatures (26)
- 3 Tangle Golem
- 4 Wall of Roots
- 2 Golgari Brownscale
- 2 Greater Mossdog
- 3 Shambling Shell
- 4 Stinkweed Imp
- 4 Greenseeker
- 4 Fa'adiyah Seer
Lands (20)
Spells (14)
The Eidolon / Shambling Shell element in the sideboard was in the original configuration, but I ended up cutting it to make room for other things, such as the Traitor’s Clutch, crucial for handling Looter Il- Kor, which strikes me as a common it would be wise to have an answer to. Also, it might be handy to help shadow through for an extra 3 or 4 points of damage to end the game a turn earlier. The Clutches were a good addition; the Shells and Eidolons in the board, not so much. I think there should definitely be four copies of Golgari Brownscale, since pitching it to Greenseeker and Dredging it back proves to be a nice little lifegain engine (especially if Fa’adiyah Seer is in on that action).
Boy, I wish Darkblast was common…
The land base is rather screwy too; there are way too many comes-into-play tapped lands (including the Terramorphic Expanse). I’ve since changed the configuration this way: -1 Golgari Rot-Farm, -2 Barren Moor, -2 Tranquil Thicket, +3 Forest, +2 Swamp.
So how did I do in the PDC_EURO tournament? Here’s a recap:
Round 1 versus 53N531
His avatar is the ninja, masked just like his name, I note with some amusement. I start the game with a hand of Forest, two Barren Moors, a Greenseeker, Fa’adiyah Seer, Wall of Roots and Grim Harvest. Looks good to me! I lead with a Moor, Forest, Wall of Roots and Greenseeker, while he starts out with two mountains, a Frostling and Karplusan Wolverine. Uh-oh – I smell some heat! I manage to stabilize at eleven life around turn 5, with a Wall of Roots, Greater Mossdog, and Tangle Golem in play facing down two Goblin Furriers. He manages to kill the Mossdog and Golem, but a Grim Harvest brings the Golem back – this time with Dragon Shadow. I Dredge back a Brownscale this time, boosting my life back up to eight while I go on offense. I get one hit in, and when I go for the kill he sacrifices two Mountains for a Fireblast to live another few turns while I cast Grim Harvest again to get the Golem back. He’s at five and only two Mountains and his Goblin Furrier when I replay the Golem, and he concedes.
The next two games go a little bit differently, as he rips off his avatar’s mask and anonymous MTGO handle and lets me know exactly who he is – the second coming of Dave Price (or maybe Dan Paskins), as he burns the ever loving crap out of me; I suppose the Fireblasts should have given me a clue. I’ve boarded up to four Brownscales and even bring in the Spiders but it doesn’t do any good, he unleashes fire direct to my dome. I manage to actually get enough critters out to go on offense, and bring him down to 1 life point with me at 2; he has no hand, types “CMON TOPDECK,” plays the card he drew as a morph, flips it and reveal Skirk Marauder, who happily chucks two points of burn at me. The last game is a blow out, as I have to mulligan down to five and have no early creatures, and he just steam rolls me, finishes with a Fireblast in fine firemage fashion.
Okay then – apparently you can assemble a fine burn deck with just commons!
Round 2 versus timotheos
He leads with a Spark Elemental and I sense yet another burn deck across the table. I take two of the mini Ball Lightnings to the grill before I drop a Wall of Roots to fend against his Keldon Marauder. The Wall soaks up an Incinerate with the Marauder set to Vanish next turn. I get another Wall out there and start to clutter the ground with Stinkweed Imp, Shambling Shell, Greater Mossdog, Fa’adiyah Seer, and finally a Tangle Golem, this time scooping up two Dragon Fangs and a Dragon Shadow from the graveyard, a whopping big guy I make bigger with Shambling Shell tokens to finish him off while I’m at a comfortable ten life. Game 2 an early Wall and Brownscale helps slow the bleeding, especially when I keep getting back the Brownscale for two life a pop. Soon a Tangle Golem enchanted with a Dragon Fangs hits the deck, he kills it, Grim Harvest does its dirty work and brings the fine fellow back. I get a Greenseeker in play, pitching Brownscale and Dredging it back to pad my life high enough to keep the Golem on offense to win the game in two straight.
Whew! Even sweeping the match you still feel lucky when you survive a burn deck…
Round 3 vs. WeenieHutJunior
Okay, his MTGO handle is actually MagicTrevor, but his deck has got to be one of the most annoying pauper decks ever created, and so I thought the Spongebob Squarepants reference was a more appropriate designation. To make things even worse, I’m paired down with this guy. WeenieHutJunior had a vision, a plan, and that plan involved countering or bouncing every single spell you cast while eventually, after pulling out your fingernails one by one, drop a free creature (Phyrexian Walker, Spire Golem), attack and Ninjitsu a Ninja of the Deep Hours out, and slowly kill you while preventing you from doing anything. I somehow actually win game 1 after plowing through 3 Counterspells, a Force Spike, 3 Repulses, a Mana Leak, two Prohibits, and an Exclude. Game 2 I have to mulligan, he counters and bounces everything and I end up conceding to save time. Game 3 I have to mulligan, he gets a turn 2 Ninja of the Deep Hours (thanks to turn 1 Phyrexian Walker) to give him a bottomless supply of counterspells and bounce, and I finally concede and drop from the tournament in disgust.
The guy running things, LulThyme, messages me, wondering why I was dropping before the Swiss was done, and I explained more or less that running into two burn decks and a WeenieHutJunior counter / bounce-a-thon was about as much fun as a root canal. “Some people get the wrong impressions,” he replied. “But PDC is a competitive format first.” Perhaps I was in the wrong mindset to tackle this tournament spur-of-the-moment, but for those of you who are interested in competing on the cheap, “fun” and “interesting” are down the list of priorities.
Anyway, if I ever get the steely nerve to swim with this crew again (or if you’re interested in giving this a whirl), I’ve made some adjustments to the deck that I think will help things:
Creatures (26)
- 4 Tangle Golem
- 4 Wall of Roots
- 4 Golgari Brownscale
- 2 Greater Mossdog
- 4 Stinkweed Imp
- 4 Greenseeker
- 4 Fa'adiyah Seer
Lands (17)
Spells (17)
Sideboard
Tangle Golem is a beating, especially now that I’ve got more actual Forests, so I went ahead up to four copies and increased the count of maindeck Golgari Brownscales to four also. In the sideboard, Urborg Syphon-Mage seems like a handy way to try and climb back out of life trouble if you can get him to stick a few turns, especially if you’re feeding it with Golgari Brownscale (and maybe our Green Sindbad). Ravenous Rats is a placeholder until I can think of something better to bring in against WeenieHutJunior type decks. Any ideas on that front?
Here’s the thread for the event if you’re interested, it’s got the rules particulars and details of the tournament (and I pump the fist a bit to see WeenieHutJunior didn’t make the Top 8). My man SpikeBoyM won the whole thing with this beast:
Creatures (34)
- 3 Llanowar Elves
- 3 Quirion Ranger
- 4 River Boa
- 4 Wild Mongrel
- 4 Basking Rootwalla
- 4 Tangle Golem
- 4 Elvish Warrior
- 4 Silhana Ledgewalker
- 4 Skarrgan Pit-Skulk
Lands (5)
Spells (21)
Sideboard
Yes, Armadillo Cloak is a friggin’ common – oh the humanity!
Looking for some more online abuse, I decide to try out one of the TSP-PLC Sealed 2X IPA QT. Wait a minute, I hate Sealed Luck, right? While it’s true I’d much rather play in a Constructed event, I lack the cards right now to put together a competitive deck – if only I had Damnations and dual lands, and I’d show the world how a real Dredge deck operates, instead of all these faux Dredgers running around! Ah well, what the heck, right?
I get my cards… and laugh. Somewhere, there has got to be some higher power with a sense of humor. I fully expected to get a mediocre deck, get crushed by bombs, and drop from the tournament feeling as crabby about Sealed deck as ever. Instead… I get to build this:
1 Call of the Herd
2 Ashcoat Bear
1 Aven Riftwatcher
1 Benalish Cavalry
1 Clockwork Hydra
1 Cradle to Grave
1 Deadwood Treefolk
1 Duskrider Peregrine
1 Essence Warden
1 Evolution Charm
1 Fallen Ideal
1 Feebleness
1 Mire Boa
1 Necrotic Sliver
1 Phyrexian Totem
1 Prismatic Lens
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Search for Tomorrow
1 Spinneret Sliver
1 Spirit Loop
1 Teneb, the Harvester
1 Vitaspore Thallid
8 Forest
6 Plains
3 Swamp
Obviously, I’m such an incredibly good Magic player to open up these cards. Yes, that’s Teneb the Harvester and Deadwood Treefolk… in and amongst some decent Green and White cards! C’mon, you can’t make this stuff up!
What’s really sad is that the Blue and Red look really tempting actually. Check out what I didn’t play:
Sideboard
1 Coalition Victory
1 Prodigal Sorcerer
1 Amrou Seekers
1 Angel’s Grace
1 Aquamorph Entity
1 Body Double
1 Bog Serpent
1 Bonesplitter Sliver
1 Brass Gnat
1 Circle of Affliction
1 Cyclopean Giant
1 Dark Withering
1 Deadly Grub
1 Dead / Gone
1 Dreadship Reef
1 Dreamscape Artist
1 Eternity Snare
1 Firefright Mage
1 Fury Charm
1 Grapeshot
1 Ground Rift
1 Hivestone
1 Ivory Giant
1 Keldon Halberdier
1 Looter il-Kor
1 Merfolk Thaumaturgist
1 Mindstab
1 Molten Slagheap
1 Momentary Blink
1 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
1 Needlepeak Spider
1 Pendelhaven Elder
1 Pentarch Ward
1 Poultice Sliver
1 Pulmonic Sliver
1 Pyrohemia
1 Reflex Sliver
1 Rift Bolt
1 Rough / Tumble
1 Savage Thallid
1 Screeching Sliver
1 Serendib Sorcerer
1 Shade of Trokair
1 Sidewinder Sliver
1 Sinew Sliver
1 Skirk Shaman
1 Skulking Knight
1 Snapback
1 Synchronous Sliver
1 Tectonic Fiend
1 Vampiric Link
1 Viscerid Deepwalker
I imagine some Limited gurus out there are already hitting the forums link to chastise me for not going U/R but seriously, how could I, Bennie Smith, not play Teneb the Harvester and Deadwood Treefolk when given the opportunity? I’d be violating all sorts of statutes and laws of nature.
Okay, let’s get it on! The tournament starts in 5… 4… 3… 2…
(Say, did we get a cool Hazezon Tamar promo card just for signing up? AWESOME! Sand Warrior nation!)
Round 1 versus bigdonbowski
Teneb shows up in both games and I win, w00t! I’m such a good player!
Round 2 versus blackknight46
He’s got Dralnu?! And lots of good sorceries and instants? What a lucksack!
Game 2, I go for the Sliver plan, I get early beats in but he stabilizes and develops a better board position. I then get the Pulmonic Sliver on the board, with Necrotic Sliver in hand getting ready to crack this game wide open, and what does he f***ing play? A Sliver. Now I can’t play my Necrotic Sliver because he’s got 3 mana open and can lock me down while he’s got a superior board position. Phthisis, suspended already, eventually seals my fate.
Round 3 versus Mesmx
I win in three, nice back and forth games, and I side into the Sliver plan and win the last game pretty easily. Why am I not playing these slivers in the maindeck?!
I think this is what I probably should be playing (of course, then again it’s nearly 4am so I might not be thinking straight):
1 Call of the Herd
2 Ashcoat Bear
1 Aven Riftwatcher
1 Benalish Cavalry
1 Cradle to Grave
1 Deadwood Treefolk
1 Evolution Charm
1 Feebleness
1 Hivestone
1 Mire Boa
1 Necrotic Sliver
1 Phyrexian Totem
1 Poultice Sliver
1 Prismatic Lens
1 Pulmonic Sliver
1 Reflex Sliver
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Search for Tomorrow
1 Sidewinder Sliver
1 Sinew Sliver
1 Spinneret Sliver
1 Teneb, the Harvester
8 Forest
6 Plains
3 Swamp
Hivestone madness, baby! I blame too much time between rounds in the wee hours…
C’mon round 4… is it really 4am? I am feeling a little punchy right now, can somebody knock me out already?
Round 4 versus Rozia
We go to three games, and in the last game I draw nothing but lands after my four-land opening hand and quickly get smashed by White beaters with Crovax. The shuffler giveth, the shuffler taketh away… I’m too tired to be pissed off, haha!
Almost 5am, I suppose that’s late enough for an old man. Off to bed!
‘Til next week, be kind and be strong!
Bennie