Welcome to the first installment of what will be a semi-regular column here on Star City. Usually I'll be sharing my experiences in the latest PTQ or other major tournament, but I hope to find time to write some general strategy articles and probably an Invasion analysis of some sort as well.

Before I start, though, I've gotta give a quick 'Slop' to everyone who's been giving me a hard time about Bring It On. Yes, I saw it, and yes, it rocked. What's not to love about it? In a related story, I also thoroughly enjoyed the Britney concert last Monday night in Atlanta, and got hit on by high school girls. But that's another tale for another day. On with the report.

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Ahh... Birmingham. The first place I qualified for the Pro Tour (Mainz, back in Fall '97). Five times I've visited Atlanta's neighbor to the immediate west, and five times I've made the top 8. So when I left the Atlanta Invasion Prerelease on Saturday without knowing of anyone else in town who planned on making the trip, I decided I was just gonna go there by myself, making the two and a half-hour drive on less than five hours sleep, and try to mise in 'Bama one more time.

Apparently, no one was too excited about playing with a "dead" block the day after the Prerelease. Only 28 people showed up! I was the only representative from Atlanta. The field had its share of strong players, including Jeff Butz, Frank Hernandez, Brett Anderson, David Jafari, Bill Ericson, and others. (Don't worry, if you're not on this list it doesn't mean I think you suck!)

The turnout meant we'd only be playing five rounds of Swiss before cutting to Top 8 for the Rochester draft. The tournament was run efficiently, as always, by Dr. Bob and company. (I actually made it home before midnight, drive and all.)

The deck I opened at first glance was a piece of trash. Upon further examination, there was one build that was actually really strong, and there were no other plausible builds so I wouldn't have to second-guess myself. I decided I would be okay with getting it back.

I didn't. What I got back was much, MUCH deeper, with several possible builds. Here's the list:

Henge of Ramos
6 of each basic land

Belbe's Armor
Credit Voucher
Crenellated Wall
Puffer Extract

Alley Grifters
Cateran Brute
Dark Ritual
Extortion
Flay
Instigator
Misshapen Fiend
Plague Witch
Rain of Tears
Snuff Out
Specter's Wail
Steal Strength
Stronghold Discipline

Air Bladder
Blockade Runner
Brainstorm
Counterspell
Daze
Drake Hatchling
Energy Flux
Gush
Hoodwink
Rhystic Deluge
Ribbon Snake
Saprazzan Legate
Statecraft
Stormwatch Eagle

Blastoderm
Elephant Resurgence
Giant Caterpillar
Invigorate
Marsh Boa
Reverent Silence
Rib Cage Spider
Saproling Cluster
Silverglade Elemental
Skyshroud Claim
Snorting Gahr
Spidersilk Armor
Sustenance
Venomous Dragonfly
Vine Trellis
Woodripper

Ancient Hydra
Barbed Field
Battle Rampart
Crash
Devastate
Hammer Mage
Kris Mage
Kyren Sniper
Laccolith Whelp
Rhystic Lightning
Rock Badger
Sizzle
Wild Jhovall

Aura Fracture
Defender en-Vec
Defiant Falcon
Devout Witness
Diving Griffin
Entangler
Inviolability
Lightbringer
Orim's Cure
Pious Warrior
Ramosian Lieutenant
Reveille Squad
Soothing Balm
Steadfast Guard

Take a moment to decide what you would have done with this set of cards.





















Clearly there are several ways to go. Green jumps out at me as being the one color I have to play as a primary color. I'm a huge fan of having lots of fat monsters in Masques Sealed, and this time I finally got the good common run in the starter which allowed me to do so. The second color was trickier. Besides Black (which was only really possible as a splash for Snuff Out and Steal Strength), any of the other three colors could have been my second primary color. Red I eliminated for not being quite deep enough, though a splash for Hydra and Rhystic Lightning seemed viable. White was deep enough to allow me to play a two-color deck. However, I felt this design would have left me with some holes (too few flyers, making it easy for me to get stalemated and lose to an evasive creature like Blockade Runner, Breaker, Enforcer, etc.). Blue had four flyers plus Blockade Runner. That seems like a natural complement to the Green fat. So Blue it is. I still needed a splash to fill out the deck, and Hydra/Lightning seems a bit stronger than Snuff/Steal Strength, plus it gives me another monster to (sometimes) turn sideways. Here's what I went with:

-3 Swamp, -2 Mountain
+2 Forest, +2 Island, +1 Plains

Vine Trellis
Drake Hatchling
Ribbon Snake
Rib Cage Spider
Crenellated Wall
Blockade Runner
Saprazzan Legate
Stormwatch Eagle
Blastoderm
Giant Caterpillar
Snorting Gahr
Silverglade Elemental
Woodripper
Ancient Hydra

Brainstorm
Counterspell
Sustenance
Belbe's Armor
Invigorate
Spidersilk Armor
Rhystic Lightning
Gush

8 Forest
7 Island
3 Mountain

SB plan:
vs. Troubled Healer: Red out, 3 Swamps + Steal Strength + Snuff Out in.
vs. Red: Rhystic Lightning out (it's in my splash color and not a
creature), Rock Badger in.

Pairings are up...

Round 1: Adam Fears, G/R/U (true 3-color)

The first game starts out great for me--he plays first and has a Mountain; I TD my Legate and play it for free. I follow that up with a Drake Hatchling and Blockade Runner, then some ground fat. Adam, meanwhile, has an Arms Dealer (which takes out the Runner) and a Ceremonial Guard (which doesn't do a whole lot). My two flyers just about finish the job by themselves.

Game two sees Adam drop a quick Rishadan Airship and Treetop Bracered Lightning Hounds, plus an Arc Mage, to my Spidersilk Armor and ground fatties. The Hounds win a tight race versus my Silverglade Elemental and Giant Caterpillar. We're low on time for game 3, and Adam Bribes out my Blastoderm to hold off my ground troops. My air force can barely make a dent in his life total before time is called.

0-0-1 matches, 1-1 games.

Round 2: Frank Hernandez, B/W/U

Frank lost round 1; I'm paired down. I start the first game with Crenellated Wall, Spidersilk Armor, and Belbe's Armor to own the ground. Frank's main threat is a Hornclaw; I use my Hydra to blow up his Undertaker before his Lawbringer can remove it from the game. I make a Caterpillar and try to serve, but Frank Greel's Caresses it. So I make a token and start serving with that, backed up by Sustenance. Frank can't afford to block it, so he takes one a turn for many rounds. I have the Invigorate in hand to deliver the finishing blow, and add the Legate to the assault, but the token gets Maggot Therapied and the Sustenance Disenchanted. So I serve with the Legate until he's at five, then finish the job with the Invigorate.

Game 2 is going my way until Frank gets his Troubled Healer. I've drawn minimal fat this game, so after he removes what fatties I do have, his army of dorks is free to start serving. Between some midgame attacks from my fading monsters and his saving creatures that get blocked, Frank ends up with no lands in play or cards in hand, and my Hydra's still in my deck somewhere. However, I draw some more land while Frank's next two draws are Snuff Out and Swamp. He has little trouble forcing the final damage across.

Game 3 we each have lots of monsters, he has his Healer again, and I have Spidersilk Armor or some other very defensive card. We only had five minutes for this game, and I mulliganed... looks like another draw.

0-0-2 matches, 2-2 games.

Round 3: Ethan Myrick, G/R/U

Game 1, Ethan gets a turn 2 Saprazzan Heir that goes a LONG way. Meanwhile, I get out Rib Cage Spider and a fatty to his Stinging Barrier. I do a chunk of damage to him, play a Silverglade Elemental (playing around Rhystic Study throughout), then drop my Hydra and blow up the stupid Heir. Next turn, with Ethan at nine, I serve with the Spider, Silverglade, and Hydra. He Seal of Removals the Elemental and blocks the Spider; I Invigorate for the game.

Game 2 grinds into a huge stalemate thanks to our respective Spidersilk Armors. We've each got lots of creatures and I've got Crenellated Wall. My Blockade Runner is a few points ahead of his Barrier and Kris Mage, which is keeping his hand empty. I attack to take Ethan down to two. He draws (into an empty hand)... it's Brainstorm. He casts it, puts two cards back, and... Dehydrates my Blockade Runner. Talk about topdecks! I draw land, Gush for two lands, draw one final land and concede to his pinger, revealing a hand of about five or six lands. That sided-in Rock Badger might have been okay there.

For game 3, we're low on time. I get a super beatdown draw: Turn 3 Ribbon Snake, turn 4 Blastoderm, turn 5 Gahr. Invigorate (cast for three life) gets the Snake past Ethan's turn 3 Drake Hatchling, and Blasty does a lot of damage while Ethan Rhystic Scries. I get out a Rib Cage Spider and Ethan Bribes my Woodripper, leaving his last mana for Kris Mage. He blocks with both when I attack, dropping to eight, and I cast a Silverglade, with both my Armors in hand. On Ethan's turn he makes the Snake lose flying and Ruptures the Woodripper! This clears the board, leaving me at four and him at sixteen - but more importantly, I have no threats in play or in hand and time is running out. I draw my Crenellated Wall. Next turn it's my Legate, but Ethan has a blocker. After that, though, I find the Blockade Runner, and with Belbe's Armor and Crenellated Wall backing it up there isn't much a nonblack deck can do. Two hits from the Runner and I take the match just before we get to extra turns.

1-0-2 matches, 4-3 games.

Round 4: David Jafari, B/W/U

I knew I'd have to play David eventually; he lost early and is 2-1. Neither of us had optimal draws. I played a Drake Hatchling after blowing up his Nightwind Glider with Rhystic Lightning, and he played a Thermal Glider. I got Spidersilk Armor out and sent with the Drake a few times while David Highway Robbed me and played a Fresh Volunteers. He then played the card that would dominate the tempo of the match: War Tax. For many turns he Taxed and I served with the Drake for a small amount, and that was that. Then I found a Blastoderm with Dave at eleven and it got through once, putting him at six. This was key, as I was holding Ancient Hydra, waiting for him to fall to five or less. So the next turn, knowing he'd likely chump the Blastoderm if I sent that, I served with the Drake under War Tax as I felt he'd be less inclined to chump with the Glider. He had left two white open, though, and Cho-Manno's Blessinged it for Blue after blocking. So again we reached a stalemate (with my Spidersilk and Crenellated Wall, nothing was getting through). Before I could break out of it, Dave drew, looked excited, and tapped three mana.

"Troubled Healer?" I guessed... wrong.

Foil Troubled Healer.

Winning no longer seemed likely. I made a Caterpillar and served a couple times. It got through for three once, and I Invigorated it past his Jhovall Rider, which he didn't feel was worth three lands to save. However, that tapped me out, allowing Dave to use his topdecked Dominate to steal it. Next turn the hits didn't stop as Dave drew and cast Avatar of Will. This wasn't a threat, but it was a big body I needed to get through. I got my Blockade Runner, which ate a few of Dave's lands before getting Severed, returning him to six. I played out my Sustenance and the rest of my flyers as our libraries dwindled; he didn't play anything else of consequence, just some meaningless ground dudes while War Taxing away. I sent as many of Drake Hatchling, Ribbon Snake, Saprazzan Legate, and Stormwatch Eagle as Dave would allow, using Crenellated Wall to save whatever got blocked by the Avatar, watching another bounce with the pro-blue Glider, and making Dave eat a land or two to stay in the game at three life. I finally gave in and dropped the Hydra, and with careful timing I got it to deal two to Dave and eat three more precious lands. This started a snowball effect; Dave could no longer Tax for as much, which meant more of my flyers could attack, which meant more damage and more lands Dave had to sac, which led to less Taxing. I used Sustenance to trade two of my lands for one of his once this became efficient. Time was called, and on the second of my three turns, I was able to Sustenance for several, forcing Dave to drop to two lands. He drew and conceded. I had two cards left in my library. What a game!

2-0-2 matches, 5-3 games.

Round 5: Reggie Jackson, G/W/u

Having survived the marathon game with Jafari, I proceeded to serve up the most vicious sealed deck beats ever. Game 1 saw me play turn 2 Trellis, turn 3 Derm, turn 4 Woodripper, turn 5 Drake Hatchling/Sustenance, and turn 6 Snorting Gahr! Reggie was hosed for white and tried valiantly to stay in the game with turn 2 Trellis, turn 3 Drummer, turn 5 Extravagant Spirit, but the 'Derm ate two cards and did five, while the Ripper did about eight. Once the Gahr was active I sent everything and, thanks to Sustenance, I went down to one land and killed all Reggie's blockers. My next attack ended a quick and bloody game.

Game 2 we each had slow draws. I played Sustenance on turn 2 and Blockade Runner turn 4, stopping Reggie's third turn Airship after one attack by playing my last spell, a turn 5 Legate. Reggie stalled at three Islands and discarded a Steadfast Guard. Then he drew a plains and tried to Arrest my Blockade Runner, but I Counterspelled it. I then found a Gahr and turned my guys sideways against a single rather unimpressive blocker. With Reggie at nine I had the option of 'Geddoning myself to kill him exactly, but like a coward I decided not to get too ballsy and only did six. I had total command of the board; risking it seemed unnecessary. I just untapped and killed him next turn in what was my only easy match of the day, though in fairness his draws just weren't as good as mine. He played a Rhox at the end of the second game; I suspect this had played a large role in his success up until our match.

Final Swiss record: 3-0-2 matches (11 points), 7-3 games, #5 seed in Top 8.

Make that six top 8s in six trips to Birmingham. I LOVE this town! It's like a Salt Flats, only better! :)

The top 8 included Jeff Butz and Bill Ericson among a field of players I wasn't terribly familiar with. My top 8 opponent would be Ron Sutton, whom I had played twice before, defeating him 2-1 in round 1 of '99 Regionals and in the Swiss rounds of the Team PT in which I Q'd along with Dave Leader and Eric Ewald. End of history lesson. :) I was drafting 6th; Bill was opening. Jeff Butz was my bitch at #7.

The first pack had Shock Troops, Lightning Hounds, Stinging Barrier, Airship, Charmed Griffin, Sergeant, Tiger Claws, and crap. Bill took the first pick Shock Troops (one of three real choices) and Ron got the Griffin 2nd. The person picking 3rd made an usual choice of Airship (over Barrier?!?). I was really hoping I'd get the Hounds since I love Red (usually with Black), but they went 4th. The Barrier finally went 5th, and I took the Sergeant. On to pack 2; when it was my pick (5th), the best card left was a Blessing. In pack 3 I got a 4th pick Wild Jhovall (again, best card left, and I really like red). Pack 4 saw the opener take a Maggot Therapy over a Primeval Shambler (!), which I gladly scooped up. Unfortunately, this let Jeff take a Lunge, meaning I might have to fight for red. Pack 5 had Volcanic Wind and Cinder Elemental as uncommons and a Barrier for the guy who opened it. I eagerly took the Wind, but that let Jeff take the Elemental. My pack had Sever Soul; by now I was determined to make a run at Red/Black. Jeff, however, cracked a Snuff Out next and took it first, as it was the best card in the pack. I didn't do a very good job of signaling to Jeff, though in general there wasn't much I could have done about it; a late-pick Last Breath toward the end of Masques as I was drifting away from White didn't help.

Nemesis saw me get a good deal of solid Black despite Jeff's dabbling in it; this cost me a Seal of Doom and a Belbe's Percher, but I still got two Thugs, a Prowler, and a Vicious Hunger. I made what turned out to be a mistake, then I took a Flint Golem 6th or so over a Toady, which I had hoped would come back to me (it didn't), but at that point I needed solid creatures (I was light), not situational ones. I finally abandoned White when Jeff busted a Blinding Angel and took it, and for the rest of the draft I did a much better job cooperating with him, taking bad cards like Fog Patch to give Jeff a couple late Seals of Strength, as by then he had made a major move into Green. Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, the Airship-over-Barrier guy snatched up a Sneaky Homunculus on the front half of a pack. Strong.

Prophecy was very kind to me, as by then colors were established and people were cooperating with each other. Almost half my deck came from Prophecy, though I would have preferred not to have had to play with two Death Charmers (I got no Spur Grapplers or Fault Riders). Two Magetas were opened; these went third pick to the double Barrier guy on my right, and second pick to Jeff (out of my pack; I took Flameshot).

My final deck wasn't as strong as some of my recent R/B booster drafts at New Wave, but by Rochester standards it was still pretty good and probably solid enough to go all the way.

Cackling Witch
2x Spineless Thug
2x Death Charmer
Wall of Vipers
Laccolith Grunt
Fen Stalker
Phyrexian Prowler
2x Keldon Berserker
Wild Jhovall
Zerapa Minotaur
Primeval Shambler
Flowstone Crusher

Seal of Fire
2x Steal Strength
Vicious Hunger
Flameshot
Sever Soul
Volcanic Wind

9x Swamp
9x Mountain

Sideboard: Panic Attack, Flint Golem (my first opponent was White and I didn't want to have a Disenchant target), Skulking Fugitive, Stronghold discipline, Laccolith Whelp, Parallax Dementia, Ceremonial Guard, Crash, Downhill Charge, Devastate, Insubordination. I had plenty of options if I needed to go all-out aggro (and sacrifice card quality in the process).

In retrospect, seventeen land would have been plenty, but I was afraid of not having the land to cast my eleven four-plus casting cost spells. Panic Attack should have been main deck.

Quarterfinals: Ron Sutton, G/W

In game 1 he led off with a Defiant Falcon. I held back on my turn, hoping to Steal Strength after he played another creature, but he just said go after attacking. I Hungered the Falcon on my turn, and came out with a Thug. He played a gray ogre, and I used Steal Strength to bust through it before dropping the other Thug. He played Fountain Watch with Spidersilk Armor out; I Severed it and sent the Thugs again. I broke through his next two creatures with the other Steal and a Seal of Fire, doing several more damage and losing a Thug in the process, and with some other creatures I managed to drop Ron down to three life versus my twenty-six. He got out a Troll and Defiant Falcon to hold me off, and Thrived them. I said go, and he started cranking out Rebels. The game was slipping away; I needed Volcanic Wind or Fen Stalker, and fast. I didn't get them. A few more rebels, a Charmed Griffin, and a Thrive for six later, and I was sideboarding for game 2.

I brought in Panic Attack and Flint Golem for Wall of Vipers and a mountain. I came out with a couple more quick removal and a few fatties, which overcame his Fountain Watch and Devout Witness in short order.

For game 3 I went even more aggro, upgrading the Golem to Skulking Fugitive. He got out a Steadfast Guard, which I blew up, then a Marsh Boa and Rib Cage Spider. I served with Zerapa the Rappa and the Spider blocked, letting me kill it and the Boa with Steal Strength. Keldon Berserker and Primeval Shambler joined the party, and Ron couldn't hold them off for long. I won and advanced.

Semifinals: Neil Reeves, U/W

Neil was being fed by Jeff (seat #8) during the draft. He opened with some creature that didn't live very long plus a Rhystic Deluge, and I got a Thug that served once or twice. Trenching Steed put a stop to that, but I played my Jhovall. He made a weak effort to stop it with Deluge (he had all islands and a plain) but I paid and served. He kept his mana open for counters, which nailed my Prowler and another decent creature (they were Rethunk and Foiled). The Jhovall got through twice to put Neil at twelve, then a Thug/Jhovall attack and a Steal Strength from his Steed to my Jhovall left him with one less land and at eight. I got another Thug and a Death Charmer, and Vicious Hungered the Stormwatch Eagle he cast to get it out of the way of my troops long enough to come across with lethal damage. One game from the finals.

I brought in the Golem and Panic Attack, as before, for game 2. I got massive damage across early, dropping Neil to eight, and Severing his Troubled Healer along the way. However, this left me with no answer when he put Inviolability on his Diving Griffin. This gave him a guaranteed two-per-turn in the air and a permanent blocker. I'm not sure if he knew I had mostly damage-based removal (as opposed to Terrors) and sided it in, or had been playing it maindeck, but at any rate it was strangely effective against me given my large number of Swamps. Nevertheless, I still had more creatures than he, and got out a Fen Stalker to his one-card hand. He untapped and Scryed (I was tapped out), played a seventh land and Muzzled the Stalker. There goes my easy win. I got through some damage against his invincible Griffin and Trenching Steed, losing some guys in the process and taking him to four, but the Griffin just kept coming. He played Sliptide Serpent, but I had Volcanic Wind - and used it to kill that, a Rusting Golem, and forced him to bounce his Darting Merfolk. Still, however, I couldn't get through the Griffin and Steed. Panic Attack, WHERE ARE YOU? I could attack with everything and get Neil to two, but that would free up the Steed to come across and kill me. I drew one more card, and conceded. Panic Attack was a few cards down.

We only had about five minutes for game 3, and if we timed out, life points would determine the winner. This favored me, particularly since I would go first.

Neil did a lot of sideboarding for this game, taking out expensive cards like Sliptide Serpent and bringing in Trickster Mage. I think this was an extreme move, but anyway... he gets the Trickster on turn 1. I, meanwhile, have a slow hand with only Flint Golem, Flowstone Crusher, some removal and land. I could Seal the Trickster, but I wait since I have Steal Strength. I am rewarded for my patience when he plays a turn 3 Diving Griffin and I get to Seal that instead. I get out Flint Golem to stop the Trickster Mage "beats," but Neil gets out a Rusting Golem and an Outrigger. I go for a Flowstone Crusher at five mana. I know he has Daze in his deck. I HATE that card. If *I* played with it, I'd draw it on like turn 12 and it would be useless - or I'd have it early with no basic Island - but now that I've got to tap out for something important I just KNOW my opponent will have it, and my stupid deck just refuses to give me another worthwhile creature that costs four that I could play instead, OR give me the one more land that I could play next turn and then go for the Crusher... no, I have no real choice but to go for it now, and...

Imagine that...it gets Dazed!

Who'd have guessed...

Anyway, I play a Prowler the following turn, but he taps it with the Trickster, and I have to chump the Outrigger, taking three more from the Rusting Golem and putting me at eleven while Neil is still at twenty and I haven't even attacked yet. Next, he gets a Trenching Steed. I Steal Strength the Trickster Mage now that I've got an opening, and play Death Charmer, but can't attack with the Prowler safely. When the Outrigger returns, I Steal Strength from his Stormwatch Eagle and give it to the Boat, which I then Sever for six life (score: me 17 - him 20), but I have no pressure and the Prowler's about to fade out. The lost land to the Eagle means when he recasts it I'll be able to serve with Death Charmer and do its two life loss next turn, but he'll still get the last attack and I'll be a point behind anyway. He doesn't recast the Eagle; he has a Zeppelin instead. My last draw is Laccolith Grunt, which does nothing; I serve with the Charmer and lose it to the Steed, making Neil lose two life, but after that I know it's over and concede. He would have been able to get through with the Zeppelin and win by four points anyway.

So there you have it. I was up 1-0 and 8 life points away from the finals. A Muzzled Fen Stalker and no Panic Attack later, and it was on to game 3. A passive draw and a huge Daze later, and I was reduced to trying to figure out what to say about my 17th trip to the top 8 of a PTQ without a victory.

How about "maybe next time"?

--Sol Malka