So – in my last article, I spoke about my lack of experience with OBC and Type Two recently. As such, I wanted to make a pair of decks that worked simply, and similarly. As such, I chose Fires as the base. I then spent a whole Saturday tuning and playtesting my Type Two Fires deck, eventually settling on a build.
Now it’s time for OBC. Of course, OBC doesn’t really have Fires, but Anger could easily fit. I start with a basic build, just to get the ball rolling. I play a few games online, but it really isn’t all that good.
Fires-ish
4 Anger
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Basking Rootwalla
3 Sylvan Safekeeper
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Firebolt
4 Spellbane Centaur
3 Elephant Guide
4 Call of the Herd
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Mossfire Valley
20 Basic Lands
I like having more one-drops than my Extended Sligh deck. Mongrel can get a Wurm out, Anger in the ‘Yard, and so forth.
However, I find some initial problems with the deck – and I’m sure you can see just as easily as I. I playtested with this for a few matches, before agreeing with my initial assessment – this deck is too random.
So I decide to read up some more. Now, recently there have been several articles online revolving around R/G in OBC. The one that seemed the most cogent and thorough was by The Ferrett. (Aw – The Ferrett, strategy miser) I decide to use his final deck as a sort of foundation.
The Ferrett claims that his deck, good as it may be, loses to Quiet Roar. Of course, Quiet Roar is expected to be everywhere at Origins, since it takes all of Catalyst Stones, properly built, as its lone rare. However, he boasts high winning percentages against everything else, so I build his deck on Apprentice and go play in some games. For reference, here is his deck:
//NAME: Untitled Deck A-Go-Go (The Ferrett)
10 Mountain
3 Spellbane Centaur
4 Call of the Herd
11 Forest
3 Mossfire Valley
3 Violent Eruption
3 Firebolt
3 Elephant Guide
4 Anger
4 Patchwork Gnomes
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Basking Rootwalla
I thought I wouldn’t like the Gnomes very much, but in some matchups they can be really good. Like Quiet Roar sans Wonder. But, as The Ferrett hath spoken, Wonder does make Quiet Roar a much different critter altogether. The general consensus is that R/G rolls over to Quiet Roar.
But why?
If, in fact, it is Wonder which is the problem, then there are several ways to stop it. You could remove Wonder from the graveyard, for starters, with Krosan Reclaimation for example. But that, of course, is not the only way to defeat Wonder. Is R/G fighting the right battle? You could also blow up islands. That would work. You could also just kill the little nightcrawlers, flying or not.
If R/G plays its cards effectively, then 6/6 tokens could have Flanking, Shadow, and Flying for all that it matters. You won’t be blocking 6/6 Wurms of Doom often, because they should be blocking you – ideally, of course. R/G should be so aggressive that you swing into Wurms, losing that Arrogant Wurm or something that was blocked, tossing a Firebolt out, and dealing four to six damage to the head, plus killing a token. Then, play a creature. He flashes a Wurm, repeat.
It doesn’t always work that way, of course. Sometimes Quiet Roar gets the”roll over” hand… But it doesn’t always, and you can take advantage of that fact. And, Quiet Roar minus an opening hand with Quiet Speculation will die, no matter how many Careful Studies and Mongrels and Roars it may draw cleanly. Unless it can cast three 6/6s nigthcrawlers on consecutive turns around the time G/R can hard-cast a Phantom Centaur, the deck does not do well.
Therefore, a R/G deck designed to defeat Quiet Roar should be aggressive enough to deal damage early, and have sufficient burn to knock them down.
And, ere is where I begin to part ways with The Ferrett. He is running six burn spells, and I find that a little low. Plus, as good as Patchwork Gnomes may be versus Wonderless Roar, they are not that good in other matchups. I’d rather play fewer madness cards and run better quality overall. Here, then, is my next build:
Fires-ish-esque
4 Anger
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Basking Rootwalla
3 Sylvan Safekeeper
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Firebolt
4 Seton’s Scout
3 Elephant Guide
4 Call of the Herd
2 Arrogant Wurm
2 Violent Eruption
4 Mossfire Valley
11 Forests
9 Mountains
This deck plays a little more smoothly. I found that, often, the Safekeeper and Spellbanes were duplicative – I also wanted more two-drops. Since this deck has no elves or birds available, the creatures have to cost less by default. Another thing I like is that the Safekeeper can help reach threshold more easily. I don’t like Book Burning because I have few threshold cards, and it seems relatively meaningless by itself. I do need, however, more ways of discarding cards. A hand with Mongrel is so valuable that you simply have to keep it.
The deck still only has six burn slots, and I miss some more burn. I want to adjust that later.
Another problem was the massive graveyard removal running around. I played against some White Weenie, some Mono-Black, some U/G Madness, some G/R speed, and some Quiet Roar, plus the occasional rogue deck. Lots of decks were adding in graveyard removal. I needed a better Fires… And Anger was not it.
I like the Mongrels, Scouts, Safekeepers, Calls, Firebolts, and Rootwallas – I knew that any deck I built would have them at the core. The Lavamancer, as a pair, was nice, but not necessary. Sometimes, the Elephant Guide was broken; sometimes it was just an overcosted Unholy Strength. Arrogant Wurm, beefy as it is, really needs more ways of discarding. The Eruptions, as good in some matchups as you get, were weak in others. I was still losing to Quiet Roar and the mirror on a regular basis – and for that, I needed to tweak the deck.
Fires-ish-esque-like
2 Anger
3 Reckless Charge
4 Sylvan Safekeeper
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Seton’s Scout
4 Firebolt
2 Arrogant Wurm
2 Lightning Surge
3 Elephant Guide
4 Call of the Herd
4 Mossfire Valley
10 Forest
10 Mountain
This deck is a redder version, but is has some nice bonuses. I really like the Lightning Surge – with threshold, it reads”Destroy Target Phantom Centaur or Wurm token.” I played around with it and fell in love. It really helped in the mirror match, taking out their beef. And since I had these, I really needed that last Safekeeper to help achieve threshold.
I only had four ways of discarding, I often found myself hard-casting Anger and serving suicidially; not a very crux play. So I took out a few copies, and put in Reckless Charges. The Charge will always work from your hand once, and it’s cheap, and it doesn’t require a discard, and it can do something if you already have an Anger in your discard pile. I really do like it.
I start playtesting against my worst matchups… Namely, the mirror and Quiet Roar. After about ten games each, I went 3-7 versus Roar and 4-6 in the mirror; better than my previous records. I play a few games against a few other decks, and I found that, except for the Violent Eruption versus White Weenie, the deck’s chances had not been hurt much, However, since the Surge was working out for me in my hard matchups, and I expect to see more Roar + Mirror than White Weenie, I kept the Surge.
I need something else, though. Even with Threshold, my Scouts are 4/3, and can’t knock a flying 6/6 down. They can, of course, with help from a Guide. And they, like others, can serve into a Wurm before tasty burn comes out. But on defense, Sorcery burn is not quite as effective as, say, instant burn, or pump, or something.
I start browsing the cards. And two cards pique my interest:
Narcissism
I would like some more discard ability – plus, it can pump a Seton’s Scout and take out flying Wurms. It also gives something for extra land to help with, gives another way to toss Anger in the ‘Yard, and helps with threshold. That’s a pretty useful set of help. It’s disadvantage is that you lose some speed in order to cast it.
Gurzigost
I liked him in Type Two. On the ground, he defeats Wurm tokens singlehandedly. He also can help with Madness, although he would hurt threshold. Lastly, he has a big ol’ butt, good for stomping the mirror.
Of the two, however, Narcissism seems to me the most versatile. I am also liking Anger less and less in my playtesting. Reckless Charge is just better, because it helps two creatures attack and deals damage. And is a neat little package. And doesn’t need a Mountain. And doesn’t get hosed as badly by graveyard hatred. And….whew! Anger, on the other hand, might help anywhere two to four creatures attack, sans damage. Maybe.
I change my deck around to try out Narcissism. I notice that with Narcissism, Elephant Guide seems less and less useful. I like Narcissism better than Elephant Guides, and its more useful all around. My opponent has to treat all of my creatures as +2/+2, minimally. Arrogant Wurm becomes slightly more useful with another way to use its Madness ability, despite the additional cost of the discard; I was considering taking out those Wurms until now. I actually have an open slot, replacing the three Guides with two Narcissisms… So I put in two copies of Violent Eruption. It can always go to the dome, smack some creatures around, knock out two Wurm tokens that have been blocked by Seton Scouts, and cause general havoc, and with Narcissism, 1GRR is much easier than 1RRR. While the Surge is better because of its usefulness in the bad matchups, the Eruption still has uses.
So, here is the deck I take to Origins. Again, it comes with a highly tentative sideboard. I will probably change it based on what I see at the Grand Prix Trial.
Fires-ish-esque-like-ness
4 Reckless Charge
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Seton’s Scout
4 Sylvan Safekeeper
4 Call of the Herd
4 Firebolt
2 Narcissism
2 Lightning Surge
2 Violent Eruption
2 Arrogant Wurm
4 Mossfire Valley
11 Forests
7 Mountains
2 Barbarian Rings
The deck matches up better versus Control Black in several key areas. Before, when I ran four Angers, a Haunting Echoes would take them all out, unless I happened to have one in hand. Now, I likely still have in the deck. The diversified burn helps survive the Echoes. After I’ve dealt the initial damage, I can throw Surges at my opponent and generally make a nuisance of myself.
With the continued loss of Angers, the need for actual Mountains lessens to the point where I can now play a couple of Rings.
The below sideboard is really just a starting place. It is, again, a highly tentative board, easily changed based on what I see.
2 Genesis
3 Moment’s Peace
4 Phantom Centaur
1 Anger
3 Krosan Reclamation
2 Violent Eruption
Anyways, this is the virginal deck as it stands, prior to getting on a plane. How will the Twin Fires fare?
Interestingly, actually.
I fly into Columbus on Thursday morning and head to Origins. After dropping off my luggage at the Hampton, I go stand in line for a while to buy my badge of honor and courage and stuff.
Now this was my first time at Origins, ever. Playing Magic for 96 hours in a big concrete gymnasium that probably hosts the local circus… Well, not so fun. Anyways, I arrive with decklists in tow, and begin trading and buying the cards I need. I pick up two Calls, two Mossfire Valleys, three Seton’s Scouts, and so forth. I build the decks and playtest a little.
I play in a quick draft (quick, because I lose) and then head over to the tournament area and sign up for a side Type Two tournament. At midnight. I swear, I don’t know where my Thursday went, but I distinctly remember taking a five-hour nap, and that probably had something to do with it. I fell asleep a little after 3 p.m. (when my hotel allowed check-in) and woke up a little before nine. I was sleepy. This would not be the first time that cursed sleep would do me in.
So I finish acquiring cards about thirty minutes before the Type Two tourney begins (that’s 11:30 for you readers that are counting). I shuffle and talk a bit to Mike Villa, a longtime friend who made Top 8 at the Grand Prix Trial.
Enter the tournament. Remember this is Type Two, so I am with Fires. Here is that decklist again, for your perusal:
Semi-Quasi-Proto-Neo-Fires
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Llanowar Elves (snif)
4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Phantom Centaur
4 Call of the Herd
4 Fires of Yavimaya
3 Kavu Titan
2 Shivan Wurm
3 Assault/Battery
4 Firebolt
1 Relentless Assault
11 Forest
7 Mountain
4 Karplusan Forest
1 Mossfire Valley
1 Keldon Necropolis
Now, SQPN-Fires was pretty decent in playtesting. After talking to some people and exploring my cards, I tweak my sideboard to:
2 Earthquake
1 Ghitu Fire
4 Hull Breach
4 Spellbane Centaur
2 Tangle
2 Krosan Reclamation
I hit the Type Two tournament, and here is the blow by blow.
Round One – Keith Thompson, with G/R
My first matchup is against he mirror. Now, in case you forgot, the deck with Fires just wins a lot against the Non-Fires deck. In the first game, he gets the early jump with an unkicked Kavu Titan before I play a Phantom Centaur. I burn a creature and Flametongue another and serve four consecutive turns with the Centaur to win the first game.
In the second game, I get a slower hand consisting of Calls, while he gets the quick Mongrel jump on me. He is able to Flametongue a Call, pump a Mongrel, toss down an Arrogant Wurm, and essentially gets the”God Hand” against me for the win.
In the third game, I slap down a second-turn Fires, and then a Kavu Titan with Kicker. I trade with his Titan with Kicker before we stare at each other behind our beef. I draw some burn and another Titan, Kick it out, attack with its hasted ass, and essentially see my way through with celerity and burn.
So I win the mirror – which is no surprise, really.
1-0
Round Two – Chris McCleese, with Trenches
If you were to go back and reread my Fires article, you’d see that I tested it against most of the field… But I stupidly forgot to get some experience versus Trenches. Nevertheless, I think I could have won this match.
The first game sees me playing stupidly – walking into a Wrath and losing to him easily. Once I correctly identified his deck, it was too late for the first game.
Now, I may not have Trenches experience, but I’ve been playing beatdown versus control since Time Immortal, and the basic rules are always the same:
- Don’t Overextend
- Draw out Counters
- Play for Pressure.
I utilize these three laws in the second game, while he counters a lot of stuff. He occasionally Repulses or Routs one creature. But the rule is the same – keep his on the defensive always. I eventually run him out of counters and play my trump card – Shivan Wurm, bouncing my Birds. I win two turns later.
In the third game, I play similarly, getting him down quickly. He realizes that he has to go aggro to beat me, because I topdecked the Necropolis. He goes aggro, I get him down to seven, but lose. He is tapping out mainphase, and had I drawn one Earthquake or Ghitu Fire, I could have killed him. Ah well; that’s the way it goes sometimes.
I lose to a deck when I offered the first game as a sacrifice. Good experience though. 1-1
Round Three – Bill Ellis, with Bridges
Unlike Trenches, I did have some Bridges experience. My problem here was in identifying my opponent’s deck. In the first game, I play Elf, he Firebolts it. I play Fires, he stays steady. I slap down Phantom Centaur, he burns it to only take four, then burns it again on his turn. I draw and play my Shivan Wurm and swing for seven, he scoops.
So what have I seen? Three Mountains, a Firebolt, Violent Eruption, and Fire. That could be a lot of stuff in Type Two. I elect not to board, since I won.
In the second game, he gets Bridge and Skullcap very quickly, and I am unable to kill him. I drew the Necropolis and I’m tossing everything at him, but his one-sided Howling Mine draws more burn than my Necropolis.
I side in my Hull Breaches, but do not draw any, as he again gets the Skullcap/Bridge combo and goes off.
Note to self: Self, aggressively Paris for Hull Breach next time. 1-2
Round Four – Tom Maguire, with G/W
I’m bored, and a little sleepy, despite my nap extravaganza. However, at 3:00 a.m., there really aren’t any alternatives to finishing my Type Two tournament, or going to bed… So I play in round 4. Here are my life totals and notations:
Game 1
19 PL
18 Elf
Game 2
19 PL
18 PL
So I took four damage across two games. Here are his totals:
Game 1
15 PC
4 PC, FTK, KT
Game 2
19 Elf
25 Chastise
21 FTK
17 FTK
13 FTK
8 PC
3 PC
KT is Kavu Titan, PC is Phantom Centaur. PL is painland. I figure you know what FTK is. So he Chastised my Shivan Wurm (and used a painland to do it I think), but still was soundly run over.
2-2, but I’m very sleepy, so I drop and grab some shuteye.
I elect to not set any alarm. The only event in the morning is the Team PTQ, and I am bereft of a team. So, I just sleep…
…Until 2:00 p.m.
It’s like I was narcoleptic or something. Of course, this would not be the last time I would feel the Wrath of Slumber.
I wake up, shower, and go forth, playing in a 3:00 Sealed event, which I placed in and grabbed some prizes with my Neo-Tempest sealed deck. My sealed deck was, I kid you not, G/R. I was like my entire weekend was spent playing those colors. My hope is that my sealed goodness will translate into Constructed fun. I win a draft, and place second in another draft, then go do some role-playing for a while, before heading to bed around 2:00 a.m.
Here’s an interesting observation, though: I stayed up until the wee hours on two occasions.
The Metal Pushers? They had all packed up, their room was closed and guarded by rent-a-cops.
The Dice Chuckers? Except for two or three hardcore LARPers, their tables were empty and they had gone home.
The Card Flippers? We were having tournaments still, and playing, and buying cards, and so forth.
So who are the true champions of gaming might?
Anyways, I wake up and head down to the Amateur Championships with my Type Two deck in hand. I register early, and decline a few casual matches. It jinxes my deck.
AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS roll around. My first time playing in them. Maybe my last (you’ll see why).
Round One – Brian Fox, with R/G
My opponent is shuffling and accidentally flips a few cards over, revealing Karplusan Forest. I silently think to myself that I have this matchup. The deck with Fires just wins, in case you were not reading earlier. He goes first and drops a couple of Elephant tokens. I slap down a Phantom Centaur, but it’s a little too light for his hoard. He draws creatures, and I don’t draw as many, win to him. In the second round, I get the nuts Fires hand, and win.
Well, I should have won. But here is my recollection of the match:
I play Call Token.
“I cast Flametongue, target your token?”
“Okay.” I untap.”Flametongue your Flametongue, swing for four.”
“I cast Flametongue, target your Flametongue.”
“Okay – flashback Call.”
“I cast Flametongue, target your token. Swing for four.”
If I were my friend Ben, I’d have thrown my deck. In the air. And watched the confetti-like swirls of my dark green sleeved Fires cards caress the air before landing in midst of several matches. My deck is strong in the mirror, I have playtested aggressively… And yet I lose to Flametongue-Boy.
Ah well; it happens.
0-1
Round Two – Stewart Beattice, with Quiet Roar
Good News: Quiet Roar lost Round One!
Bad News: I draw Quiet Roar!
In the first game, my opponent sits behind his life total of twenty for the entire game. My deck laughs in the face of danger and yields nothing helpful as mounds of Wurms come bounding my way. In the second game, here is his life total:
18 KT
13 KT & T
8 KT w/ K
Where KT is Kavu Titan, T is Elephant Token, KT w/ K, is a kickied Titan, and X is equal to the square of the….
Heh, just checking to see if you were still reading. I had the Fires out and everything.
The third game I scoop when he gets the third 6/6 in play and then bounces my stuff, before he attacks, so I technically lost at fifteen life. I guess. I still think Roar should lose to a real control deck… You know, the kind with bounce and counterspells and wraths. Maybe that is just me. Hell, if anybody played Wash Out today, they were all teched up.
Now, here is the final chapter in the Attack of Sleep. I had woken up with a slight cold, and I took some medication in the morning. During the second round, I was yawning and seeing things blurry. So, my cold medicine was a tranq. I think I misplayed in the Quiet Roar matchup several times, and probably lost because of it. But hey, everybody always has an excuse for losing, and I don’t want to take away from my opponent, who played well.
I grab a three hour nap, drink a cup of coffee, and then enter the OBC PTQ.
After a Grand Prix Trial and several side events, the environment was beginning to gel. Here was my final sideboard:
3 Krosan Reclamation
1 Violent Eruption
4 Phantom Centaur
2 Moment’s Peace
1 Lightning Surge
1 Flaring Pain
3 Spellbane Centaur
I have the Krosan Reclamation for graveyard hate. The extra Eruption and Surge come in when the other is not as good. The Phantom Centaurs come in for creature-based battles, like the mirror and G/W. The Spellbanes are for when bouncey bouncey bounce is played (like, hyper bounce and stuff). That single copy of Flaring Pain is for the dreaded Solitary Confinement matchup. There; it is to be used as subterfuge, an ambush by attacking every turn despite the prevention of damage in order to lull combo-boy to sleep and then pounce with Flaring Pain. Since that matchup could take a while, only one copy should be needed.
Now this should be interesting. This is my last chance for vindication – except for a Grand Prix Trial on Sunday, but that is hardly the vindication I seek. This is a crowded PTQ with several big names running around. I figure that the guy who qualifies here could do really well on the Tour.
Round One – Otis Dean, with U/W Control, from Cincinnati
Well, if you want to out-tech the field, I guess you play straight up control. With poor counterspells in OBC, though, I wouldn’t think of this as a successful strategy. And, R/G gets a lot of stuff down fast. I never get below eighteen as I run through him with Scouts, Mongrels, and Elephants.
1-0
Round Two – Jacob Beal, with G/W Control, from Radcliffe (Kentucky, for those of you that don’t know)
We sit behind a creature stall in game one. I had knocked him down to eight life, while I was at nineteen… Then he casts Living Wish, gets Glory, discards it to his Hound, gives his army Pro Green, and Alpha Strikes me out of existence.
Oh yeah, Moment’s Peace is going in.
The second game is much more even. We exchange some creatures and discards. After a while I run him out of cards, and he has a Mystic Enforcer in play, with threshold, and nineteen life. I have a Phantom Centaur, Scout, and Elephant Token in play. I should win this damage race.
… And then he topdecks, keeps the card in his hand, and attacks with the Enforcer.
My heart sinks. No reason to attack with the Enforcer unless you have something that will stop my hoard. I tell him”What will you give me if I can accurately predict the card in your hand?” – but he does not respond with”A Game Win” like I had hoped. It was, of course, Moment’s Peace, which I bait out of him, keeping the Scout back to block. I take another six, putting me at three, then attack into the flashback Peace. He attacks, I block with the Scout. He then plays a creature, and its game over. Lost to a freakin’ topdeck.
1-1
Round Three – Matthew Diesch, with Quiet Roar, from good ol’ Michigan
I have seen Matt around at Pre-Releases and things next door in Detroit. In the first game he gets mana-screwed and I roll to easy victory. The second game sees a quick Wild Mongrel, some bounce, some discard to the Mongrel.
Oh yeah; he discards two Roars to the Mongrel. He doesn’t even need to Quiet Spec.
In the third game, it was tight. I had him down to three, while I was at six. I have out a Safekeeper and Mongrel, he has a Mongral and Aquqmoeba. However, I had a Reckless Charge and Lightning Surge in my ‘Yard. With six mana out, all I needed to do was topdeck a creature (since one of my creatures that was out was a Mongrel, essentially, every creature in my deck cost three or less) or a land to kill him. Pretty good odds of that happening, so he correctly casts Upheaval. I play a land and the Safekeeper; he plays Aquamoeba, I play Mongrel, and so forth. We sit around for a while, until I draw Narcissism. Narcissism keeps him chumpblocking and pumping his Mongrel until he runs out of cards, then I kill him. Krosan Reclamation also did some duty taking out an Aether Burst, Wonder, Roar, and something else.
2-1
Round Four – Craig Wescoe, with Quiet Roar, from Nashville
A quiet guy (not really meant to be a pun, but I’ll take what I can get) who has won and placed in some PTQs. I trounce him in game one, with everything going according to plan. Get the QR player on the defensive, swing into tokens, kill everything that moves.
Game two did not go according to plan, as he took six total – both from his two Deep Analyses. In game three, I needed a solitary Scout or burn, or something. He counters a couple of critical spells of mine, and wins.
2-2
I’m tired of 2-2 records, so I drop.
I relax on Sunday (it’s the Lord’s day) and play a little casual. I was tuckered out from Magic and lots of, um, sleeping I guess. I watched some TV after everybody left. My plane didn’t leave until Monday afternoon, so I spent the evening watching VH1s Top 100 One Hit Wonders of all time. I also grabbed Escape from Alcatraz and To Sir, With Love, both flicks I’d never seen but always wanted to. I’m not too sure about Origins in the future, but it was a fine experience.
A few comments about G/R:
Phantom Centaur – This guy is nuts, he is insane, and if you play Green without playing him, you’d best be playing combo or something, because otherwise he is just so good in so many matchups. I expect to see a lot more of Mr. Centaur soon.
Narcissism – In OBC, won me a couple of games. Fine card, good madness and threshold enabler, knocks things down.
Lightning Surge – Really deserved more of a slot in the board. Good against the QR Matchup, but you want something else otherwise. Never a bad card, but not that great.
Violent Eruption – I think it’s overrated. Sorry.
Krosan Reclamation – Definitely the winner in the G/R graveyard conglomerate. Whether cast in response to a Haunting Echoes, or putting two Roars back, or surprise landing that Wonder-ous army, or halting the Anger of another, or otherwise being a bitch. This gets upped to four. If I were playing a more controllish deck, I would seriously give consideration to playing it main.
Seton’s Scout – Fine for OBC, and a good two-drop.
Relentless”Broken” Assault – I cannot tell you how many people told me they had tested or tired the Assault. Wow, really? There is nothing like having a small crowd watch your Type Two deck play against some control deck, and then go”Relentless Assault?” It’s fun.
Random advice from my friend Ben:
“Don’t ever play in a PTQ drunk. It’s the fastest way to a DCI ban.” He proceeded to tell me stories of using an Enlightened Tutor to grab a card and immediately play it, slap down a Faerie Conclave and tap it for mana, calling his opponent obscene names, and generally asking for a DQ. So don’t play at REL 3 or above while intoxicated. You have been warned, apparently.
I may tweak my OBC R/G deck, Fires-IELN, and take it to OBC PTQs this season. After all, I built it in a few hours, but it did perform much better than expected. It would have been 3-1 if it were not for a lucky topdeck by an opponent – and that in a crowded PTQ field with quite a few quality players.
Well anyways, that concludes the Twin Fires Experiment. I am, apparently, going to go grab some sleep.
Until Later,
Abe Sargent