I attended Mountain Regionals, made 2nd Place, and earned a Nationals slot playing a Blazing Shoal deck. I’ve never really been one to follow the beaten path. Net decks just don’t suit me. I really prefer to take a look at the metagame and try to design a deck that is consistent, has staying power, and can compete against many of the top decks. You may think right off that playing with Blazing Shoals makes that previous statement ludicrous, but hopefully with proper explanation, people will be giving this card and deck more respect.

With Tooth and Nail decks in such a prominent position, I wanted to design a deck that was very fast so I would be in a position to end the game before or shortly after the Urza’s lands were in play. I believe that this has been accomplished with Blazing Saddles.

Blazing Saddles
4 City of Brass
3 Blinkmoth Nexus
5 Forest
5 Mountain
2 Shivan Oasis

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Hana Kami
4 Spark Elemental
4 Eternal Witness
3 Arc-Slogger
4 Myojin of Infinite Rage
2 Bringer of the Red Dawn

4 Lava Spike
4 Glacial Ray
4 Magma Jet
4 Blazing Shoals

Sideboard
3 Pyroclasm
4 Troll Ascetic
4 Naturalize
4 Viridian Shaman

First off, since Blazing Shoals came out, there have been many decks out there trying to abuse it to get the almighty “first turn kill”, although this deck can achieve this feat, it is not the focus. Trying to design a deck to kill on the first turn is foolhardy, and you will never get the consistency that you need to pull it off. Most of these decks have been mono-red decks that have no game after the first couple turns. By adding some powerful and synergetic green cards, the deck takes on a whole new feel. Here’s a quick card by card analysis.

City of Brass
Pretty much the only mana fixer available so an auto-include.

Blinkmoth Nexus
After getting mana-screwed many a time by having 4 of these in the deck, they were cut to 3. Great for an evasion creature and as a Blazing Shoal target.

Shivan Oasis
Way better than Pinecrest Ridge. During testing, having the Ridge tapped every other turn was driving me mad, the Oasis is superior in this deck.

Birds of Paradise
Obvious mana fixer but can be used as an attacker with evasion when you have a Blazing Shoals in hand.

Hana Kami
Eternal Witness #5-8, this little guy is amazing and saved me all day long. With 12 Arcane spells in the deck, this guy can do some amazing tricks. One opponent did a double take when they realized that Blazing Shoals is an arcane spell.

Spark Elemental
Included for a quick 3 to the head, or to get through blockers with a Blazing Shoals. People will very rarely block it because it’s going away at the end of the turn.

Eternal Witness
Any Green deck should include four of these without hesitation.

Arc-Slogger
He just wins games, and can also be used as a Blazing Shoals pitch card in a pinch.

Myojin of Infinite Rage
Strictly in the deck for pitching to Blazing Shoals, don’t expect to hard cast this one.

Bringer of the Red Dawn
The other main pitch card for Blazing Shoals, but this one you can actually play if you get some combination of Forest, Mountain, and 3 Birds or City of Brass. Having the alternate casting cost is a big plus for this deck.

Lava Spike
Great finisher, try and save for a splice with Glacial Ray.

Glacial Ray
Great removal, splices onto Lava Spike and Blazing Shoals.

Magma Jet
Pretty self-explanatory. One of the best burn spells red has ever seen.

Blazing Shoals
The first time I saw this card, I knew it could be abused, it just had to find the right deck.

Pyroclasm
For weenie strategies and Troll Ascetic when they’re tapped out.

Troll Ascetic
For Mono-Blue decks, I actually didn’t side this one in all day.

Naturalize
This was almost Oxidize, however, I didn’t want to lose to some random enchantment so this made the cut instead.

Viridian Shaman
Needed for the heavy equipment and artifact environment.

The deck is pretty self-explanatory: get out a creature, use Blazing Shoals on it, burn them out for the win. Although this is the ideal situation, many times you’ll be looking at a hand that is missing a piece of the puzzle. The deck has other win conditions in Arc-Slogger, Lava Spike splicing Glacial Ray recursion with Hana Kami and Eternal Witness, or just going straight beatdown if you have the right cards. Deciding which route to take can determine whether you win or lose. Also, the Blazing Shoal combo was often sided out after the first game. Blazing Shoal is a card that most people don’t expect. After seeing it game 1, people will side in cards that oppose it or hold onto removal for game 2, thus, they will often play more defensively giving you an advantage.

Anyway, enough about the deck and its subtle nuances, on to the tournament report and match ups. Mountain Regional was held in Salt Lake City, Utah. 166 players attended.

Match 1- Kris playing Erayo.dec
Game 1- Kris won the die roll and led off with Boseiju, Who Shelters All. I was assuming a Tooth and Nail deck so was surprised to see a turn 2 Island, and Arcbound Worker. I had out Hana Kami and had a couple burn spells in my hand. Turn 3 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant hit the board. He then proceeded to drop Chrome Mox, Chrome Mox, and Orochi Hatchery for zero counters. While the flip ability of Erayo was on the stack, I used Magma Jet to send it to the graveyard. After this, his hand was empty and I cleaned up with an Arc-Slogger and the aforementioned burn spells.

He didn’t see the Blazing Shoal combo in game 1, and I hadn’t seen this type of deck yet, so I made no sideboard changes.

Game 2 - Kris got out a turn 2 Erayo again, he attacked the following turn and I attempted to Magma Jet, he had Condescend in hand and after attack was able to flip him. I got stuck on twoland with no way to remove the nasty enchantment so conceded.

I sided out the Blazing Shoals combo for some artifact and enchantment removal.

Game 3 - I went first with Forest, Birds. He played a first turn Erayo with the aid of a Chorme Mox. Turn 2 I didn’t have the burn to kill Erayo, so he was flipped the next turn after Kris emptied his hand with cheap artifacts. Luckily, I had a Naturalize in hand. I played Lava Spike, which was an auto-counter, then got rid of the flipped Erayo. Two Viridian Shamans removed any opposition he could muster and the game quickly ended.

Match 2- Steve- R/G LD
Game 1 - I know Steve is a good player and has had some Pro Tour experience, he wins the die roll and leads off with Mountain. I play birds. He keeps laying Mountains and begins to destroy my land on turn 3, 4 and 5 with Stone Rains and Molten Rains. Luckily, my mana light deck keeps supplying land and I lay threats which eventually lead to an Eternal Witness attacking for 12. He does play a Troll Ascetic but Hana Kami returns the Blazing Shoal to my hand the next turn which is used on a Blinkmoth Nexus pitching Arc-Slogger for the win.

No cards were sideboarded here because I didn’t see any artifacts.

Game 2 - Steve goes down to six cards and I lead off with Forest, Birds again. He gets a quick start as well and Molten Rains my Blinkmoth Nexus I had just dropped. He had also sided in a Ghostly Prison that he played the following turn, so I decided to go the burn route for the win. A few Lava Spikes spliced with Glacial Ray’s sealed the deal after he got me down to 10 life with an attacking Molder Slug.

These games went pretty fast so we played a third game for fun. I soundly beat him again. He criticized me for playing Hana Kami, I guess he didn’t see how it won game 1 for me.

Match 3- Eric- Mono-Green Beatdown
Game 1 - I had read the article by Mike Flores the night before about how you should always shuffle your opponents deck and count their cards to make sure the deck is valid. Eric was quite offended by this, called me a cheater and a loser, asking if I would really want to win that way. I asked him if he would really want to win with an illegal deck to which he really didn’t have a response. I think that when you follow tournament rules and guidelines you can’t go wrong, even if you run into jerks like this.

Anyway, he wins the roll and leads off with Forest. I’m hoping it is Tooth and Nail because my hand is spectacular. I drop Forest, Birds. He has a turn 2 Rushwood Dryad. I know at this point, from his perspective, I could be playing mono-Green. I decide against playing a Mountain and play a Blinkmoth Nexus hoping to get a two-for-one with my Magma Jet in case he tries to suit up his Dryad with some Blanchwood Armor. Sure enough, the armor comes down and the creature is zapped in response. I quickly end the game with Eternal Witness attacking for 12 with Blazing Shoals splicing Glacial Ray and some other burn.

I don’t change anything since I didn’t see any artifacts game 1

Game 2 - He ends up getting a turn 3 Troll Ascetic, Turn 4 Umezawa’s Jitte. I can’t recover.

Just for future reference, whenever I sideboard in other games, it always looks like this.

Game 3 - Eric mulligans down to 6 this game. I end up playing as the control player. When he puts down a threat, I remove it. Eternal Witness helped me get rid of a few equipment as well by bringing back Naturalize. I also used a Pyroclasm to remove his Troll Ascetic at one point. Blinkmoth Nexus and some burn went all the way.

Match 4- Sol- White Weenie
Game 1 - Sol was a very nice guy who had driven down all the way from Montana to attend the tournament. He won the die roll and led off with a Lantern Kami. The weenies kept coming and all I could draw was Birds. My removal quickly dissipated and he got out a Skyhunter Skirmisher with Sword of Fire and Ice and crushed me.

I sideboarded in my artifact destruction.

Game 2 - This game couldn’t have gone better for me. I led off with Hana Kami, he played out a Suntail Hawk. I followed by playing another Hana Kami. He spent the next three turns playing equipment which I destroyed the following turn with Naturalizes and Viridian Shamans. Death followed by weenie Green creatures.

Game 3 - I came close to losing this one, he got out 2 fliers by turn 2 and followed with some nasty equipment. I had the answers again this game. He also dropped a Story Circle that was quickly Naturalized. He got me down to 5 life when he used Shining Shoal on an Arc-Slogger, but he was tapped out and at six life, and I had over 30 cards in my deck to feed to the Slogger.

Match 5- Eric- Tooth and Nail
Game 1 - Finally, I’m playing against the deck I had developed mine for. He wins the roll and leads off with an Urza Land. I get a turn 2 Magma Jet and setup my hand for a Spark Elemental attacking for 13 the next turn. He was down to 2 life when he Mind Slavered me two turns in a row. I thought for sure that this game was lost as he emptied my hand burning myself with Lava Spikes. With an empty hand, I luckily topdeck Magma Jet to end the game.

Game 2 - Eric gets off two early Vine Trellis and I Lava Spike him twice to get him down to 14. The following turn my Birds attack for 9 with Blazing Shoals pitching Bringer of the Red Dawn. Eternal Witness and Hana Kami both get back burn spells to finish the job before he can cast Tooth and Nail.

Match 6- Jeff- White Weenie
Game 1 - I’m quite surprised to see another White Weenie deck but I’m pretty sure I can handle it. He starts out with Hand of Honor and I get him down to 14 with two Spark Elementals. He doesn’t find any equipment to make his guys better and I finish him off with Lava Spike/Glacial Ray goodness recurred with Eternal Witness.

Game 2 - Skyhunter Skirmisher with Sword of Fire and Ice wrecks me.

Game 3 - I get out a quick Hana Kami and Eternal Witness recurring some burn for the easy win. My artifact removal showed up this game and I simply outraced him.

Match 7 and 8
These were Intentional Draws.

After 8 rounds I was ranked third. It was quite funny to walk around the tournament floor between rounds listening to people discuss my deck. I would hear people talking about the “turn 1 kill deck” or the “crappy Blazing Shoals deck”; many people came up to me requesting to look through the deck or for a deck list. It is quite gratifying to be able to have success with a deck of your own design.

(Quarter)Finals- Jason- Mono-Green Beatdown
Game 1 - Unfortunately for Jason, he had to mulligan three times this game. I won quite easily since he couldn’t muster any sort of defense.

I did sideboard after this game for the many artifacts and enchantments that Mono-Green uses.

Game 2 - I got stuck on two Forests and a Blinkmoth Nexus. I put up a good fight but he eventually got out an equipped Troll Ascetic. Without any artifact removal showing up, he made quick work of me.

Game 3- This game went all my way. A turn 1 and 3 Birds accelerated out a turn 4 Arc-Slogger. I quickly removed his tapped Birds of Paradise because I knew he had sided in Terrors. Arc-Slogger led the way by removing any creatures that Jason played. Even though he did Terror the Arc-Slogger later, he was down far enough to be in burn range.

Blazing Shoal is definitely a surprise card that will catch your opponent off guard. As you can see, this deck is quite versatile and has a lot of ways to win. If you’re a rogue player, put this together and try it at your next Friday Night Magic. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I certainly wasn’t.

Nathan Jerman

njerman@yahoo.com