Leading up to States, I really had no clue what to play. Gifts and White Weenie were obviously going to be the decks to beat going in as they were the decks to beat during the block season, but beyond them the field was wide open. A week before the tournament current Kentucky state champion Josh X Claytor showed me the deck he was working on that would hopefully let him repeat. It was a Red/White control deck called Iron Phoenix that abused the synergy between Firemane Angel and Searing Meditation. The deck absolutely took aggro decks to the cleaners and was good against most control decks, but wasn’t very good against Gifts, a match I was very worried about going into the tournament. Thursday comes and I’m leaning toward the deck until my friend, Jason “Rayban” Williamson, sends me a list for a four color control deck designed by some friends he knows online, Team GRB. I give it a once over and throw it together before I head across Louisville to test for states at JXC’s apartment. The deck showed me a lot of potential and I decided to run it. Here’s the list:

Four Color Legends A Standard deck, by Daniel Neeley 6th place at a States/Champs tournament in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on 2005-10-23 As reported at http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/champs05/ky Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 4 Sensei's Divining Top Creatures 4 Loxodon Hierarch 3 Sakura-Tribe Elder Instants 3 Putrefy Legendary Artifacts 1 Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang 1 Umezawa's Jitte	Legendary Creatures 1 Godo, Bandit Warlord 1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni 3 Kokusho, the Evening Star 1 Myojin of Night's Reach 3 Yosei, the Morning Star Sorceries 4 Farseek 2 Kodama's Reach 2 Time of Need 4 Wrath of God Basic Lands 6 Forest 1 Mountain 2 Plains 3 Swamp Lands 4 Overgrown Tomb 1 Sacred Foundry 4 Temple Garden Legendary Lands 1 Miren, the Moaning Well 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse	Sideboard: 3 Ghost-Lit Stalker 3 Naturalize 1 Putrefy 3 Tempest of Light 2 Cranial Extraction 3 Pyroclasm
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At first look it looks like just a Gifts deck without the Gifts, but with a closer look you can see that this deck runs Wrath of God, and spells that are incredible in the control mirror, such as Yosei and the Godo package. The deck's only really bad matchups are Mono-Blue Control and combo, matches most of the sideboard is devoted to and are winnable. You may ask your self, why the four colors, or why no Meloku? The answer is that with the Green base and the new dual lands it is incredibly easy to go that many colors, especially since Farseek gets them. The reason that Meloku isn't in there is because it was tested in the Godo package spots and was found to be inferior to it in the control mirrors. Meloku is awesome, but the aggro matches for this deck are already very, very good and he is just not needed. You also don't need him for the 187 affect because you still have Wraths and Putrefies for those occasions.

Anyway, here’s how the tournament went.

Round 1: Table 23. Shawn playing WW/g. Game one he’s starting off quick with Savannah Lions and Lantern Kamis while I establish my mana base. I Wrath on turn 4 and drop Kokusho the next turn. He answers with Story Circle Black the next turn and I drop turn 6 Yosei and hit him twice. He then answers back and drops a Worship with creatures in play. I see Shizo with Top, send in Yosei with fear to put him at five and Putrefy my Kokusho to finish him off. Game two sees him get off to a fast start, but I play third turn Pyroclasm to wipe the board, drop fifth and sixth turn dragons and he soon scoops. 1-0/2-0

Round 2: Table 21. Chip playing Blue/Black aggro. Game one he plays a turn 2 Dark Confidant and then a Hypnotic Specter, Dimir Cutpurse, and Jitte to follow it up. I drop some dragons but he has the Last Gasps he needs to take care of them after I block. I drop a Hierarch but it is met with a Rend Flesh. I very soon succumb to his superior board position even after I Putrefy the Jitte and get a Wrath countered three times by Remand. Game two I start off by building up my mana base. He drops confidant, takes some damge from it before I wrath away the board. I soon drop two hierarchs and ride them all the way to victory. Game three goes long with me going to 8, then back to 20, then all the way back down to 2 before I take complete control and drop some dragons to end the match. 2-0/4-1

Round 3: Table 5. James playing U/B Reanimator. I know James pretty well as I play with him all the time here in both tournaments and when testing. The problem is I know what he's playing and it’s the only nearly un-winnable matchup for my deck in the format. Game one I start off building my mana base and he starts off by playing second turn Thought Courier. He drops some legends into his graveyard the next turn via the courier and a Compulsive Research. The next turn he Zombifies Razia and takes me to 8 with it before I take care of it. He then puts a Kokusho into play and I can't outlast it. Game two he keeps a bad hand and doesn't see his fourth mana until turn 6. While that is going on I Extract Razia and am looking good with a Yosei in play. Then turn seven comes around and he goes nuts reanimating things for the next four turns, including Kokusho twice, The Unspeakable, and Blazing Archon. Yeah, I lose. 2-1/4-3

I wasn't discouraged at all by this because I know James is a good player and I knew how bad of a match his deck was, so I just take it in stride.

Round 4: Table 23. John playing Mono-Blue Control. I sit down at the table and recognize the player from sitting around him earlier, knowing he's playing a difficult deck for me to beat. Game one I keep a good hand against him with multiple threats and build up my mana. I bait out the counter in his hand, trying to Wrath and Putrefy his two Jushi Apprentices so he can't get advantage of the card advantage they can create. I then proceed to drop some dragons, a few of which get countered, eventually getting one to stick after having to kill two Melokus and three Keigas. I swing in with a dragon and go ninja on him with Ink-Eyes. I get back a Meloku and he just scoops. I bring in the Stalkers and an Extraction for the Hierarchs. Game two he just never has control, even with two Apprentices in play. I eventually get rid of them by trying to kill one on the end of his turn, which he tapped out to counter, and casting Wrath of God on my turn. On turn 7, I channel the Stalker to wipe out his four cards in hand and then proceed to drop some bombs on him. He never comes back. 3-1/6-3

At this point I'm feeling pretty good about my self, decimating one of my bad matchups.

Round 5: Table 12. Nick playing Aggro Rock. Game one he starts off with a third-turn Hippie, but it gets killed on his end of turn. This matchup is pretty easy for my deck because my acceleration is better, my threats are bigger and better, and my removal is better and more plentiful. He tries to stabilize late game with a Plague Boiler, but I drop a Yosei on the next turn. On my first time walk turn I drop a Kokusho and Tatsumasa, swinging for 10 the next turn and ending it by sacking Kokusho to Miren the Moaning Well. Next game I build up my mana base and Wrath away his board on turn 4, following that up with a Godo, getting Tatsumasa out of my deck. I eliminate the blocker he plays with Putrefy, and swing for sixteen, putting him at 1. He kills Godo with a Putrefy of his own, but doesn't have removal for the Hierarch I play the next turn. 4-1/8-3

After the round I start to get excited because I only have to win my next two rounds and I'm into the Top 8. I don't see any combo or Mono-Blue around the top tables, instead mostly Gifts, White Weenie with Red, and Fungus Fire, all favorable matches.

Round 6: Table 8. Mike playing Gifts. I once again start off by building up my mana base, dropping a third turn Hierarch, but I have to hold him back because my opponent got an Ink-Eyes with Gifts. Ink-Eyes hits me once, since I was attacked by two Sakura-Tribe Elders, but he only got a Tribe Elder out of my graveyard. I Putrefy the Ink-Eyes on my next turn and then drop Kokusho a turn later. He kills my Kokusho on my end step and then casts one of his own the next turn. On my turn I drop a Yosei to go along with the Hierarch I still have in play. He swings in with Kokusho and I do some math. I've got Tatsumasa in my hand, with eight lands in play and a Forest on top of my deck while he's at thirteen. I block the Kokusho with my Yosei, taking the five and letting him go to eighteen while tapping down all of his Black sources so he can't cast any removal or the Ink-Eyes he got back with Death Denied on my last end step. I draw the land, drop the Sword, and swing in for nine putting him at nine. It goes to his turn with him a Top in play. At this point I know he doesn't have a blocker in hand from signals he's sending, and in order to get out of this he has to draw a Putrefy and a Black mana source since I'm holding a Putrefy. He doesn't get what he needs and scoops.

Game two I take out the Hierarchs for two Cranial Extractions, a Putrefy, and a Ghost-Lit Stalker. He plays first and casts a main phase Gifts on his turn 4 for Hana Kami, Soulless Revival, Death Denied, and an arcane spell with me giving him the Death Denied and the arcane spell. It comes to my turn and I cast an Extraction, taking the Death Denied, locking him out of his engine. I drop a dragon two turns later and ride it home. 5-1/10-3

At this point I can taste the Top 8 and just have to win the next round. I get my pairing and go to my table.

Round 7: Table 4. Nick playing WW/r. I win the dice roll and elect to play. I keep a hand that is generally good, with a Top, Farseek, Putrefy and a dragon. I put down the top on my first turn with him answering first turn Plains, Lantern Kami and I do a back flip in my head. He then plays a Boros Swiftblade and then two more creatures the next turn. I’m showing that I'm playing Gifts with my first two land drops being a Forest and an Overgrown Tomb, but he gives me a funny look when I get a Temple Garden with Farseek. I wrath away the board and then drop a Hierarch and dragon the next two turns. He never gets back into the game. He chooses to play the next game and starts off just like game one, but I cast Pyroclasm to take out the creatures he plays in the first few turns. I then drop a Yosei turn 5 and equip a Jitte the next turn and roll the weenies for 3 turns. 6-1/12-3

I go and look at the standings and see that only eight people can have nineteen points or more if all the 6-1's draw. I realize I can draw in and go confer with my opponent about it. We both agree to ID. Final standings go up and I see that I’m the fourth seed with the guy I drew with being the fifth seed. We sit down across from each other once again, this time to play.

Top 8: Warren playing W/G Aggro control. Game one he drops a second turn Watchwolf and keeps the pressure on with other creatures. I kept a hand with a lot of shuffle effects, a Top, and a Dragon, but every time I activated the top I only saw other Tops and land. I eventually get Putrefy for the Jitte he plays, but it doesn't matter when keeps putting tokens into play with Vitu-Ghazi and then drops a Tolsimir Wolfblood to get lethal around my blockers. If I had gotten a Wrath from my top anywhere in the five shuffle effects that I played, the game would have been a lot different. Game two he starts off again with Watchwolf, Jitte, and a hierarch. I wrath away his board but he drops Hokori and then later a Yosei while i try to find one of the removal spells or blockers left in my deck. They don't ever decide to show up and I'm out.

I get a play mat and six draft sets for my efforts, as well as the respect of my peers. All in all I was very pleased with my performance and the deck; I wouldn't change anything about the deck for the tournament. Gifts is certainly the most powerful deck in the format, but there are a lot of decks that have a good game against it, the deck I played included. I'd certainly play this deck again if I had the chance. Thank you for taking the time to read my tournament report.

Props:
* Kirushi, Nialo, and Stakz of Team GRB, for the deck.
* Josh X Claytor, for getting all the way to the Top 4 after starting in a 0-1-1 hole.
* Scott Shauf, for going 7-0-1 in the swiss and making it to the Top 4 with Battle of Wits.
* Team Ramrod, for having most of its players in contention all the way to round 7 and for taking up six of the Top 8 spots.
* Brandon Burks, for winning the championship and making $5 off Claytor for telling him his hand in the Top 4.

* Bluegrass Magic for running a fine tournament.

Slops:
* Papa Johns, for charging $5 for a 4 inch personal pizza that gives you the squirts.

Daniel Neeley
xSie_Neeleyx on many forums
sie dot neeley at gmail dot com