Ever had to buy a play set of hardly-playable commons for your deck on the morning of a tournament like Champs? I mean, I was always happy to draft Gnarled Mass, and I must have fifty at home. But to have to buy them at twenty-five cents each, no less on the morning of my BC Provincial Champs tournament?
Now that was a new experience.
And you should have seen the way that one guy in particular stared at me when I sheepishly asked the shop owner if he could provide me with these commons you know the look. It's precisely the same look you'd be giving me now, if only you could see me the one that says, “Good grief, let me please play this guy in the first round.”
I played a deck coined O Henry! to a top eight finish at BC Provincial Championships this year. It's a white and green deck with O-Naginata as a centerpiece. I've been asked: Why “O Henry!”? It's because of O-Naginata. And because if your opponent knew it was called O Henry, they might even say, “O Henry!” when you hit them for six-plus damage with a trampling dog. Or you could even say, “O Henry!” when you hit them for six-plus damage with a trampling dog.
Anyway, that's neither here nor there. The deck looked a little something like this:
Now, in order to get you off my damn back, I will say that this list is not what I'd run tomorrow, if, you know, there was a tournament tomorrow. I learned some valuable lessons one of which being that 95% of the players running Magic Workstation are downright awful. And that leads to some false hope for cards that wouldn't otherwise make the deck.
Like Hunted Troll. Oh my God, take him out of the damn deck.
Well let me be crystal clear here: he actually did win me a game. But mostly, he just sat in my hand in game 1 and became Gnarled Mass in game 2. Not exactly the best two slots in a deck I've seen. I played him as a Hail Mary long-shot post-Wrath of God in one matchup but the flyers did me in before Henry the Troll could pick up his O-Naginata and swing.
Despite that, though, the deck did make the Top 8 and I feel strong about the archetype and its potential. Yes, the troll should be Loxodon Hierarch. Yes, in my current version of this deck, it's been replaced by the-card-most-likely-to-get-Otherworldly-Journeyed-against-red. Aaallllllriight.
First things first: If you've never played a card like Werebear before, throw four Watchwolves into a deck beside Isamaru, Hound of Konda and Umezawa's Jitte and see how many games you randomly win. Your opponent will likely blame mana screw, but that's okay. Woof. You definitely don't want any less than four of the amazing Watchwolf in this deck, and you simply have to chuckle at White/Green decks packing Watchwolf in quantities any less than the legal limit.
Second thing: Vinelasher Kudzu is such an amazing second-turn drop in this deck (particularly after a turn 1 Bird) that I just can't put it in words. Never mind, I suppose I can turn 1 Bird, Turn 2 Vinelasher, Land, O-Naginata. Turn 3 Land, equip, swing. And then play a damn Watchwolf before you pass the turn (unless you want to win, in which case, keep it for after the Wrath of God). Unfortunately, the amazing Kudzu is the world's worst turn 5 topdeck, and he's been since cut from the most recent build. He was strong a few times at Champs, but never a backbreaker.
Speaking of backbreakers, allow me to introduce Arashi, the Sky Asunder. Man, does he beat in faces. Not only did he channel to kill Trollspawn, commit genocide against Boros and their sixteen flyers, and tap to destroy Meloku, he's a 5/5 for 5... Who picks up O-Naginata and just wins games. This guy is fantastic.
Ahh now for the hard question. A single Gnarled Mass? Let me explain.
In testing the night before, much like cramming for an exam, I came across the unfortunate knowledge that four Vinelasher Kudzu was too many in this deck when I continually drew them in testing against Mono-Blue Control, only to lose to Threads of Disloyalty. And my option, which was to Otherworldly Journey it back to my side, brought it back as a 2/2. What's the point? Enter Gnarled Mass. Vinelasher Kudzu was still a fantastic opening draw when I had it against most decks, but ultimately I wanted the insurance policy against MUC and Gnarled Mass (between the 1 main and the 2 sideboard) provided it for me.
I did face and defeat MUC in the first round of the tournament, and am happy to report that Vinelasher Kudzu was in the sideboard in game 2 replaced by two Gnarled Mass and, for the hell of it, a single Genju.
And then, either round 3 or 4, I was sitting across from a familiar face. It was the guy who called me an idiot (with his eyes) when I bought Gnarled Mass earlier. I'm sure it wasn't as harsh a look as I remember, but he definitely gave me a look.
Time to teach this guy a lesson!
The deck was a fairly stock black/green deck that I quickly ran over thanks to two well-timed Otherworldly Journeys in response to Putrefy, saving my doggie and letting him hit with O-Naginata, again. My scoresheet from the match goes like this:
Opponent:
20
14
7
Yep, that's it. Twenty. Fourteen. Seven. It wasn't a Gnarled Mass, but sir, to you I say Woof, Woof!
Now in the second game, I played two guys and drew out one of his board sweeping effects (Kagemaro, First to Suffer, I presume). I then dropped Hokori, Dust Drinker, Birds of Paradise, and passed the turn to a tapped-out opponent. Birds powered out another guy and my dudes turned sideways to victory. Fortunately, the turn before my opponent died I topdecked a Gnarled Mass and despite it being a terrible play (since it tapped me out of mana in my pre-attack phase), I summoned the Gnarled Mass.
I smiled broadly. I swung. I won.
In another Green/Black match, Samurai of the Pale Curtain was fantastic. I do recall a moment when there was a neat little stack of removed-from-the-game cards on my opponent's side looking like this:
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Grave-Shell Scarab
Grave-Shell Scarab
What more can I tell you about four of these guys in the sideboard against Green/Black? What a fantastic choice. And to think that I had almost played Hand of Honor instead! (Gah, it kills me to type the word "honour" so incorrectly. But I suppose that is what the card is called... American spelling and all).
When I got home, someone asked me what my favorite play of the tournament was. I simply had to bring up the moment when I swung with a Watchwolf, equipped with O-Naginata and a Moldervine Cloak, into an untapped Kokusho. My happy opponent declared him a blocker and, knowing he definitely had another one in his hand by the smile on his face, I cast Devouring Light on his dragon... Removing it from the game. And trampling in for nine. And winning the game.
Unfortunately, no real person actually asked me what my favorite play of the tournament was, so I had to make that part up to sneak my favorite play into the article. Did you buy it?
Yes. It's a single copy of Moldervine Cloak.
I'm so glad I took the time to play two dozen matches on the Friday with, get this, real cards, because I was getting continually flooded. In testing the two weeks prior, on MWS, I was perpetually manascrewed. Anyhow, after cutting the single forest, I had to add a single card back to the deck. So many options got tossed around, from the fourth Umezawa's Jitte (which I knew would be answered in oh-so-many-ways at Champs that I was playing them more as removal and an oops-I-win factor than to actually play a Umezawa's Jitte aggro deck), down through a single Shining Shoal (which probably would have been fantastic too, but I didn't really have good cards to pitch until I'd sided in Hokori, Dust Drinker), and a few others. We thought about a singleton Loxodon Hierarch (a card which tested as not fat enough when compared to the Troll in testing, but in reality would have been far, far superior and please God never run this deck with Troll again). We considered other cards too until I decided that yes, Moldervine Cloak was good when I was running it and that it should perhaps enter the deck as a one-of.
And then at Champs, each time I had the Cloak in my hand, I won the game.
Coincidence? Very likely. Nevertheless, I won 100% of the games in which my Moldervine Cloak was involved. That was three, in case you were curious. In two of them, I was ridiculously happy to see them, ‘cause it meant I'd win instead of lose. So I've now doubled my Moldervine Cloak count in the most recent build.
You have no idea how often I tapped my Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers to pump my Isamaru, Hound of Konda to three power in seven matches, simply to equip an O-Naginata to it and bash face for six damage (the number of times I did this actually escapes me, but I assure you it was more than once!). Eiganjo Castle saved Hokori from Shock in one game against a hapless red/white/green control player who beat me anyway. That was fun. In another game, Eiganjo Castle was a Wasteland when I involved the Legend rule with it, stalling a Wrath of God-wielding opponent's Wrath off for an extra turn. That, too, was fantastic since it meant somewhere in the neighborhood of six more damage.
Speaking of dying to Wrath of God, Eight-and-a-Half-Tails was awesome over and over again. Although he got sided out more than a few times (in fact, if I was siding in Hokori, I'd side out Eight simply because I didn't want them to fight over mana). The strange epiphany I reached when deciding on sideboard strategies was that he was actually worse in matchups that had a lot of removal. In those matchups he really had to wait to land on the board until I had five mana, he often never made it to play. Or when I decided it was worth the risk, he'd just die to the next Wrath of God or Putrefy anyway. Having said that, against more removal-light opponents, he led many a victory march straight past an opposing man or two for the win.
And yes, Eight-and-a-Half Tails can actually save Umezawa's Jitte from Naturalize. My opponent cast the spell. I looked haplessly at my four untapped lands. That Umezawa's Jitte was my key to victory on my very next turn. I picked it up and place it in my graveyard. I honestly don't think my opponent realized that Tails does in fact read permanent, and not creature. I did know this, of course, but I, um, forgot.
Fortunately for me, I topdecked an O-Naginata or something and won on my turn anyway. But imagine if I'd known I mean, remembered that I could save the damn thing with the Tails! It might have even been my favorite play, instead of that silly Kokusho-Devouring Light thing I talked about before.
In all seriousness, Eight-and-a-half Tails was very, very strong all day. I was only unhappy to draw him one time, and the only reason was because I already had one in play plus a spare in my hand. Seeing all three copies of a legend in your deck is sad. Except when you win the match anyway. I did, so I suppose I wasn't actually sad, after all.
Which brings me to the matches I lost fair and square.
The first was against a W/G/R player packing Yosei, Firemane Angel, and six hundred thousand removal spells. Hunted Troll killed him in the first game. It's the only creature in the world capable of hitting for 14 a turn (thanks to double O-Naginata) enough times to get through all that Faith's Fettering, Firemane Angeling, life-gaining nonsense! Unfortunately, the one game he won for me wasn't enough and I lost the next two. We actually went to turns in the third game, but I wasn't able to hold out for the draw.
The other match I lost was in the top eight against straight-up, mono-colored White Weenie. This player was excellent; I'd watched him beat up on Boros-WW a couple of times earlier in the day, and he ended up In second place. He had Glorious Anthem, a bunch of ground-pounders, a few flyers, and Suppression Fields... All of which wrecked me in game 1. Badly.
On the, uh, upside, I had both Hunted Trolls in my hand and he had a Glorious Anthem. Gee, let me think...
Game 2 was far more interesting. I'd sided out Eight-and-a-half-Tails because I knew Suppression Field would just wreck him again. I left in Umezawa's Jitte, since I'm willing to pay mana to use it. And I left in O-Naginata, thinking that on the play, I might have even gotten it equipped before Suppression Field landed.
The game came down to a double Glorious Anthem on his side. Suddenly my fat men were out-fattied, and it was just academic for him to slowly chew away at my life total. There was a turn where my opponent carefully considered his attack step, and if he had done anything except for attack with all four of his men, I'd have pulled out the win. I tried my best to bluff him on a trick that would make it so I'd win anyway... And I almost had him. Alas, he made the right play and swung with everything, forcing me to block with a 5/5 Kudzu, trading it with a Samurai, putting his life total out of range of my attack step (I had an O-Naginata in hand that he didn't know about that would have ended the game on the spot, had I managed to keep all my guys). Alas.
My sideboard strategy was fairly strong, with Genju of the Cedars coming in against all Wrath of God-packing opponents (which numbered half of my matches...hopefully that shows a tad of the resiliency that this deck brings to the table). Samurai of the Pale Curtain was great against Dredge-centric strategies, and Hokori, Dust Drinker was the nail in the coffin of any deck slower than mine. I sided Bathe in Light in twice, cast it once, and it did very little for me. I love the card, but I just don't like how it measures up against Otherworldly Journey, and so it won't be in future versions until Wildfire takes off.
Every time I wanted a couple more dudes in a match, I'd bring in the Gnarled Mass brothers and they were wicked good... Mostly cause they carry an O-Naginata. So even though I still haven't found space for a full set maindeck, the deck definitely wants access to them in games 2 and 3.
Anyhow, my new list now looks like this:
Yes, it could be four Loxodon Hierarch and a Gnarled Mass. I'm not sure which configuration I like better. I will say that, in its defense, Gnarled Mass can come out on turn 2, slipping under countermagic, if you have a Bird in the opening grip. And three Hierarchs still seem to show up a considerably large amount of the time. But four Hierarchs isn't bad, either; it just pushes the mana curve another inch in the wrong direction.
I felt very good about my run and the deck. A few deck construction errors, which I've rectified by using my near-20/20 hindsight, have left me holding a pile of cards that I believe to be an enormously powerful aggro deck that really hammers a lot of the control strategies out there right now. Give it a try and let me know if you think of cards that I've missed. I'm not unhappy to hear feedback, both positive and negative.
And for the love of God, trade your Hunted Trolls away. They're terrible.
Paul Burke
theantar@telus.net
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