Ghost Husk has been a defining deck of the Team Standard season, and has received a fair amount of hype going into Regionals as a deck to beat. Having joyfully sacrificed many a Caller of the Claw to the Husk in my early days, I took a break from teaching middle school children and sleeved up the following for the 293-person Southern California Regionals.

Ghost Husk A Standard deck, by Casey Brown 11th place at a Regionals tournament in Southern California on 2006-05-28 Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 4 Dark Confidant 3 Kami of Ancient Law 4 Nantuko Husk 4 Orzhov Pontiff 3 Plagued Rusalka Enchantments 4 Promise of Bunrei Instants 3 Mortify Legendary Artifacts 3 Umezawa's Jitte	Legendary Creatures 3 Ghost Council of Orzhova 4 Isamaru, Hound of Konda Sorceries 3 Castigate Basic Lands 4 Plains 5 Swamp Lands 4 Caves of Koilos 4 Godless Shrine 3 Orzhov Basilica Legendary Lands 1 Eiganjo Castle 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse	Sideboard: 3 Mindslicer 1 Paladin en-Vec 3 Last Gasp 4 Shining Shoal 3 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails 1 Castigate
Download this deck in Apprentice format!		Download this deck in Magic Online Text format!

I have yet to see a detailed tournament report with this particular deck, and I'm going to offer that alongside some first-hand observation of what was hanging around the top tables in this part of the world. A nine-round tournament takes a while to write up, so I'll get straight to it.

Round 1: Steven (UW Control)

On the play, I have Dark Confidant and he does not have Spell Snare. Bob feeds me extra cards, but the life loss is irrelevant as I squeeze through a Jitte while still packing a full grip. He Condemns the Confidant after two turns, but I have a second in hand. It turns out I don't need it, as I lay Promise of Bunrei, Jitte, and Husk for a quick win.

Game 2 is decided when I Castigate him, taking his only counterspell and revealing two Keigas. I complement my Nantuko Husk with Mindslicer, and take his hand on upkeep (revealing a freshly drawn Wrath of God). He never recovers, and I put enough pressure on the board with Isamaru, Promise, and Husk to put it away.

Games: 2-0, Matches: 1-0

Round 2: Donovan (Ghost Husk)

Things start off very badly. He is wearing a Pro Tour Prague shirt, and my hand is White spells and three Swamps. The super six has no lands, so I have to take a hand of Kami of Ancient Law, Orzhov Pontiff, and three lands. I Pontiff away a Dark Confidant, but he has a Pontiff of his own and has a lot more gas. I draw Jitte, but his Ghost Council trumps it and we are on to game 2.

Game 2 is an unusual affair; I keep a hand with two Promises, Orzhov Pontiff, Plagued Rusalka, two lands, and Orzhov Basilica. He plays an Isamaru and I can't get in any early beats. I finally play Promise #1 and a freshly drawn Isamaru for some tokens, and I have drawn a third Promise by this time. An Umezawa's Jitte is useless for me, but I end up with ten colorless spirits facing down his three creatures. I play Pontiff and crash through for near-fatal damage, and manage to steal the game as he cannot draw a Pontiff of his own to wreck me.

Game 3 he opens with Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, while I have two in hand. My draw is slow because of two Basilicas, but I manage to stabilize at eight life by killing his fox and playing a Husk and Isamaru. I use a Pontiff to clear his Promise tokens and make a Promise of my own. He taps out for a very dangerous Ghost Council of Orzhova, but I do the math and swing back for exactly fatal damage, by playing the second fox in hand and sacrificing the fox, Pontiff, and four tokens, with the Haunt +1/+1 giving me the full fifteen.

Games: 4-1, Matches: 2-0

Round 3: Ryan (W/G/B Control)

I am more confident about my opponent this round, also helped by the full seven in my hand. Unfortunately, I draw a lot of land this game, relying on Isamaru, Husk, and Jitte for pressure. He eventually Wraths at eight life. I play Pontiff and equip a Jitte with two counters. He plays Loxodon Hierarch with one mana up, and I smash, killing the Hierarch. He then plays Vigor Mortis (no comment) and gets a 5/5 Hierarch with mana to keep counters off the Jitte. I smash anyway, and they both die. He then Zombifies the Hierarch, and a tiny part of my soul dies. I have drawn three lands in a row at this point, and when I draw a fourth and he plays Debtor's Knell, I have to pack it in.

Game 2 is the fastest game I play all day. Turn 2 Confidant, turn 3 Husk, turn 4 Mindslicer. He loses his hand in his draw step and passes his third turn with three lands in play. My on-board pressure is more than enough, and that's that.

After a mulligan to start game 3, I have another early Confidant. This lets me apply serious pressure on the board while still holding a lot of business after Wrath. I play two Promises (having seen zero targeted removal, so feeling safe from Mortify followed by Wrath), and trigger them with a Kami of Ancient Law. Orzhov Pontiff is very fatal with the eight tokens.

Games: 6-2, Matches: 3-0

Round 4: Eric (Ghost Husk splashing Red)

I mulligan in game 1, keeping six. He throws me off by playing Sulfurous Springs, but when I play Kami of Ancient law and Dark Confidant he complains about the mirror. He takes a lot of painland damage and gets absolutely wrecked by an Orzhov Pontiff due to a misplay, but I draw nine lands in five turns with my Confidant. I lose to Nantuko Husk, and I'm pretty frustrated about the flood.

Game 2 I throw down Isamaru and Jitte, and that's actually enough. Husk and Promise seal it up, but he doesn't draw anything to deal with the armed puppy.

Game 3 I have first-turn Isamaru again, and it dies to a Mortify after a bit of beating. I play a second dog and a Promise, and Nantuko Husk takes it for me when our Ghost Councils trade with each other.

Games: 8-3, Matches: 4-0

Round 5: Bryant (U/G Graft)

Game 1, I play Kami of Ancient Law while he accelerates into a second-turn Plaxcaster Frogling. I swing into his team and clear his creatures with an Orzhov Pontiff when he blocks. He doesn't really have that much more pressure, and I draw a lot of gas off Dark Confidant. I finish this one with Ghost Council of Orzhova.

Game 2 he has multiple Hierarchs and my draw is a bit anemic. I never really apply any pressure, while his Hierarchs on turns 3 and 4 clog the ground and pad his life total. I concede to Meloku with only Isamaru and Husk on the board.

Game 3, I play Castigate and see a hand full of land and a juicy Meloku. Unfortunately, he draws threats every single turn, and I don't have enough land to play my hand full of redundant three-drops. He puts Jitte on Plaxcaster Frogling and then grafts up a Kodama of the North Tree, and I lose to the combination of broken Equipment and 7/5 untargetables.

Games: 9-5, Matches: 4-1

Round 6: Tony (Battle of Wits)

The most frustrating round of the day. I am excited when I see the big, packed deck, knowing my fast clock and maindeck enchantment removal should cause problems for him. Even though he has Spell Snare for my turn 2 Dark Confidant (@$%#), he is mana-shy and I have a dog wielding a pointy stick. That turns out to be enough.

Game 2 is decided largely by a turn 3 Night of Souls' Betrayal, which absolutely crushed my double Dark Confidant draw. The legendary enchantment stops most of the deck's explosive capability, and I don't draw removal for it until he has Battle in play. Dang.

Game 3 is the big mistake of the day, I think. I keep a hand with decent three-drops, like Promise and Pontiff, but no earlier pressure and no real plan to kill him quickly. The hand should have been a mulligan, but I have mulliganed a lot already and I just don't make the right call. Again, Night of Souls' Betrayal takes the wind out of my sails before I can kill him. I lose a very frustrating game, and with it any chance of making Top 8.

Games: 10-7, Matches: 4-2

Round 7: Daniel (UGR Tron)

His deck appeared to be much like the UR Tron decks that don't play Wildfire, dipping into Green for the dangerous Simic Sky Swallower. Some early beats by Plagued Rusalka are followed up by Isamaru. He Electrolyzes Isamaru, not realizing that I can feed him to Rusalka targeting himself to deny him the card draw. I play Husk and another Rusalka, and by the time he accelerates into Sky Swallower I can swing past it with Promise tokens.

Game 2 he has trouble finding Red mana, but my draw isn't very fast either once he Spell Snares my turn 2 Dark Confidant. Isamaru swings some beats, and I put a Nantuko Husk alongside him. He finally gets a Steam Vents, but my draw is Mindslicer and he loses a very juicy, very Red hand. I win easily from there.

Games: 12-7, Matches 5-2

Round 8: Bryce (Heartbeat)

Game 1, I am not really impressed with my deck's performance. Isamaru shows up, but just runs into some Sakura Tribe-Elders. The kill is slow, but one of my creatures being Kami of Ancient Law forces him to try to find two Heartbeats. Jitte supplements the beats, and he has to Gigadrowse just to buy himself a turn. He does not get one of his outs.

Game 2, he mulligans to five and my draw is just fine. Two Mortifies and a Kami of Ancient Law keep me safe from Heartbeat, and I have enough beats with the Kami and the dog to put the game away against his five-card hand.

Games: 14-7, Matches: 6-2

Round 9: Ryan (UGR Tron/Wildfire running Trade Routes and Life from the Loam)

Ryan's deck was both interesting and original; it looked fun to play and potentially very powerful.

Game 1 I finally drew a very aggressive hand, curving out with Isamaru and Dark Confidant, followed by Husk and Promise. He doesn't have anything particularly dangerous in time, and I take the game easily.

Game 2 I have Dark Confidant again, but he doesn't draw me very much gas and Ryan draws much more countermagic. He Mana Leaks a key Mortify on Keiga, and follows it with Wildfire, and that's the game.

Game 3, I play Isamaru and Orzhov Pontiff to deliver beats. The key point in this game is a three-point Shining Shoal on his Savage Twister for two, sending three to his dome and keeping my pressure. I then got to play Ghost Council of Orzhova while he was tapped out, and he was down to nine. When he dropped Simic Sky Swallower with his complete Tron, I just swung into it and saved Ghost Council with a sacrificial Kami. He plays a second Simic Sky Swallower, and I rip Shizo, Death's Storehouse to put it away instantly by giving the Ghost Council fear.

Games: 16-8, Matches: 7-2

That put me in 11th place. I was very pleased with the deck's performance and would confidently pick the same deck up for any tournament in the new Standard. The top tables were absolutely full of aggressive decks, including Ghost Husk, U/G graft, and a few rogue builds I am not sure will show up regularly. Husk has powerful anti-aggro tools like Pontiff and Ghost Council, and a very strong sideboard. The only control deck seen sitting on top was an updated version of the U/W/r Firemane Angel control deck, packing Windreavers and Hide / Seek. Control decks will need to be prepared for very strong aggressive decks capable of reloading with the same creatures they are smashing with.

Heartbeat and Vore did not finish in the top 32, though only a few good Heartbeat players were around at the tournament and I didn't see more than four Vore decks. I think that Ghost Husk has set itself up as the deck to beat. Control decks must be able to handle a turn 2 Dark Confidant, and the best candidate for that is Spell Snare (leaving you able to respond to later threats).

I hope everyone who attended enjoyed their Regionals tournaments. Kudos to those brave enough to try their own concoctions, and to those who qualified this weekend. For the rest of us and our weekly local tournaments, be ready to face some very powerful beatdown decks if you want to compete. Ghost Husk is here to stay; the most problematic thing to come out of Dissension is undoubtedly Spell Snare, and I expect that card to start making more maindecks than it did Saturday. The U/G Graft deck looks very solid also, packing quick fat and serious threats like Meloku and Keiga. A grafted Kodama of the North Tree is even scarier than it sounds, and Meloku should never be a 3/5. Control decks have to have answers to cheap creatures that may be untargetable or let their controller draw too many cards. The Rakdos decks also pack incredibly powerful disruption through Rakdos Augermage and Rise / Fall, all presenting huge challenges for the control player.

Before I end this, I would also like to make a brief but very important comment. In my very first round, the pair playing next to me finished their first game. The loser's first comment was an acidic “nice draw,” as though to imply that the only reason that his opponent could have won was that he drew all of the right cards. Even if they ripped their singleton from the top and tore the game open with it, there is no reason to throw a tantrum and stop showing some sportsmanship. Sometimes you lose games (or even matches) and there is nothing you can do about it (see round 5). Other times, you can realize you did something wrong, and maybe learn from it (see round 6). Either way, nobody but you really cares, so shut up unless you intend to be pleasant.

This is my first serious foray into writing, so if you have comments, please post them. I'd be interested to hear what people think about the deck and the newborn environment.

Peace,
Casey Brown