No, this is not Nether-Go - far from it. How would you like to take ten straight turns while your opponent sits there, staring at the growing number of cards in your hand? If you're playing in a control-light environment, then Never-Go could be the deck for you.

"Never-Go"
3x Time Stretch
1x Mana Short
1x Thorn Elemental
4x Harrow
4x Rampant Growth
4x New Frontiers
4x Restock
2x Holistic Wisdom
4x Early Harvest
4x Opportunity
4x Fact or Fiction
1x Treasure Trove
2x Mirari
11x Forest
11x Island

The point of the entire deck is to cast Time Stretch on turn 5 or 6 and never end your turn. What's that, you say? Time Stretch only lets you take two turns? There's one card that will let you take more than those measly two turns: Mirari! It's a permanent Fork.

I know what you're thinking: Thirteen mana is a lot of mana to have by turn 6. Here's where your land search comes in: Four Harrows, four Rampant Growths, and four New Frontiers. New Frontiers is actually a horrible card when you look at it: You can lose the game just by casting this one card, or it can give you the extra mana you need to cast Time Stretch. After you have played a couple games against someone, you will notice them counting the turns. It's actually pretty funny when someone is more scared of you taking ten turns then they are that you will cast a Thorn Elemental five turns later.

When you show this deck to people, they will most likely tell you it's not consistent and it's crap. Sure, they have the right to say bad things about it' that's what just about anyone would think by looking at it. I would never even think of using most of the cards listed in any other deck. Most of the time though when you are playing you get the same type of cards in each opening hand: Two or three lands, some form of land search card - normally a Harrow and a New Frontiers (I'm not sure why I always get those two cards in my opening hand in 90% of my games), an Opportunity, and a Holistic Wisdom or Mirari. It's luck of the draw: No one will draw the same exact cards every game, but you will get something along the lines of what I just said in a good opening hand.

One of the hardest things about playing the deck is knowing when to cast New Frontiers. Every time I get it in my hand, I wrack my brain thinking about how much it will help my opponent, trying to think about what spells they can play on their next turn. A lot of the time, things will work out for you... But sometimes, casting New Frontiers is the biggest mistake you make in the whole round. An example of a bad time to play it is when your opponent is playing black/white control and you give them enough mana to cast a Desolation Angel with kicker. A good time would be against a deck that does not have a single card that will seal the game against you. For example, don't be afraid to cast New Frontiers on the fourth turn when playing a Rocket Shoes deck, they're unlikely to burn you out before you can go infinite.

Out of the decks I've played, this is one of the weirdest decks because you can be at four life and win the game. Your opponent needs to have one more turn to attack you with his or her swarm of creatures, but you won't let them take that turn.

The two win conditions in the deck are to kill them with Thorn Elemental, or deck them with Opportunity. I'm sure everyone can tell which one is the easiest: Take three turns, attack three times, you win. Opportunity takes forever to cast on your opponent until they draw their entire deck. If, for some reason, that's the only way to win, then Holistic Wisdom and Mirari have to be on the table or you just can't pull it off. There are very few times when Thorn Elemental just won't do the job.

A common mistake I have made over and over again is decking myself. It is very easy to do with Never-Go. You have so much land search in your deck that you will get just about every land out of your deck, plus Fact or Fiction and Opportunity. Don't be afraid to cast Opportunity and copy it to make yourself draw eight cards, because that can win you the game. This is one of the hardest combo decks to play, but it can be done.

I have a small tournament report from AugustaCon, a small convention that was held here in my area. I went 2-2 that day because I made many mistakes, and it was my first time playing the deck in a tournament:

Round 1 - Derrick playing a Zombie Infestation, Reanimator-type deck
The first game was a thinker. He played a Zombie Infestation on the second turn that didn't worry me much... Until he started discarding cards. I Harrowed for lands and used Rampant Growth to get land advantage, and then New Frontiered the next turn for five, giving me the mana I needed to cast Time Stretch. Then I cast Mirari the next turn with and another Time Stretch in my hand. I thought I had the game made until I realized Derrick had more than enough lands in play and more than enough creatures in his graveyard to cast Twilight's Call as an instant at the end of my turn. The last New Frontiers I cast was my third over three turns. I had them all in my opening hand, and all I wanted to do was get more than enough lands into play. During his turn, he attacked me with four Iridescent Angels and some other creatures that I just couldn't stop.

Games: 0-1

This was Derrick's first tournament, so he got up to go report the results, but I had to stop him and tell him that we play best two out of three. The second game worked just the way I wanted: I got all of my land into play fast. I was happy to not see the second-turn Zombie Infestation. I didn't have to worry about him bringing anything back from his graveyard, so I didn't stress. I got Mirari out fifth turn and I had more than enough mana to Time Stretch and copy it. I drew into Holistic Wisdom with the help of an Opportunity and a Fact or Fiction, then killed him with a Penumbra Wurm. For some reason, out of all the people at the tournament, no one had a Thorn Elemental... So I had to use something that was a lot worse than that. Still, with no blockers it did its job in one extra turn.

Games: 1-1

As we started the third game, I had a group of people behind me watching... Which kind of made me paranoid, considering it was a bunch of people talking trash about my deck. I tried to ignore it. It felt just like game one, with a second-turn Infestation. Derrick discarded creatures and got me down to four life, then brought an Iridescent Angel into play from his graveyard. With only one turn to live, I had to do something - I tapped all my mana, cast Early Harvest with some floating mana, and untapped and cast Time Stretch with no Mirari in play. I Harrowed on my first turn; the second turn, I drew a Fact or Fiction and cast it immediately, revealing a Time Stretch, which I took, putting four random land-searching cards into my graveyard. I cast it and drew Holistic Wisdom and basically went off for real this time. I took many many turns and I had to use Opportunity for the kill. I got down to four cards left in my library and my opponent had ten; all I needed was one instant to bring back an Opportunity. With confidence, I cast opportunity and copied it so that I would draw four cards and so would my opponent. A guy behind me said,"I know he won't draw an instant" and my heart felt like it stopped... As I drew a Time Stretch, Holistic Wisdom, Mirari, and Rampant Growth. It was totally my fault for not playing differently and reviewing my graveyard like I should have. I made sure not to make that mistake again.

Games: 1-2
Rounds: 0-1

Round 2 - Ryan
Ryan Buried Alive for three creatures that I might need later on and I don't have anything to bring them back.

This was just stupid. Ryan was playing a B/G Buried Alive-type deck, except he kept putting creatures in his graveyard and didn't have a single card to bring any of them back. I played him before the tournament and I beat him easily... And that's what happened here.

First game, I thought I harrowed three turns in a row and cast a huge New Frontiers and I didn't draw an Early Harvest the entire game but I had all but three lands from my deck in play. I cast Opportunity what seems like eighty times till he scooped, noticing he only had five cards left in his deck.

Before the second game I looked at my sideboard and figured I could use a couple of Hibernations... Because for all I knew, he had something in his deck to bring back some creatures and he might just have a few strong green ones. Or maybe he was just playing green weenie.

The second game lasted about five whole minutes. He kept a one-land hand and I kept one with four. A few Harrows and Rampant Growths later, I cast Mirari and Time Stretch in the same turn while he watched with his one land in play. I was holding four New Frontiers at the end of the game because I knew there was no reason to cast them since all I would do is help him out.

Games: 3-2
Rounds: 1-1

Round 3 Clay - Rocket Shoes
Deck check: In the middle of trading with Clay, the pairings were announced and Tony came over and said we were being deck checked (this was random). We continued trading until Tony came back with out decks thirteen minutes later, so we had an extra thirteen minutes to complete the round.

Clay is one of the better players from my area and just about every tournament I go to, I play him. The first game was a blur because there's nothing I can do about a Skizzik with kicker and me stuck on four lands. I had no chance after he played his second Skizzik.

This game was my kind of game. I had no pressure, and I was so happy when I saw that Clay's first land was a mountain. That means no mana acceleration in his hand, so he would actually have to wait till he got all the lands to play his fatties. I cast Harrow twice on my fourth turn, and then cast Rampant Growth with a total of seven lands in play. I figured if I drew an Early Harvest, I'd win; that was the only time I actually topdecked in the entire round. I cast Early Harvest with mana floating and cast Time Stretch while Clay just sat there trying to keep track of how much mana was in my pool at all times. I finally won by Opportunity.

At the beginning of the third game, I looked at my hand and didn't know whether to Paris or keep it, so I just took my chances with my two-land hand. In my hand I had two Harrows and a New Frontiers, with an island, a forest, a Mirari, and a Fact or Fiction. I played my land passed; Clay played a forest then a bird, passed, and I drew... Time Stretch. The most expensive card in my deck, and I draw it when I need land more than anything.

To make up for my lack of a land drop, what I should have done was cast New Frontiers for one... But I didn't, and I have no idea why. The next turn I didn't draw land, so I made the right move and cast my New Frontiers. From there, I started to draw more lands. Clay attacked with random fat creatures and used Ghitu Fire to take me to one life. He tapped out, which meant if I got an Early Harvest or a Fact or Fiction to get an Early Harvest I would win, since I was holding my combo. I draw... Forest. The only other thing I had that would draw me any cards was Opportunity so I cast it drawing - guess what? - four lands. I passed just to take the twelve or so damage Clay threw at me. I looked at the next few cards and it was everything I needed: Early Harvest, Fact or Fiction, Early Harvest, Time Stretch, Holistic Wisdom. If only I had that one turn I needed to live, but who hasn't said that before?

Games: 4-4
Rounds: 1-2

Round 4 Andrew-Precon land destruction.
This kid went out before the tournament, bought a precon, added a few cards, and played it as his deck. It was an R/G land destruction deck that didn't do a thing for him. I went first and did my normal land searching, while he trash-talked me, saying how my deck was slower than Stasis. I passed after playing my ninth land on my fifth turn and he played an Ivy Elemental, making it a 5/5. I was at twenty and prayed I would draw a Time Stretch. I didn't draw a Time Stretch, but I did draw a Fact or Fiction. Andrew had not played in a tourney where Fact or Fiction was played a lot so he gave me a 4-1 split, where the one card he didn't want me to have was my Penumbra Wurm. I got a Time Stretch, Early Harvest, Rampant Growth, and a land. I thought it was a darn good Fact or Fiction. After that, I cast Time Stretch and won soon after I Restocked my Wurm and killed his ivy thingy.

The second game he went first and I didn't have any land search in my hand, but it was still pretty good. I played my land, passed, and he played one and passed and we did that for about six turns and that's when he cast Stone Rain, then another, then a Dwarven Landslide. I couldn't draw lands after that and then he got rid of my last forest. So I conceded, knowing I didn't have enough mana to go off on him.

I went first in the last game and did the almost exact same thing as I did in the first. I searched for a few lands, played Time Stretch, Mirari, Holistic Wisdom, Restock, Opportunity, all on my eighth turn. He conceded when I dropped an Opportunity out of my hand by accident. He had watched my games before, knowing that Opportunity had won nearly all of them.

Games: 6-5
Rounds: 2-2

One person who was 2-2 was going to make it into the top 8 - and of course, after I thought about it I realized I had horrible tiebreakers, so I just watched as my friend Ernest won with his Squirrel Prison deck.

Overall I would say that this deck can win just as long as you get the right draw against each deck... Basically, meaning if you draw cards that let you get insane amounts of land into play, you win. One tip when playing against control: Mana Short will be your best friend. The only time you should cast it is during their upkeep, not in response to anything like I have seen people do before, since they don't realize how things work on the stack.

Sideboarding: This is the hardest deck to sideboard with. You will spend so much time just wondering how many lands to side out each game. New Frontiers is the only card in the deck that you can side out and still be able to keep your speed, give or take a turn or two to cast your combo.

I wouldn't suggest playing this deck in an environment where Meddling Mages are in every deck and nine out of ten people play with counterspells. If you are looking for a fun deck to play and don't mind thinking a lot, this is a good deck for you. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at kmao_2004@yahoo.com.

-Matt Williams