So the day I was waiting for had finally arrived: Regional Championships 2003, Lincoln, Nebraska. Friday afternoon, five of us piled into the car to make the trip, which took around eight and a half hours. It was Mike Suire, Ian Suire, Caleb Scherer, Nick Cantrell, and myself - Jesse Chounard.

For the most part, the trip itself was uneventful. There was an interesting event at a gas station just outside St. Joseph, Missouri. Inside of the gas station was a Taco Bell Express, and we stopped there to get some dinner. When we were walking out, a guy in front of us had a six-pack of beer. A pickup truck came screeching to a stop in front of him, and the driver jumped out, shouted"Gimme that!", grabbed the beer, and drove away.

I went back inside.

I'm really proud of my deck. I've always preferred playing decks of my own creation, but my rogue decks usually aren't very successful. Here's the deck:

4 Nantuko Shade
4 Withered Wretch
4 Rotlung Reanimator
4 Cabal Archon
4 Bane of the Living
4 Chainer's Edict
4 Smother
4 Chain of Vapors
4 Aether Burst
4 Polluted Delta
4 Tainted Isle
2 Underground River
3 Unholy Grotto
1 Island
10 Swamp

Sideboard:
3 Haunting Echoes
4 Balthor the Defiled
2 Eastern Paladin
2 Hibernation
4 Duress

The deck is pretty straightforward to play; just kill or bounce their creatures and swing with yours. As I discovered in the later rounds of the tournament, the deck also provides some options and an important secondary avenue of attack with Cabal Archon; he was often my only chance to outrace a Phantom Centaur.

The deck has a pretty good matchup against U/G madness: With the bounce spells, Smothers, and Chainer's Edicts, it's possible to steal back tempo from them, and then take control of the game with Nantuko Shades and a reproducing zombie/cleric army. I've also got a decent setup against control decks after sideboarding. With Unholy Grotto in play, it's impossible to counter or kill Balthor forever, and the game almost always ends as soon as his ability resolves.

Originally, in addition to the Duress in the sideboard, there were four Cabal Therapies in the maindeck, but I pulled them out for Cabal Archon, as the Therapies were generally useless against the R/G matchup, as they dumped their hands too quickly. I think I'm up to about fifty-fifty against R/G if they play Skirk Marauder, but the versions that have switched to Phantom Centaur are still a scary affair. The three Haunting Echoes are present for the Astral Slide matchup.

Let me state that Regionals was obnoxiously large. Four hundred and five players showed up, and we were off for ten long rounds of Swiss. Ouch. The tournament organizers seemed ill-equipped to handle such a large crowd. We were split out into four separate rooms, and when they posted pairings, they only put them in two places, where everyone crowded and pushed and shoved. At Grand Prix: New Orleans, they put up the pairings in four places, with different letter ranges at each. (A-E at one, F-M at another, for example.) That seems like a much better way to do things.

Also, some of the judges seemed inexperienced. There was a lot of talk about a time when a group of players all arrived back after the round had started, two of them got game losses, and the others just got warnings from a different judge. I also personally saw a time when a player called a judge because his opponent had accidentally picked up two cards when he was drawing. After the players explained what had happened, the judge said,"So what's the big deal?"

I mean, I hate seeing people game losses for accidents - but it was REL 3, right?

Pretty much all of the Regionals were a minimum of six hours away from St. Louis. Maybe next year, the regions will be broken down a bit more and we'll have one in St. Louis or Kansas City. I'll cross my fingers.

Onto my rounds...

Round 1, Alex Coles, Mono Black Control
Alex seemed like a newer player, but he didn't make too many mistakes, and was a very friendly opponent. I started off with a Withered Wretch, to which he played Chainer's Edict. I laid a Nantuko Shade, and he cycled an Undead Gladiator. I started swinging hard, and he just kept picking up and cycling the Gladiator as fast as he could.

Game two, I started off with a Cabal Archon, and followed it up with a Rotlung Reanimator. He played a Diabolic Tutor; I think he went for Visara the Dreadful, because that's what he played on the following turn. I had the Chainer's Edict, though, and kept swinging. He then Tutored for Mutilate, which was his only major mistake: I don't think he understood how the Rotlung Reanimator worked. After the Mutilate, I had two zombie tokens, and they finished him off.

Results: 1-0 (2-0 games)

Round 2, Colton Stogdill, Beasts
My opponent this round was a very friendly eleven-year old. He flashed a Wooded Foothills when he was shuffling, and I started to fear it was my dreaded R/G matchup, but when he played a turn one Birds of Paradise, I guessed beasts. I started off with a Nantuko Shade, and his next play was a turn 3 Ravenous Baloth. I Chain of Vapored it back to his hand at the end of his turn, and he sacrificed a land to bounce my Nantuko Shade. I then Chainer's Edicted his little birdie to leave him on two lands, and replayed my Shade. By the time the big beast came back I had three shades, and it was too much for him to handle.

Game 2, he started off again with a Ravenous Baloth, and I started my standard beatdown. He played a Wild Mongrel and the next turn tried to Elephant Guide it. I Smothered in response. He Wished for a Genesis, but I had the Withered Wretch in hand, and the game ended quickly.

Results: 2-0 (4-0 games)

Round 3, Steve Locke, Mono Black Control
I think MBC might be a bad matchup for me; I wish I'd spent more time testing the matchup. However, he started the first game with a Paris to five cards, and never got past two swamps and a Cabal Coffers, despite Skeletal Scrying for one twice.

Game two, he kept a hand with six lands and a Diabolic Tutor. I started with a Duress. The game was very short. I felt bad for winning that way, but it's an unfortunate part of the game.

Results: 3-0 (6-0 games)

Round 4, Clark Speer, Blue Green Madness
He was running maindeck Merfolk Looters, and Phantom Centaur over Arrogant Wurm. I don't know if it makes the deck better, but it certainly makes it better against me.

I kept a hand with a Swamp and an Unholy Grotto, but never drew another land. Whoops. Game 2, I started with a Paris to five cards. I still managed to hold my own. After a big turn using Bane of the Living, all that was left in play besides land was a Withered Wretch on my side of the board, but I was at one life. The Wretch served him down to eight life, but then Clark got a Wild Mongrel, Basking Rootwalla, and Merfolk Looter. The little Merfolk ended up doing the last point of damage to me. Painful.

Results: 3-1 (6-2 games)

Round 5, Joel Mangner, U/G Madness
Joel is a friend of mine from back in St. Louis, and it was a real bummer to have to play him. He was running Phantom Centaurs main, and I started the match with a mulligan to five. I kept one land in the five-card hand and died quickly. Game 2, I played a turn 2 Withered Wretch, turn 3 Rotlung Reanimator, with an Unholy Grotto, while he was stuck with few threats. Yummy.

Game 3, he started out playing madness outlets, but I had answers to them. He had to hard-cast Arrogant Wurms, followed by a Gigapede he had brought in against me. I flipped a Bane of the Living to sweep the board, and then dropped a Withered Wretch to remove the Gigapede. He conceded shortly after that.

He joked,"I liked you better with one land." Thanks, buddy.

Results: 4-1 (8-3 games)

Round 6, Zach Thompson, Husk/Caller
I honestly hadn't tested this matchup at all, since no one in St. Louis has been pushing it - but I thought I was okay, as long as I was careful to save my answers for Phantom Centaur as long as possible. He mulliganed to six and seemed unhappy. On turn 2, he Living Wished up a Braids. After he played it, I kept letting him put the ability on the stack and then bouncing it to his hand to force him to waste his lands and hopefully be unable to replay it.

In retrospect, this was clearly a mistake. I was simply trying to be clever when there was no clear benefit. After three times, I gave it up and Chainer's Edicted her away. We fought with creatures for a bit, when he played a Phantom Centaur. I had six lands in play when the game ended... And because of me being silly early on, I never had enough mana to flash back the Edict to save my life.

Game 2, I started off with a Nantuko Shade that got Smothered when I went for a big pump. After some creature trades, I had two cards in hand, one of which was an Aether Burst. He Wished up a Visara, and played her. I bounced her, and he said,"You're very lucky." I found that quite rude, and every time I played anything after that, I said stuff like"I'll play my lucky swamp."

Yes, it was lucky... And it's just part of the game.

I shouldn't have been an ass about it, though, because I've let myself get unhappy and tell my opponent they were lucky in the past, too. Luckily, he didn't get angry; after the match, we talked a bit, and everything seemed cool.

The third game started with a beautiful hand: Three lands, two Bane of the Living, a Rotlung Reanimator, and a Withered Wretch. He started with a Cabal Therapy, naming Rotlung Reanimator. Then on turn 2, he played a Wirewood Herald and flashed the Therapy back for the Banes. Ouch. I started telling my little zombie to"Go all the way!" but it was not to be. He played a Phantom Centaur. I bounced it. And bounced it. And bounced it. And finally, I killed it.

Then he played another. After I conceded, he showed me the third one in his hand. Yucky.

Results: 4-2 (9-5 games)

Round 7, Johnny Meyers, U/G/B Opposition
This match started out very slowly. I had a bunch of bounce spells in hand, but he just played three Llanowar Elves, and they didn't seem like very good bounce candidates. I drew lots and lots of land, while the elves did some damage. Finally he laid a Squirrel Nest, and I realized what he was playing. He followed it up with an Opposition, and I succumbed quickly.

Game 2, I started applying early pressure with a Nantuko Shade, but he had a Smother ready for me. He played a turn 4 Opposition, and I figured the game was over, but he didn't have many creatures to do much with it. When he did get a few birds and elves, I played a Bane of the Living and flipped it with X=1 so I could continue swinging with my creatures. Game 3, he played another turn 4 Opposition and I bounced it several times with Chain of Vapor. He kept taking damage from a City of Brass to replay it, but he was definitely gaining control of the match. I drew a Bane of the Living, but he had a Smother for it before I could use it to much effect.

We sat looking at each other for a couple of turns, with his two creatures tapping my two creatures, when I drew into a Chainer's Edict that ended the game. If he had drawn any more creatures to power the Opposition, I would have been done for.

Results: 5-2 (11-6 games)

Round 8, Robert, G/W madness
My notes didn't even catch his last name. He was running an aggro G/W madness deck, and started off game one with a Tireless Tribe and a Basking Rootwalla. He sacrificed the Tireless Tribe to a Chainer's Edict, and then slapped an Elephant Guide on the 'Walla. On its second swing, in response to his pumping up the Basking Rootwalla, I Aether Bursted it. We had a short creature stall until he played an Exalted Angel, at which point I flipped a Bane to clear the board and then Cabal Archon and Rotlung Reanimator finished it up.

Game 2, we both started with a trip to Paris, and he went back a second time. I should have, too, because I stalled on two lands. Without a second source of black, I never stood a chance.

Game 3 was a fierce battle. He started faster than me, but I managed to stall out the combat on the ground. Then he dropped a scary Compost, which I bounced. When he replayed the Compost, I started killing off his creatures one at a time, and every card he drew was a replacement creature, and most of them madness creatures. I started setting up to win with Cabal Archon and his friendly cleric clan, but I was losing the battle to his Arrogant Wurm beatings, with two Basking Rootwallas for support.

I had a good chance to end it, but I could puzzle out a win for him if he got lucky. If I played two Chainer's Edicts, I could clear a path for my clerics to push through enough damage and then win by sacrificing to the Cabal Archon - but if he drew a Basking Rootwalla on one of the Edicts and kept a Tireless Tribe alive, he could make a surprise blocker and win...

But the first creature he let die was the Tireless Tribe and that was the end of the match.

It was a very tiring match. Time was called right after, so no break for me.

Results 6-2 (Games 13-7)

Round 9, Jason Boucher, Blue Green Madness with Centaurs
Did I not get the memo? What's up with everybody having those nasty Centaurs against me? Game one, my notes read:"Mad Centaur beatings." I guess I lost that one.

Game 2, he mulliganed once, but seemed unhappy. I played a Nantuko Shade and he laughed and said,"Perfect." He did nothing but Deep Analysis and play lands. It was over very quickly.

Game 3 was a nail-biter. He started off with his madness outlets and I killed them as fast as I could, but he was able to drop a Roar into the graveyard and I didn't have a Withered Wretch. After I smothered that Wurm, he played Quiet Speculation for a two Roar of the Wurms and a Deep Analysis. Luckily for me, I had a handful of bounce spells, and he stalled on four lands so he didn't have the counter backup to keep them alive. His life went from eighteen to ten in one swing of a Shade and Rotlung, and on the next turn he drew his card and scooped.

When I asked him why he didn't flashback one last Roar to stay alive another turn, he laughed and said he'd forgotten it was there. But I completely understand, as I was near losing it. This was after nine rounds, and it was quite stressful.

Stressful for me, anyway - I'm definitely not used to this much Magic.

Results 7-2 (Games 15-8)

Round 10, I forgot to write down his name, Husk/Caller
He seemed very upset that I wasn't willing to concede the match. I was clearly out of contention for the top 8, and there was a slim chance he'd be in with a win. I started off with a Nantuko Shade, and went swinging. I had answers for almost all of his threats, and including a big Bane hit. In response to me Aether Bursting his Stronghold Assassin and Wirewood Herald, he sacced his Stronghold Assassin to kill his Wirewood Herald. (I assume it was so he could search out a Caller of the Claw.) When he picked up his deck to look through it, I tried to explain that the way the timing works out; he is allowed to target the Herald, and then sac the Herald. That way, he would end up with the Assassin in his hand and still sac the Herald to search. He got angry with me for assuming he didn't know the rules, and growled,"Didn't you consider that there might be some reason I want them both to go to the graveyard?"

Whoa; I was just trying to be nice. (I guess I shouldn't try to be helpful in round ten at Regionals, though. It's a habit I've formed by playing against younger players in events like Friday Night Magic back home.)

In his anger, he didn't grab a Caller of the Claw; instead, he grabbed a Llanowar Elf, and then right after that picked up all of his cards in disgust. My explanation honestly wasn't intended as a distraction.

Game 2 was very long. I had a land-heavy hand, but it's always preferable to a land light hand. Suddenly I had drawn fifteen lands and four non-land cards, and was somehow still in the game. When I started drawing threats (including one stretch of three very strong topdecks in a row) and he started telling everyone who would listen that it was a bunch of crap, and he that should have already won, but that I was just too lucky. When I pointed out the Oversold Cemetery he had just topdecked, which got him back a Phantom Centaur, he just shrugged. After that, he complained about drawing too many lands while I had a huge pile of my own.

Up until this point, I was seriously considering conceding the match to him anyway, since he did have a chance to make top eight... But he was becoming far too rude. That Phantom Centaur he picked up ended the game after couple of bounces.

Game 3, I choked. After some early creature trading, I'm down to ten life, with a Cabal Archon, Rotlung Reanimator, Eastern Paladin, and Unholy Grotto in play. In my graveyard, I had a Withered Wretch. During my end of turn step he Smothered my Cabal Archon. I picked it up with an Aether Burst, because I wanted to get the Archon/Rotlung/Grotto online in case I needed to race another Centaur. He had one card in hand, and Nantuko Husk in play. The card in his hand was a Caller of the Claw that I had seen him get when I killed a Wirewood Herald. I was left with a single open land, and a Smother and Edict in hand. He drew and played a Llanowar Elf and attacked with the Husk. For some reason, I then uttered the words,"No blocks." He about fell out of his seat, and his friend standing behind me started howling. I immediately knew what had I had done and I took ten damage from a big Husk.

After ten very hard rounds, and a day of some of my better playing, I blew it. I guess I had just gotten cocky because the game was all but locked up for me. I really don't know what came over me. After a few moments spent calling myself stupid, I shook his hand and tried to be a good loser. I even wished him luck in his tiebreaks for top eight.

Results 7-3 (16-10 games)

He ended up not making top eight. I wish he had; it would make me feel a lot better about the loss, but his attitude really bothered me. Perhaps it was just the stress of ten long rounds, and the fact that I didn't automatically concede to him. I can understand him feeling upset if he felt that a top eight slot might be slipping away from him. After the match was over, we talked, and he seemed like a decent guy, but I didn't hang around long. I got to go have my friends explain how many ways I could have won the match, and all of the mistakes I made.

And that's my story. I finished in 28th place. If I had won that match, I would have been around 12th, I think, since that was the lowest result of the 24-point players. Still, 28th place out of 405 players with my own rogue deck? Sweet! A lot of luck, a lot of fun, and a whole lot of soda. Well worth the price of the trip.

I didn't catch all of the top 8 names; hopefully, somebody else will write a report. I recognized the names of David Saylor, Justin Stiles, and Stephen Scott in the final standings list.

Thanks for reading,
Jesse Chounard
jessechounard@hotmail.com