I knew what I was going to play at Regionals - no doubt in my mind. I tweaked and tweaked the build for weeks, trying maindeck Counterspells, Callous Oppressors, Force Spikes, with builds that would have one Roar of the Wurm, two Roar of the Wurms, three Roar of the Wurms, no Roar of the Wurms ...

I wanted to play a deck that wouldn't exhaust me over the course of ten rounds, assuming things went well. I've also had a history of playing control decks with aggressive tendencies at Regionals (R/G landkill, U/B Ankh/Tide, and a rogue domain build respectively). This was the first time I actually played a deck considered tier 1 in my five attempts to qualify for Nationals. Here's what I came up with for May 3:

4 Wild Mongrel
4 Basking Rootwalla
3 Merfolk Looter
3 Wonder

4 Careful Study
4 Circular Logic
3 Roar of the Wurm
3 Standstill
3 Force Spike
2 Quiet Speculation
2 Deep Analysis
2 Upheaval

12 Islands
8 Forests
3 City of Brass

Creature Note: After headaches about Slice and Dice, I went with the Looters, simply because I didn't want to over-metagame on the basis of one deck. Looter will win you more games than it loses against any deck but Slide, and it worked out just fine all day. (Any deck but Slide? R/G Beats? Helloooo? - The Ferrett) As it was, I only had eight creatures that usually attacked.

How anyone can even want to play this deck without Upheaval is beyond me. I know that the builds have slowly floated away from the card... But come on! It's simply the most powerful, game-altering card in the format. If you can access 4UU in an aggro-tilted deck, then there's no reason not to run it.

The Force Spikes were my call, despite the arguing by... Well, everyone. But I figured that the field was shifting towards control, and while it's dead late-game, it's crucial in early counter wars and taking out key spells in the first two turns that a Circular Logic for zero won't do. You also can't Unsummon a Compulsion, Lightning Rift, or Mirari's Wake. My version was also very heavy in card-drawing. Playtest partners of mine would go so far as to ask me if I was forgetting that this was an aggro deck at times.

In hindsight, I would have loved to play one fewer forest and one more island. My land, though, only came into play in one round, and the two mulligans I took all day were in the same match... And post-mulligan, things were ugly in those games.

Sideboard:
3 Nantuko Vigilante
3 Compost
3 Unsummon
3 Static Orb
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Krosan Reclamation
1 Force Spike

The Static Orbs were tech from on high. They just shredded mana-intensive decks. When sideboarding them in, I would usually throw in the Unsummons and the fourth Force Spike, because that gave me eleven instants that cost a single blue, provided I had a madness outlet. A Wild Mongrel with an untapped island was going to be enough, as far as I was concerned.

The Unsummons in the board were a result of having the Force Spikes main. I don't regret not having access to them game 1 at all.

Nantuko Vigilante was another card that I got grief about, but I had them simply for Ensnaring Bridges and random Disenchant targets. I believed that Vigilante was tailor-made for killing Bridges, as before turn 5, they're usually not going to make a difference - plus, R/G and MBC have to expend an additional card to get rid of it.

Regionals had 433 players, and was played in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Why Waukesha? I haven't a clue. I will say that Steve Port is very lucky that the weather was nice; otherwise, things could have gotten ugly. It wasn't sardine-packed, but space was indeed at a premium for the first few rounds.

Round 1- Ken, B/W Clerics
I violated my first rule by overestimating my chances after seeing a Scion of Darkness peek out from his deck box. He won the die roll and dropped a swamp. I played Island, Careful Study, Rootwalla, Wonder in the 'Yard. Turn 2 Withered Wretch was an attempt to make things miserable for my Circular Logics. I played a Standstill, attacked for one, and passed the turn. Knowing that he would lose the race, Ken broke the Standstill with a True Believer, but he drew me into a Mongrel, another Standstill, and Merfolk Looter. The Wretch kept him in the game - but with time, I had more creatures than he did removal, and a late Cabal Archon only slowed things down.

Game two, in go the Composts and Unsummons, and out comes the Quiet Speculations, the Deep Analyses, and a Roar of the Wurm and a Standstill. He came out guns blazing, with two Weathered Wayfarers, Wretch, Archon, and I was soon outgunned... But I did have an Upheaval in hand, provided I could get to six mana. A Planar Guide a turn after my flashbacked Roar of the Wurm didn't make matters any better. Soon I was facing an Archon and three other clerics while at eleven life. I don't know why Ken didn't use the Guide, which actually gave me a chance to Upheaval in desperation, and sacrificing the Archon in response to flip the life totals by two. I honestly think that if he would have played a smoother game, he would have won in time for us to get a game three going, but we timed out while shuffling.

It's off to the draw bracket for U/G - which I thought was rather strange, especially after facing a creature deck. I felt that my deck was built for control matchups, so I keep hope.

0-0-1 (1-1)

Round 2- Matt, Beasts
Matt got to the table late, giving him a game loss right off the bat, which made it tough for him to come back against a lucky deck like mine in two straight games. I play Mongrel, Standstill in consecutive turns, and he's forced to break it. He's got two Ravenous Baloths, and I Cast Quiet Speculation for a pair of Roar of the Wurms. I cast those, giving me the big'uns on the table. Eventually, I've got the Mongrel, two Roar tokens, and a Merfolk Looter with Wonder in the 'yard facing a Ravenous Baloth and a Llanowar Elves with Glory in the 'yard. I'm at five life with two cards in hand, he's at two. He uses Glory to give his creatures protection from green and blue, then swings, forgetting that my Mongrel can be Black... or Red... or...

1-0-1 (2-1)

Round 3- French Control
I hadn't playtested with or against the deck, but I did like the list - it's rather eccentric. For those unfamiliar with the deck, it's primarily a U/B deck, but rather than winning with Psychatog, it wins with Nantuko Monastery after pitching a Riftstone Portal to Compulsion or something else. It's janky, but anyone that plays it has to have a certain level of style points.

These two games were just ugly as far as my team was concerned. Six Standstills were cast, and he got the draw on every single one. Even if things looked good for me and I dropped one, It was responded to with a Cunning Wish for Ghastly Demise, Unsummon, or something else obnoxious. I got waxed badly.

1-1-1 (2-3)

Round 4- Aaron, U/W Control
I knew now that I was skating on thin ice. To even have a chance for he Top 8, I needed to win out, and even then it was only a possibility. This round was uneventful, other than the fact that I cast Upheaval when the creature count was a Roar token and Basking Rootwalla facing Commander Eesha. After casting big Ups, I drop an Island, cast Careful Study, and see another Rootwalla, giving me the win soon after.

2-1-1 (4-3)

Round 5- Joe Karnitz, Psychatog
Joe is a buddy from back home, and I hated to have to play him with elimination on the line. Joe hadn't played in a tournament since last Regionals, but he knew Tog well... Once upon a time. He's playing the Peek/Future Sight version, and it sounds like it worked out fine for him, as I think he finished respectably given that he hadn't played in some time. We split the first two games, and game three went well into extra time. I had a fistful of counters, about fifteen or sixteen lands, and an Upheaval as we hit our five-turn extension.

I knew he had cast all of his Logics and two of his Counterspells, but he was holding at least one more. I was at eleven life, but he was at twelve due to a Delusions of Mediocrity. On turn 2 of the extension, I went for the Upheaval, floating ten mana, he countered, I cast Circular Logic, He countered again - the cur had the fourth in hand! I Force Spike, he pays it, and I cast a Merfolk Looter and a Rootwalla, and pass the turn. He plays three Psychatogs... But somehow, he missed the Wonder in my graveyard, and I win on turn 4.

3-1-1 (6-4)

Round 6, Zevatog
I like Zevatog, but in my amateur opinion, it's just not the right deck for the metagame. This one's over quickly, despite the fact that I put a Merfolk Looter back in my hand after a Hibernation. Static Orb is ridiculous against decks that like lots of mana.

4-1-1 (8-4)

Round 7, Ben Kellerstrass, U/G
Ben is the third-ranked Constructed player from the strong Madison game, so I figure that I'll need to play a good match in order to pull it out. My deck decided that it had had enough, giving me a one-forest mulligan game 1, only to have a City of Brass on my next draw. My only mana came in the form of two Cities of Brass; a desperation flashed-back Deep Analysis cost me five life, yet yielded nothing that could stand up to two Arrogant Wurms.

In game two, I get rolling fast, and he draws nothing but land in the face of my Standstill. By the time he is forced to break it, I have counter backup and rush across the table.

Game three is similar to game one, but with less pain. I keep a three-forest opening hand, with my opponent going first. I never see an Island, only a City of Brass for blue mana, and Ben's deck does what U/G does - roll fast over your head with obscenely large flying Wurms.

4-2-1 (9-6)

All in all, my time playing U/G is likely at an end, but I genuinely think the deck is the best in the format. It's time to focus on block, especially with Scourge coming out in a little over a week... And to keep team drafting for fun. Type 2 now only exists on Friday Nights.

One funny thing that happened was the fact that I went to time limit in three of seven rounds with U/G... Who does that?

Special recognition to one of my playtest buddies, Erik Thoren, who played Astral Slide to a 9-1 record at Regionals, swearing to himself in the last couple months he would be playing in San Diego after several near-misses at qualifiers, including tiebreak factors keeping him out twice. But Erik, I'll take those Exalted Angels you rode to Nationals back anytime - they've got the goods going for them now!

Chris Worden