Wow, I don't know what's happened to me lately, but whatever evil entity that's shaping Mirrodin must have big plans for me. In two weeks I won a PTQ and got second in State Champs, and it's been one helluva ride.

The monstrosity I took to States was a kind of cobbled-together deck that turned out to have some amazing synergy. It was originally and all-Mirrodin deck that I called my"block deck." It obviously had no chance despite the promise (of power) that it showed. So I said, screw The Gauntlet, and made it into a Standard deck. I wanted a deck that would beat MBC and Goblins, since I was sure that it would be 60% of the field. My strategy was to have recursion vs. Goblins and no creatures that could be Terrored so MBC players would have four dead cards at least in their decks. After I playtested and tuned it the only thing I needed was a name.

Without further ado, here is the deck:

Creatures (13):
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Bottle Gnomes
2 Goblin Replica
1 Visara the Dreadful

Artifacts (8):
4 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Skeleton Shard
2 Oblivion Stone

Spells (16):
4 Shrapnel Blast
3 Persecute
2 Promise of Power
2 Starstorm
2 Terror
2 Shatter
1 Hammer of Bogardan

Lands (23):
5 Swamp
5 Mountain
3 Barren Moor
3 Forgotten Cave
3 Vault of Whispers
2 Great Furnace
2 Bloodstained Mire

Sideboard (15):
4 Withered Wretch
3 Flashfires
3 Sulfuric Vortex
2 Pyroclasm
2 Cabal Interrogator
1 Dark Banishing

The way it was supposed to work was to play some early creatures like Disciple of the Vault to squeeze in a few points of damage, try to maintain board control with the spot and mass removal, then search out lands and more cards with the Solemn Simulacrum. When I got the opponent to around thirteen, they were in the danger zone: two shrapnel blasts to the head with a Disciple in play is ten damage and two loss of life, then swing with that lone 1/1 for the kill (or whatever else I had handy). For a longer game, I'd use recurring Simulacrums, Goblin Replicas, and Bottle Gnomes (via Skeleton Shard) to gain card advantage and thin that library, then recur Hammer of Bogardan or make a nasty Promise of Power token as a win condition.

Matchups that I expected were thusly: Against MBC, I would probably win, since it's designed to beat that. It should beat Goblins most of the time as well. I also did pretty well against White Weenie, unless Mask of Memory becomes a factor. Slide murders me if they get a Lightning Rift. W/B Control is the best control matchup, since Terror is a dead card. U/W control is my worst matchup, since counters + Akroma's Vengeance is pretty rough in my artifact-heavy deck.

It turned out that my worst matchup would come in the final match, but I'll get to that later.

I didn't think I would do well - I was just going to have fun and to test it out - and I thought I'd probably drop to draft after going 1-2.

I know I'm not supposed to bog this down with a card-by-card analysis, but since this is a new and original deck I am gonna humor myself. I also feel the need to explain the specific synergies that make the deck work so well, since on first glance so many people thought it was super janky (which it still may very well be). Wait a second - Super Jank? Naaaaw...

Disciple of the Vault
This guy is the most underrated card in the deck, and possibly why people thought it sucked. He doesn't look like much, but he can deal anywhere between two and eight loss of life during the course of a single game, let alone a match. When I can get the opponent to around three or four life and have a Disciple + artifacts on the board, if they sweep it with Akroma's Vengeance or Oblivion Stone or whatever, they'll die - so it creates card advantage in the late game by shutting down power spells. No one expects him and he was one of my main deck MVPs.

Also, I got say cool things with him. Once I played a Vault of Whispers and then a Disciple, and said,"Look! He just graduated!"

Solemn Simulacrum
People said he was going to be good, and he is - very. This creature is a bargain for what he does, especially with the synergies in this deck. Sac him to a Shrapnel Blast at the end of an opponent's turn for five damage plus a card in hand, then grab him back to your hand with Skeleton Shard. He thins your library, widens the mana base (which also shuffles, getting rid of clumps), attacks and blocks, etc. Another maindeck MVP.

Bottle Gnomes
Good against Goblins. Good against burn and if you have a Skeleton Shard and enough mana (which you should with four Simulacrums), you can even gain life in the face of Shock on a Stick (Isochron Scepter, that is).

Goblin Replica
One of the weaker cards in the deck. In here for several reasons: he fills an artifact removal slot, he fills out the mana curve, he can sacrifice practically at will (squeezing loss of life from Disciple), and I can recur him via Skeleton Shard (which got nasty in one game against Affinity). Also if a player casts Patriarch's Bidding and names Goblin, I can grab him back from my graveyard in addition to whatever I name (but unfortunately, that never happened). Bad because his activated ability is costly at 3R.

Visara the Dreadful
A card I put in here stupidly. I never played her once. She would have been much better as an additional Swamp or Mountain (or maybe a Persecute), and the one thing I have so far realized I should change.

Pyrite Spellbomb
Known to most of my opponents throughout the day as"Spell Bizzy Bomb" and probably the workhorse of the deck. I used it in three ways: to search for lands early, as spot removal, and direct damage on the opponent late game.

Skeleton Shard
Obvious.

Oblivion Stone
To get rid of those pesky enchantments; two was the perfect number. He is also good late game, allowing Disciple of the Vault to deal loss of life all the way to the graveyard with my other artifacts.

Shrapnel Blast
The best card for me all day. He takes out Exalted Angels, Eternal Dragons, Promise of Power Tokens, Rorix Bladewing, and everything smaller except for Silver Knight. Oh, did I mention opponents? This was most often my main damage dealer and also my finisher. I mainly sacrificed artifact lands, but it's good with Simulacrum too - and with twenty-one artifacts in the deck there was no shortage. My top main deck MVP.

Persecute
Oh, the power of this card! While it doesn't deal damage like Shrapnel Blast, it certainly won me just as many games. Three was the perfect number. My final main deck MVP.

Promise of Power
It never seemed to get to my hand at the right time, but the two times I played it all day, it was instrumental to me winning. Good in the first game, then it usually comes out for sideboard cards.

Starstorm
Good against anything small like White Weenie and Goblins. Super-mega good against Decree of Justice. Also can sweep the board end-game to deal vital loss of life points.

Terror
Spot removal.

Shatter
Spot removal of artifacts.

Hammer of Bogardan
Spot removal plus late-game card advantage and damage.

Notes on the mana ratios: Playtesting saw that it was critical to get a fourth land drop on turn 4, so I had put in an extra land to bring it to twenty-four. But then I kept having ten mana on the table and I'd draw three more in a row, so I went back to twenty-three and put in the Hammer of Bogardan. The Artifact Lands are in there for Shrapnel Blast. The cycling lands and the Bloodstained Mires were a night-before-the-tourney addition, and they proved invaluable; the sac lands let me pick whether to grab a second mountain or a second swamp because I have a lot of double colored casting costs. The cycling lands maintain mid/late-game card selection. The only change I would make so far would be to take out stupid Visara and put in another Bloodstained Mire.

Oh, a final thing; I have lots of non-swamp black mana producers because I was afraid of Karma.

Now let's look at the sideboard:

Withered Wretch
Put in against speedy creature builds to staunch the bloodshed until I can stabilize, and to remove those pesky Eternal Dragons.

Flashfires
If my opponent is playing plains (of my eight Swiss-round opponents, two played U/W control, one played B/W control, and one played white beatdown) I wait until the right moment and burn down their strategy. Every game I played this card I won, making it my sideboard MVP.

Sulfuric Vortex
For MBC.

Cabal Interrogator
For any kind of control and generally slow decks.

Dark Banishing
For Affinity or anything I need extra removal against.

One of the things that made this deck so good was its flexibility of win conditions. It was rare that people saw their defeat coming. Shrapnel Blast, creature beatdown, sweep the board and my opponent dies to Disciple's ability - whatever. It's fun to play because you have a lot of different options and you're almost always doing something rather than sitting on your hand.

And now, on to the matchups. They're not too detailed because I have a hard time remembering specifics except in memorable circumstances - but you'll get the gist.

My car needed a new battery, so I got my dad to drive me to the Holiday Inn at Staples Mill. Imagine my surprise when there was an old-person convention where there should be tons of people playing Magic. Whoops! Back in the car to his office at VCU, where I find the actual location of the tourney on the internet.

One thing that was instrumental to my near-victory was what happened when I first got there. The first thing I did, before even registering, was to buy a Flashfires and a Forgotten Cave. It was $1.25 and I paid with a $20. When the guy gave me my $18.75 in change, he gave me a $20 instead of a $10 (in other words, $28.75). I thought about it for a second (you would too!), then revealed the mistake instead of running away yipping in glee. This kind move on my part brought me good Karma all day (and I only took three damage from it in the fourth round).

Before I get to the matches, here are my Big Tournament Do's and Don'ts. Pay careful attention.

• Don't wear a shirt that has something about Magic on it. This is like wearing a shirt of the band you are going to see (if you don't know what I'm talking about, watch PCU, then get back to me). Also, don't wear a D&D shirt - that's just lame. Also, don't wear sweatpants, cuz you'll be hotter than hell (I made this mistake). DO wear deodorant.
• Don't pick your nose. You know who you are, I caught you twice.
• Don't bring your play binder/things you won't trade/decks you're not going to play. They will exhaust you since you'll have to carry them around with you everywhere. Or they'll get stolen by a D&D freak.
• Do bring some water bottles, because not every hotel is kind enough to provide ice water and cups.
• Do act in a friendly manner - it will give you good Karma. Don't tell your opponent his deck sucks, because he will be playing in the finals long after you've dropped. That's about it.

So... I have registered my deck and am getting ready to play. The name I decided to put on the decklist was"Stay Out of the Basement." (Disciple of the Vault / Keeper of the Basement? Ok, it's stupid - sue me).

Round 1: U/B Mesmeric Orb
Game one: He plays lands and a Mesmeric Orb. I play some creatures, including Disciple, Bottle Gnomes, and Solemn Simulacrum, although I recall one spell getting countered. He plays a Grid Monitor to block with, but I Shatter it at the end of his turn, then swing and Shrapnel Blast for the win.

Side out two Terrors to put in Dark Banishing and a Withered Wretch.

Game two: I have basically the same start minus the Bottle Gnomes. He has a similar start as well, dropping Mesmeric Orb and Grid Monitor. Orb is tearing through my library, as I am forced to play threats if I want to kill him; he has more counters this game, but some stuff still gets through. He makes a mistake and starts swinging with Grid Monitor, trying to race me, when I'm sure his kill condition is more often Mesmeric Orb. I'm down to around twenty cards left in my library when he leaves Grid Monitor untapped to block, but I draw Dark Banishing and swing for the win. He got me to five life and about twelve cards in library.

Games 2-0 Matches 1-0

My friends that showed up to the event come by saying they heard a guy screaming about how he lost to a terrible, janky deck that ran Disciple of the Vault and Goblin Replica. Was that mine? Ironically, my first-round opponent (the first one to complain!) would become one of the deck's biggest fans, and he gave me props and support for the rest of the day, so props back to him.

Round 2: U/W Control (ugh - a bad matchup)
Well, I think Akroma's Vengeance is the strongest card in Standard, so I knew I would see a lot of control (I think U/W is the best version - counters are good). I had to match up against it sometime (or all the time) so here goes nothing.

Game one: He's playing plains, islands, and Coastal Towers, and not much else. He doesn't have any counters in his hand, so when I Persecute on turn 4 I get a Wrath of God, Akroma's Vengeance, and Exalted Angel. Beatdown ensues, and I finish him off with a Spell Bizzy Bomb.

I sided out both Promise of Power, both Shatter, Both Goblin Replica, Visara the Dreadful, for three Flashfires, two Cabal Interrogators and two Withered Wretches.

Game two: Wretch comes out first and starts dealing damage, followed by a Simulacrum, while my opponent plays every single Coastal Tower in his deck. When he gets to six land, he taps them all and I'm thinking Vengeance - but it's a hard-cast Exalted Angel, which I happily Terror at the end of his turn. On my draw, I get Persecute (cha ching!) which I cast to remove a Wrath of God from his hand, leaving him with all Plains. Persecute is a must-counter spell against W/x control because you always name white, taking their board sweepers and creatures.

He drops Ivory Mask (which is incredibly good against my deck) and finally clears the board, but he's at three life. He Discombobulates one of my spells which makes me uncomfortable since he can rearrange the top four of his library, but he doesn't seem happy, and next turn I get a Bottle Gnomes down. He draws land for the rest of the game and the Gnomes net the win.

Games: 4-0 Matches 2-0

This opponent is also unhappy about losing to what he considers a bad deck. More on this in the six round. So far I'm thinking a good new name would be simply"Bad Deck That Wins." I'm getting confident in my tub of odds and ends.

Round Three: MBC
Game one: He doesn't play much removal while I play creatures. I'm sure he had Terrors sitting dead in his hand - mwahahaha! All goes according to plan. He doesn't draw Drain Life - I mean, Consume Spirit - and I Shrapnel Blast him for the win.

I took out both Promise of Power, both Replicas, a Shatter, Visara, and both Starstorm. I put in two Cabal Interrogators, four Withered Wretches for speed, and three Sulfuric Vortexes.

Game two: I get mana screwed, sitting at three mana the entire game. I die to Consume Spirit.

Game three: This is probably my best story. I pass my third turn after playing a Great Furnace; I have Shrapnel Blast, Skeleton Shard, Persecute, Promise of Power, and two Solemn Simulacrums in my hand. On his turn, he drops a third land and casts Coercion. He thinks about it for a long time and then picks Simulacrum.

In my opinion, this was a gigantic mistake; if I draw any mana source that doesn't come into play tapped, I will Persecute naming black, and probably win the game. I am hoping please please please give me a mana! But I draw an Oblivion Stone. Next turn, he Persecutes me naming black, taking my Persecute and my Promise of Power. Two turns later I draw my mana: Barren Moor, which comes into play tapped. Oh, the humanity. I beat down and got him to four life. His last three draws of the game are (in this order): Extraplanar Lens, Consume Spirit (it was for twelve, when he was at four), Diabolic Tutor for another Consume Spirit. Game over.

I really do think my opponent made a mistake not taking my Persecute, and it's unlucky that I couldn't make him pay. But if you read my last article ("Three Lessons I Learned While Winning the PTQ") you know that luck is a huge factor. At this point I'm thinking that maybe I had false hopes and I'll drop to draft at 2-2, making the deck name"MBC Party in My Basement."

Games: 5-2 Matches 2-1

Round 4: White Beatdown
This was a deck featuring White Knight, Silver Knight, Dawn Elemental, Raise the Alarm, Chrome Mox, Leonin Sun Standard, and Glorious Anthem. I think that it wasn't concentrated enough to win like the owner wanted it to; he only had one Eternal Dragon, but he was a very cool guy and fun to play against.

On a side note, Dawn Elementals are very bad for me.

Game one: We both play creatures; he spends time trying to beat down and I spend time trying to deal with his threats. I get Knights of both colors, but double Dawn Elementals kill me.

Side out both Shatters, since I didn't see the Leonin Sun Standard till game two, both Replicas because they're too slow, and put in three Flashfires and one Dark Banishing.

Game two: I play first-turn Disciple while he plays a White Knight. I figure that I'll draw red removal or a Pyrite Spellbomb soon and I won't have to worry about it (I had Terror in my hand)... But then he plays another White Knight and a Glorious Anthem. I think I'm in trouble (I most definitely am). I play a Simulacrum to get some mana and save three points of damage by blocking, and to look for a Starstorm, but I don't get one.

I put a Skeleton Shard on the table and the situation looks like this: He's at fifteen life and has two White Knights and a Glorious Anthem. I have Skeleton Shard and a Disciple and I'm at three life. At the end of my turn, he plays Raise the Alarm, so I respond by Shrapnel Blasting each of his White Knights, sacrificing the Skeleton Shard and a Great Furnace, since he has tapped out, and it puts him at thirteen from the Disciple. He attacks on his turn with the two 2/2s (from Glorious Anthem) and I block one of them, putting me at 1 life. He passes the turn to me and I think, gee, if I don't draw Terror or Spellbomb I die.

Whoop! Topdecked the Terror. I Terror both his tokens and pass the turn - he doesn't draw a threat and passes back. My next draw: Flashfires! I burn down his real estate and he never plays another creature. Whew - I was at one and he was at thirteen, but I came back; this would become a theme for the day.

Game three: He plays some small threats while I do the same. On turn 4 I, Flashfire getting three plains; he does manage to drop a Chrome Mox at one point, but he has all big guys in hand, and doesn't play another creature. Thank you, Flashfires!

Games: 7-3 Matches: 3-1

Round Four: B/W Control
Game one: Grrrr. Stupid Control. I have mana problems, sitting at three until way too late to stop my hand getting destroyed by Persecute and my face smashed in by Exalted Angel.

Side out two Shatter, two Replicas, two Promise of Power, and put in three Flashfires and three Withered Wretch (starting to sound redundant?). I left in Terror for Exalted Angel and Dragons.

Game two: Lopsided in the other direction; I Persecute naming white, then Flashfires the next turn getting three plains. He gets some cycle action with Eternal Dragon, but I Flashfires again to seal the deal.

Game three: Turn 4 Persecute nets me a Wrath of God, an Akroma's Vengeance, and an Exalted Angel (niiiiiiice). Next turn I Flashfires and that's game.

A quick note on maindeck Shatter: It was a little bit of metagame, as I expected to see Affinity. As you can see, I almost always sided it out; but it was a dead card in my hand about the same amount as Terror, and I was glad I decided on two of each. It gave me the utility I needed to deal with diverse threats.

The deck was turning out well... How about"Jank Surprise"? Naw, that sounds like a recipe.

Games: 9-4 Matches: 4-1

Round 5: Affinity
As you can see by my sideboard, I didn't really side at all for Affinity, giving it a token nod with the sole Dark Banishing. I considered this my secret tech, because I thought affinity was bad and that it wouldn't win much, so I wouldn't have to play it. Then I would have more sideboard flexibility later in the Swiss rounds because I wouldn't have dead cards in it for Affinity. Also, I had enough maindeck artifact hate to deal.

Game one: I'm playing a guy I recognized from the PTQ in Roanoke, and he was a cool guy and fun to play against. I don't remember much about this game except that it was over quickly. Affinity isn't a very good matchup for me when they get the aggro start. Multiple Myr Enforcers and Broodstar smack me up.

Sided out Visara and put in Dark Banishing.

Game two: He gets the 'sit behind counters until I draw some threats" hand - and it's a slow game, because my draw is not particularly fast either. I am trying to bait his counters to get my Skeleton Shard on the board; then he can counter my Simulacrums all he wants and I'll still get them back, but when he's used a few counters and it's time to go for it, he still has one left for the shard. He gets some Frogmite action and is winning the life race, getting me to around thirteen while he sits pretty at nineteen.

The round is running out of time when I've got four cards in hand including Disciple and Promise of Power. He has a Myr Enforcer that he just played on the board and a Skeleton Shard, which is awesome in the Affinity decks. I play Promise of Power with the entwine to put me at eight with a massive 8/8 Demon token.

Here is where I got crafty. I realize that with time running out, going to a third game is bad for me. I can't win in a quick match, only he can. Therefore, my only option to make top 8 is to play for a draw. I had a plan. I played artifact creatures and passed the turn. I repeated this a bunch of times as we both did little, holding Disciple in my hand until I had an Oblivion Stone and a Shrapnel Blast. Then, with about three minutes left in the round, I made my play. I dropped Oblivion Stone and he didn't counter, so I figured he didn't have any (I was right). I played Disciple and then sent a Shrapnel blast at his head for five damage plus one loss of life putting him at thirteen. Then I attack with my 8/8 Demon token for eight to put him at five.

Then I popped the Stone and loss of life killed him. Like I said, they rarely see it coming.

By the time we shuffled up and took our hands, there were like thirty seconds left in the round. We played two turns before they called time, and he couldn't get me in time to pull out the win, even though he drew a super-good aggro hand with two Myr Enforcers, Chrome Mox, two Welding Jars, and Broodstar. In all fairness, if there were two more turns he would have won the last game.

On the other hand, though, I feel like the way I played this match was my best move all day. I recognized the inherent strengths and weaknesses of both decks and realized exactly what I had to do to make the top 8. I didn't cheat or stall - I just waited until the moment was ripe.

At this point I have to win out. I'm considering,"The Bad Deck That Won't Go Away (in the Basement)."

Games: 10-5-1 Matches: 4-1-1

Round 6: Affinity
Game one: Ugh. Not again. This game my opponent goes through nearly every Spellbomb in his deck searching for whatever he was searching for. I Shrapnel Blast a 6/6 Broodstar and then Pyrite Spellbomb it; he Aether Spellbombs it back to his hand and then plays it again. Then I Terror it. Four for two is kind of bad, card advantage-wise, but getting Broodstar was worth it. He draws almost all of his land and I get Goblin Replica/Skeleton Shard going and he scoops.

By this point, we had a bit of an audience. My opponent was angry and had a number of disparaging things to say about my deck - namely, that he was losing to a garbage deck. At that point my second-round opponent chimed in to agree, saying that when he lost to me he"wanted to cry."

Yes! The deck is doing its job. My opponent also called my deck the"anti-affinity deck," which isn't true and said that it didn't matter because he was going to win. We were both kind of angry at the other and it was an unpleasant match.

Side out Visara, put in Dark Banishing.

Game two: I don't think it's going well; he gets the counter-heavy draw, and all I can get through is a lone Disciple which is promptly Pyrite Spellbombed. His sideboard is evident when he Annuls half of my spells, including both of my Skeleton Shards (that's bad). Eventually I get down a pair of Bottle Gnomes. My opponent is drawing Spellbombs and Thirst of Knowledge and Thoughtcast, searching for threats but not finding any, while two Terrors sit in my hand waiting for a Broodstar that never comes. The Gnomes do about twelve damage before he gets a Frogmite, which slows my damage per turn by one. I am still whittling him down and a Shrapnel Blast seals the deal.

I found out after the match that he sided out all of his Broodstars, which was a mistake in my opinion; it's the only creature that I really fear in the deck and his best (nearly only) finisher. If I was going to take out a creature, I would have taken out Frogmites, but I haven't played Affinity so I'm not an expert.

On a side note, we both apologized to each other later in the day for getting hot under the collar. It was a good karmic moment right before they hung up the sheet showing the top 8.

Games: 12-5-1 Matches: 5-1-1

Round 8 (last Swiss Round): U/W Control
I have to give props and slops to this player. His build was very unique, using Cloudpost and Talismans to accelerate, and he had Akroma, Angel of Wrath as well, which we both thought was underplayed in the format."I think creatures are control," he said.

And the kicker... He couldn't have been older than fourteen, and he was 6-1-1 and 10^th place overall (I was 11^th at that point) in his fourth tournament ever (the largest State Champs in Virginia ever). I was very complimentary of both his build, his metagaming foresight, and his skills as such a young player. The slops will come in a moment.

Game one: I sit at three mana for the first twelve turns or so. Akroma finishes me off.

Side out both Promise of Power, both Shatter, both Goblin Replica, and Visara. Put in three Flashfires, Two Cabal Interrogators, and two Withered Wretch.

Game two: ARGH! Mana problems two games in a row. I have two black and one red, and he counters the three mana spells I am playing. I manage to get a Wretch into play, but on my attack he cycles Decree of Justice to make five tokens and double-block it. On my next turn I put down a Disciple and he cycles another Decree to get five more tokens. He attacks me for eight before I manage to get down another Disciple and on the next turn I block a token apiece to leave my life total at one.

This whole time I have had a Starstorm in hand but have been unable to cast it because of the double red casting cost. I'm praying I'll draw a Mountain.

Whoop! Mountain.

I Starstorm for one and kill all his tokens, then proceed to play threats while he draws almost all land the rest of the game. I was at one and he was at twelve, and I came back. My opponent didn't like it one bit.

Game three: This time it's my opponent who gets mana screwed. He mulligans to five and is complaining up and down. His first two turns he plays two plains, then misses a land drop on his third turn. I hate to do it, but on my fourth turn I play Flashfires, burning down this kid's hopes of making top 8. It seems mean, but I'm playing to win, and I'll do what it takes.

I follow it up with a Cabal Interrogator which he stops for three turns with two Stifles and Gilded Lights, but I continue to play weenie threats and take him down.

Here is where the slops come from; after he lost, he went ape. He blamed mana screw and said it was bull that he lost and that he should have won. I tried to remain complimentary, but the kid lost all composure. I finally pointed out to him that I was mana screwed in the first game, but that didn't matter - it was all about him. I said that he did great and that he had tons of big tourneys ahead of him, especially if he did so well in this one. I asked him if he expected to go 6-2 at his fourth tournament ever and he shot back,"Of course I did. I didn't pay twenty bucks to come here and lose!"

Well. I guess that's true.

Games: 14-6-1 Matches: 6-1-1 Place at end of Swiss: 8^th by the skin of my teeth. So far I think I like"Comeback Jank" or maybe"Jank Tech."

This article started getting long a while ago so I am going to more or less finish it off here with a few final notes. To find out what happened in the final two rounds, I will refer you to Ted Knutson's article already posted on StarCityGames.com, he did a good job capturing the essence of it (although I wish I had never found out about the mistake I made in the final game of the tourney!).

In the first round, of the finals I played against Goblins. First game, I got mana screwed and lost; second game I established control of the board and kept drawing enough removal to eke out a victory even though I was in the danger zone with seven life. Third game my opponent had to mulligan and had a less-than-optimal hand, while I had Terrors, Spell Bizzy Bombs and Jens. But I built the deck to beat Goblins, right? And I did it without recurring Bottle Gnomes.

As stated above, the last matchup was my worst, for several reasons. Wes Moss had a very intuitive build (you can see it listed under the States Decklist Archive) that was a smart choice for the field; Rotlung Reanimators leave some beats after board sweeps and foil my otherwise carefully crafted removal ratios. Also, it had cheap counters, which are bad for me since he can play threats and have mana open to counter mine. Four maindeck Withered Wretch rule my recursion strategies.

And finally... Unholy Grotto. That card is the bomb in his deck. It's just like my Skeleton Shard, except that it's a land - uncounterable. It is harder to destroy and doesn't die to board sweeps, and it even provides mana. It made a huge impact against me.

Okay, now my obligatory props and slops, yay!

Props to:

• Shane Stoots and Ian Bennet - three players in the top 8!!! We're putting Richmond Comix on the map!
• To Jay Coffman for running Turbobliterate, which should have done much better.
• Also, pros to Ted Knutson who I hadn't spoken to before, but is very cool, and wrote a great top 8 report.
• Props to my first-round opponent, who became a fan of the deck and supported me the whole day, and of course to John Davis for showing up and to Ben Banberry-Hamm for getting me Subway when I was otherwise occupied.
• Props to my seventh round opponent for being cool after we had words (bad ones), and to the anonymous onlooker in the finals that called me"his hero."
• And finally, once again, props to Star City Games for having us.

Slops to:

• The Judges for what they did to my playtest buddy Todd (he accidentally wrote down 'Vengeance' instead of 'Akroma's Vengeance' on his decklist, and instead of giving him a warning and a game loss they forced him to put 4 of the actual card Vengeance in, which he didn't have and didn't care to, essentially making him drop. I mean, come on, a little sympathy here). At least he went 1-0. Also, slops to the hotel for not giving us any damn water. It was sooo hot in there.

And how about a name for the deck? I don't even really care anymore. I think I'll call it"Throw That Junk in the Basement." If you can think of a better one, email me at jmumoo@yahoo.com.

Thanks for reading... And good luck playing.