When I think of North Dakota, the first thing that comes to mind is one of the opening lines from Four Cheerleaders of the Apocalypse..."North Dakota...S**t!"

My sentiments exactly.

I went into the North Dakota State Championships without really being too excited. I had gone to Kansas City the week before for the Grand Prix, and only missed Day 2 thanks to me bumbling my match with Jonathan Becker, so I was a little bit burnt out and didn't want to do very much thinking. I was going to play U/W in the weeks leading up to States, but since I am not smart enough to run U/W, here I am - heh. I used pretty much the same Goblin Bidding deck I used since I heard about it after Grand Prix: Bangkok, and here it is:

Goblin Bidding
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Sledder
4 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Skirk Prospector
4 Gempalm Incinerator
3 Goblin Goon
3 Goblin Sharpshooter
3 Patriarch's Bidding
4 Dark Banishing (explained in a sec)
3 Swamp
3 City of Brass
4 Bloodstained Mire
13 Mountain

Sideboard:
3 Starstorm
3 Smother
3 Flashfires
3 Sulfuric Vortex
3 Ensnaring Bridge

About the Dark Banishings, I had heard that the night before at FNM, there were tons of Affinity and Grid Monitors around, so a friend of mine Chad Lura suggested I replace the terrors with the Banishings, and me being a pushover, decided to do it. After ponying up my fifty cents for the two Banishings from the store, I was ready to roll.

Round 1: Joe Jendro (Goblins)
Well, not much to say about this match. Joe is a great kid, but his decks are never quite as good as they need to be.

Game 1: I mulligan but pull it out by just having more removal.

Game 2: I actually don't mulligan, and roll him again, this time after siding in, you guessed it, more removal.

1-0

Round 2: Quinn Ward (U/W)
Interesting match. A maindecked Story Circle is a lot less fun for Goblins than it sounds.

Game 1: I mulligan and end up losing to an Eternal Dragon after I have both Biddings countered.

Game 2: I mulligan, but he only sees two land, and I roll him.

Game 3: I mulligan, again, and again - but he sees a total of two land. That usually doesn't turn out too well for U/W.

2-0

Round 3: Chad Lura (Goblin Bidding)
Chad, who I mentioned before, is playing pretty much the same deck, except I think he had Pyrite Spellbomb where I had Goblin Goon.

Game 1: I mulligan (funny, huh?) and he rolls me; Siege-Gang is too much.

Game 2: I actually don't mulligan...But I get rolled again when he gets a live Goblin Sharpshooter that I can't deal with.

2-1

Round 4: Shawn Huntsman (R/W Rift)
Shawn is playing a pretty standard R/W deck, and I am kinda sweating a little. I don't remember much about this match, as I was still a little miffed after losing the mirror. I do remember him never casting Wrath of God, and not seeing him play a lot of land, and I win 2-0 pretty easily.

3-1

This is where we had the dinner break. I have found that I am a much better Magic player after a schooner of Sam Adams. After downing that and a delicious turkey sub, I am ready to move on.

Round 5: Jason Herbold (White Weenie)
Jason Herbold is kind of a Fargo Magic legend. I haven't seen him play that much, but what I hear from the regulars is that he has been around forever, so I figured this would be fun.

Game 1: I get the standard super-fast Goblin draw, and he never stands a chance.

Game 2: He rolls me with an equipped Silver Knight.

Game 3: Now that was actually impressive. I go first, play turn 1 Skirk Prospector - he matches with a Savannah Lion. Next, I play a Piledriver, matched by another lion. I do squat on turn 3, and he proceeds to play double-Bonesplitter....Fun fun. My turn 4 topdeck? Flashfires. I look at his three plains, shrug, cast Flashfires, and watch him proceed to drop one more land (an island) and lose to a series of Goblin Sharpshooters for the home team.

P.S.: He had a Worship and a Silver Knight in his hand.

4-1

Round 6: Nickolas Lindvall (R/W)
I am in 7th place going into this round, and decide to take the word of my buddy Brady Williams, who guarantees that if I draw I am in. We ID the match, and then I spend the next hour watching all my best-laid plans almost go to waste... Everything that could prevent me from making top 8 happens, and when it is all said and done I make it, but on my game percentage tiebreakers, not match percentage. Heh.

Quarterfinals: Paul Hohnson (Ponza)
Well, I squeaked in - and now I get to play an undefeated deck. Woo hoo!!!

Game 1: I draw a sweet hand with nothing but creatures, toss it back, and then keep a hand with four land. He drops turn 2 land destruction, but I draw a series of land, he never sees a Starstorm, and his only threat, Rorix, gets killed by Banishing.

Game 2: I draw four land, Sledder, Piledriver, Warchief... The perfect hand against LD. I play it as you would expect. He sees very little LD, manages to Starstorm away the original team after topdecking a Temple of the False God (grrr), but a Goon ends the match in short order.

Semifinals: Nickolas Lindvall (R/W)
I guess we were destined to play after all.

Game 1 was arguably the strangest game of Magic I have ever played. I get stuck at two lands with a handful of Siege-Gang Commanders, and he gets stuck on two land and no cyclers. We stare at each other for maybe six turns, playing the draw-go game, and I manage to break out of it once I get to five land by dropping consecutive Sieges.

Game 2 was equally impressive. At resolution of the game, he is at ten life, and I am at nine. He has four Lightning Rifts on the table, five untapped mana, and I have, two Sharpshooters, a Piledriver, three Warchiefs, and two Skirk Prospectors in my graveyard. I cast Bidding, and then play the"shoot, sac" game to end it and move on the big prize.

Finals: Eric Reinhardt (Goblins)
I should remember everything about this match...But I don't. All I remember is that every single time he cast a Sharpshooter, I would cycle a Gempalm Incinerator. Every time he cast a Warchief or Clickslither, I would cast Dark Banishing. He spent most of the matches recurring Hammer of Bogardan and laying a lot of land, but I just put out too many threats in every single game for him to deal with.

So I win. Woo hoo, I am the North Dakota State Magic Champion... Isn't that like being the tallest midget in the world? Heh. Oh well - it's cool to win anyway. I might never be a pro - but hey, I got a plaque!

Matt Curry
dell_marc on Magic Online