My only requirement for States was that any deck I ran had to have four maindeck Stone Rain. There are a proud few players out there who still insist on trying to destroy lands, even against decks that need very few lands to win. I am one of those players.

So I gave every effort about a month before States to put together a Mono-Red deck with Stone Rain that could consistently stand up against Vial Affinity. I prefer builds with fewer creatures, as I favor finishers to weenies. If I LD my opponent and slow his tempo, I want to put out a huge flying dragon, or a big monster with shock built in, not a 2/2 for two.

I just couldn't consistently win games in testing, even with fourteen sideboard cards of dedicated hate.

The night before States, some friends and I got together to do our final testing/polishing. I kept tweaking the Red deck and couldn't get it just right. That's when Mike Ferrara hands me this R/G deck he's built. At first, I wasn't interested, but he told me it had four Stone Rain. Really?

Kinky Witness

11 Forest
8 Mountain
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Viridian Shaman
4 Eternal Witness
1 Zo-Zu the Punisher
2 Arc-Slogger
2 Molder Slug
1 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
1 Kodama of the North Tree
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Jugan, the Rising Star

4 Magma Jet
2 Time of Need
3 Molten Rain
4 Stone Rain
2 Creeping Mold

Sideboard:
2 Molder Slug
4 Oxidize
3 Pyroclasm
1 Time of Need
4 Plow Under
1 Dosan the Falling Leaf

I look it over and see Eternal Witness. Witness + Stone Rain = more Stone Rains in my deck! Great. A R/G LD deck, neato. But wait, there's more! The cool part is this card:

Time of Need
You mean I can blow up my opponent's lands, then cast a two mana Burning Wish for a finisher? Sign me up.

That, and Kiki-Jiki is pretty neat with Sakura Tribe Elder, great with Viridian Shaman, and ridiculous with Eternal Witness. Yes, in fact, I would love to cast Stone Rain for all remaining turns of the game.

I test against Vial Affinity and it works. Really, really well. My testing partner feels abused. Great! I don't need any more testing - if it beats Vial and I get to keep maindeck Stone Rains then I can't possibly lose!

Round 1 - Stuart playing U/W Control
Now I'll start by saying that this match was totally unfair, as I don't remember a single spell I cast being countered in the entire match.

The spells my opponent cast the first game were - Thirst for Knowledge, Thirst for Knowledge, Wrath of God, Pulse of the Fields times two.

I blew up about three Islands and then started in on the Plains to stop the Pulsing. I also took three points of mana burn because Pulse of the Fields is the dirtiest card in Type Two. I curse it.

Sideboard:
+4 Plow Under, +1 Dosan the Falling Leaf, +1 Time of Need, -3 Viridian Shaman, -2 Molder Slug, -1 Zo-Zu the Punisher

Game two he goes first and plays Plains, Plains, Sacred Ground. Oh no!

My turns were:
1 - Birds of Paradise
2 - Time of Need, searching our Dosan the Falling Leaf (a.k.a. City of Solitude on legs)
3 - Dosan the Falling Leaf? No counter - haha!
4 - Plow Under your only two meaningful permanents, two Plains. Sacred Ground can kiss my ass.
5 - Eternal Witness returning Plow Under to my hand (*match over*)
6 - Plow Under, two Plains again, then Stuart also realizes the match is over.

Sacred Ground may qualify as the dirtiest card *ever* - luckily it doesn't see that much play. LD is unviable, yeah, that's the ticket...

Fuller 1-0 (2-0 games)

Round 2 - Vic playing Mono-Black Rats
While we shuffle up for game one, the judge comes over and takes my opponent away. I wait patiently and find out he gets a game loss for registering one extra land. Bleh! Most players have to learn that one the hard way (I did for Limited anyway), until you become a paranoid nut always rechecking your decklists and match results slips. The last thing you want is to play flawlessly and give up your chances on a technicality.

We shuffle up for game two - he mulligans to six and we start. I have a hand that consists of Forest, Mountain, Birds of Paradise, and Stone Rain. The other three cards might as well be missing, as they are irrelevant. I deliver a turn 2 Stone Rain off my Birds and he tells me to "go." No other land drop.

Ow.

There's something deliciously sadistic about getting a turn 2 Stone Rain on someone and them not having a second land to play. The mean, horrible part of me that loves LD beamed in ecstasy.

We played a game for fun and he got a jillion rats and swarmed my unspectacular hand. It always happens with those darn "games for fun."

Fuller 2-0 (4-0 games)

Round 3 - Brian playing Vial Affinity
This is my best matchup, at least in testing. Well, actually this was the only matchup I tested. But it tested well.

He wins the roll and decides to go first. I look at my opening seven and have one Forest and no Birds. Bleh. I send the hand back for six and get something similar, but with one less card.

If there's one thing I *hate*, it's having to mulligan. I am always worried that exactly the above situation will happen, or you'll send a marginal hand back only to get a no land hand. Because of this round a couple other equivalent matches, I would add one more land before playing the deck again.

In game 1, my deck essentially decides not to participate. I keep my six-card, one Forest hand, figuring that since I am on the draw, I have a better chance of getting a Birds or some more land. I am taunted, as my deck gives me two Sakura-Tribe Elders and I watch Vial do what it does best, which is explode. Boo.

Sideboard:

+4 Oxidize, +2 Molder Slug, +1 Pyroclasm, -3 Molten Rain, -1 Zo-Zu the Punisher, -1 Kodama of the North Tree, -2 Creeping Mold

I cut the creatures that have little impact in this match, cut the color intensive LD and the Creeping Mold is a little pricey. Stone Rain I found is nice after board as they probably expect you to pull it, and it's great to deal with counter-loaded Blinkmoth Nexi.

We both mulligan to six for game 2, but my six looks much sexier this time. He gets no early creatures that I don't destroy, and I pull off a turn 4 Molder Slug. I take seven points from Disciple damage during this match, but the Slug locks it up for me four damage at a time.

For game 3, I open a hand of four Forests, Viridian Shaman, Eternal Witness, Stone Rain. I don't see an Oxidize, but hopefully this will be fast enough. He gets a moderate start and applies some early pressure. I play a turn 3 Shaman (after drawing a Slug, nice). On turn 4, I topdeck an Oxidize - perfect! I play Oxidize and return it with Eternal Witness. Next turn I draw a Birds of Paradise, so I have the option of playing Molder Slug, or Birds/Stone Rain/Oxidize. He still has a fair number of artifacts in play, so I opt for the Birds/Stone Rain/Oxidize, so he will have fewer artifacts and the Slug will be faster-acting. The fewer choices they have when sacrificing an artifact, the more crucial the sacrifice is. I follow up with the Slug next turn and he can't keep up.

Fuller 3-0 (6-1 games)

Round 4 - David a.k.a. "Kit" playing Vial Affinity
More Affinity! Woot. This was covered by local writer Adam Racht, so I have minimal notes for this matchup. I remember my opponent made numerous baffling plays, such as saccing a Welding Jar at the end of my turn just so I would lose a life. O...k...?

This match is when I realized that you can still lose a match where your opponent's only permanent is a Disciple of the Vault. For several turns in game 2, I would swing with my Slug, then my opponent would sac his artifact land he played last turn to do one to me, and swing with his Disciple for one. Two may not seem like a lot, but if they did some heavy early damage, it is still significant. I ended up winning game 2 with one life left. Whew. So that is one drawback of the Slug - giving your opponent a sac outlet for his Disciple, no matter how slow.

Fuller 4-0 (8-1 games)

Round 5 - Marshall playing Beacon of Creation
This was easily my toughest match so far. Game 1 I landed three or four LD spells and my opponent was still ahead of me in land! Sakura-Tribe Elder, Wood Elves and Solemn Simulacrum make my job very difficult. He plays a Blasting Station and follows up with a Beacon of Creation, ace-ing my Witness and giving him a swarm with which to beat me soundly about the head and shoulders.

Sideboard:
+2 Molder Slug, +3 Pyroclasm, +1 Time of Need, -3 Molten Rain, -3 Stone Rain

LD seemed to be a failing proposition (*sniff*), so I decide to put in more Slugs for the nasty Blasting Stations, Pyroclasm because luckily Beacon is a sorcery, and and extra Time of Need because I'm guessing Zo-Zu would be a savage beating in this matchup. Oh how right I would be. Also, I avoid Plow Under as he has so many damn shuffle effects that it probably won't have the full effect.

For game 2 he mulligans to six (behold The Fear of LD). I have Forest, Mountain, Zo-Zu and some other cards. I put out a turn 2 Birds of Paradise and a turn 3 Zo-Zu the Punisher.

"Oh no."

Oh yes! Although he is pleased for a moment as he is able to pull of a turn 4 Plow Under leaving me with a Bird and Zo-Zu. His friend behind him asks if Marshall just pulled off a Plow for my only two lands and I have Zo-Zu. He laughs at my position. I am confident, as I know The Little Zo-Zu That Could would definitely hurt my opponent more than me. I shock myself down to twelve playing lands, but Zo-Zu puts a serious hurting on Marshall and between swinging for damage and his ability, he lands a full eighteen points of damage! I eventually had to use him to block after Marshall cast Rude Awakening and brought me to two life. Next turn he plays a Wood Elf and a Beacon of Creation, and I have no answer. I then find my miracle by topdecking Pyroclasm. Whew! He has no follow-up and I ended up finishing him with a Slogger.

He drew nothing but land and weenies for game 3 and provided little threat as I wrecked him with another Arc-Slogger.

Fuller 5-0 (10-2 games)

Round 6 - Corey playing Affinity (didn't see a Vial, so not sure if they were in there)
Once again I get to play against more Affinity - I'm so glad I picked this deck!

Until...I win the roll to go first and look at my first seven cards. One land. I go to six cards. One land with Sakura-Tribe Elder. I reluctantly keep it, and watch my opponent vomit his hand on the table. I draw non-land cards for a couple turns and go to 14, 6, negativealot.

I decide to alter the sideboarding and put in other two Pyroclasms, trading them in for 2 Stone Rains.

Unfortunately it doesn't help as I mulligan to six again ($#&*$&*ing deck gimmee $&#*#$ing hand!), with nothing really great in it. I cast a turn 2 Time of Need. This was a tough choice, as I only had one Red mana source and I already had the Green Dragon in my hand. I decide to grab Kumano because I thought I would never get a chance to cast a Kiki-Jiki. Corey puts down two Frogmites and swings into my Shaman, which trades. He has a Cranial Plating in play, but chooses to leave two mana open at the end of each turn, one of which is blue. Duh - Mana Leak (esp. after he saw me grab a Kumano). Unfortunately I couldn't draw anything that cost three or less, so I play into it and cast Jugan. He shows me the Leak, then untaps plays a land, Plating, double equips a Frogmite and swings for a jillion damage.

Losing your "best" matchup because of mulligans in two games *sucks*. Especially when it's the last game you need to win to be able to draw into Top 8. I'm normally not a big fan of "drawing", but if those are the rules then I will play by them. I think they should eliminate ID's personally - we are there to play Magic, let's play!

Fuller 5-1 (10-4 games)

Round 7 - Mike "The Man" Ferrara playing KCI
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I am matched up against the good man who gave me this deck the night before. What a horrible twist of fate! We both discuss what would happen if we draw - we would both have a shot to make Top 8 (as we are both 5-1 currently), but we give up the option to guarantee one of us a Top 8 slot. Because I hate drawing, I tell him I think we should play it out. He reluctantly agrees and we play a game one. Now, I forgot to mention we did test this matchup for three whole games the night before, and I believe he won all three handily. It tends to play all the important permanents in one turn, and Condescend my Slugs for one.

Game 1 I have an okay opening hand with a few lands, a Sakura-Tribe Elder and a Viridian Shaman. I draw into a Molder Slug and on turn 4 it gets Condescended for one. Damn counters. They seem so unfair (Not like LD.../innocently looks around). He combos out in short order.

While we start to sideboard for game two, he again offers me a draw. Wow, does this guy's charity ever end? Here's a deck, now here's a shot at Top 8. Egad, I can't turn down a deal that good, so we end up drawing.

We play a game "for fun" and I mulligan to five off a one land hand, then a no land hand. My five cards were not amazing. Uh, whew.

Then I get to wait what seems like hours until the matchups for next round are posted.

Fuller 5-1-1 (10-4 games)

Round 8 - Petey playing Vial Affinity
Anthony, our benevolent Tournament Organizer decides since I am the only person to get paired up to a 6-1, he will give me another feature match. That and Petey tends to be kind of... loud. He kind of reminds me of Ashton Kutcher. Anywho, before the match he is talking with his friends about how is deck is "on fire".

Game 1 he plays his whole hand out by turn 2, while I have one land in play. I think I played one creature that game and he destroyed me. When I was staring down his whole army from turn 3, and I am at 3 life. I play a fourth land and have no other permanents in play, when he says, "Solemn Simulacrum?" and laughs. I report directly to my scoop phase, which we all know does not use the stack.

Sideboard:
+4 Oxidize, +2 Molder Slug, +3 Pyroclasm, -3 Molten Rain, -2 Stone Rain, -2 Creeping Mold, -1 Zo-Zu the Punisher, -1 Kodama of the North Tree

I enjoy putting in the sideboard cards, all of the beautiful hate.

I shuffle up and draw a hand of pure gold. It was something nuts like double Oxidize, Magma Jet, Viridian Shaman, Birds of Paradise and two Forests. My first draw was an Eternal Witness - Anthony (the TO) was sitting behind me and he just howled! Petey's first turn was Seat of Synod, Serum Visions.

/sarcasm on
Um yeah, power sideboarding there. This is going to be a challenge, I can tell.
/sarcasm off

Petey had a slow start, but still managed to throw a few artifacts at me with Shrapnel Blast as they were being destroyed. Molder Slug sealed it up for me (Having four of those post-board rocks!). My notes are minimal since this was another feature match.

Game 3 my hand was almost as good and it led into another Molder Slug, and I end it winning the feature match with everyone watching to make it into the Top 8 of GA States!

Fuller 6-1-1 (12-5 games)

Quarterfinals - Zach Parker playing Vial Affinity.
I'm sure glad I picked this deck, as this is my fifth match vs. Vial Affinity. Rock on. Out of everyone in Top 8, this was the matchup I was hoping for.

I am playing against Zach Parker however, who is annoyingly good, but cocky as a mo-fo. There's confidence, then there's being an ass. Zach clearly crosses the line regularly. Game 1 is just like last round - I have an unspectacular opening hand and can't fend off the blazing fast onslaught.

In come the nine cards of doom, and I handily win Game 2. Slug brought it home for me again, and Zach finished the game with two Disciples of the Vault in play, which again made the Slug sacrifice somewhat scary. I attacked with Slug, he untapped and swung for two with Disciples. I greatly enjoyed drawing Kiki-Jiki off the top, realizing Zach was at eight life with two tapped Disciples, and playing Kiki, copying the Slug and swinging for eight and the win.

For Game 3, I get a somewhat slower hand with my first play being Viridian Shaman on turn 3. I'm also going second, since I won Game 2. He gets a fairly fast hand and admittedly plays very well, making a smart play in response to my Shaman on his Ravager. He made his Frogmite a 3/3 and his Blinkmoth a 4/4 (by saccing an Arcbound Worker and a land before the Ravager died). That meant I couldn't Jet/Clasm/or block-kill the Frogmite. On his turn I am at 14 and he swings with the Frog and the Moth with one card in hand.

I have four lands in play and in hand I have Molder Slug, Kiki-Jiki, Viridian Shaman, Magma Jet and a Mountain.

I block the Frog without thinking, as usually that's all a Shaman is good for once it's in play, forgetting I had the fifth land and Kiki-Jiki ready to go next turn. I take four in the air from the Moth and go to ten life. I untap and have a choice - I can play Molder Slug and take four more in the air while his permanents start to dwindle, or I can play Shaman to kill the Frog, still take the four and have mana back for a Magma Jet. There were no good Jet targets in play however, so I play the Slug and say go. At the end of turn, he taps his Vial and his one card turns out to be Disciple of the Vault. Not too bad, but not good. He's got no sac outlet to instantly kill me. He untaps, sacs a Vial with no counters (I go to nine), adds a counter to his other Vial to bring it to two, and smiles. He swings with everything, including the Disciple.

Crap.

He shows me his one card is an Atog. I briefly do some math and realize my run for Championship is ended. I congratulate him and wish him luck.

Fuller 6-2-1 (13-7 games)

Possible changes:
The deck needs at least one more land. Either that, or my mulligan luck blows. I would probably put in a Forest for Zo-Zu the Punisher, but that would make your first game vs. control and turbo-Beacon of Creation decks a bit harder, and eat a spot in the already crowded sideboard.

Glissa would be better than I thought in the maindeck I think, to fend off Frogmites and get in some reusable tutorable destruction. Maybe she could go in for Jugan. But then you cut all the flying. It'd be worth testing if this format is played again.

All in all I had a great time at States, mainly because I took a deck that I enjoyed playing. Who would have thought Stone Rain was viable? And I'll be able to play it in Kamigawa Block Constructed?

Bring it on.

--Christopher Fuller