I've always liked playing at States. A friend of mine once referred to States as "The Constructed Prerelease," and that's a very good moniker. The usually diverse field and anticipation of a new environment make for many opportunities for innovation in deck-building, and that's what I'm into. Sadly, this year's Champs seemed, at least according to the internet community and various pros in the weeks preceding the event, to be stagnant. Everyone seemed to point players seeking "the best deck" towards Affinity, which defies everything that States is about.

Playing Affinity at States this year was like playing U/G Madness at States two years ago, or Astral Slide last year. In other words, lame. States is about building something wacky, something rogue, something that's yours, and losing to the guy who played an established deck, and getting to bitch about it. There is almost no reason to play in States at all. It doesn't give you a berth in a bigger tournament. The prizes, while good for the winner (at least in Michigan), aren't very good either.

States, in short, is for funsies only.

I was going to play some bad deck, which I won't even go into here, to play against the other bad decks. But it seemed that if no one was going to play a bad deck, then I couldn't play a bad deck. The internet was ruining my dreams of 2-2 drop, draft. I decided to not play at all, citing that Type Two would be just like Block (according to my experience, it was).

On Friday night, I walked in on a few friends doing some last minute testing. They were tuning their Affinity decks. Another was putting the finishing touches on his Tooth and Nail deck. It was making me sick, seeing nothing but Block decks. It made me sick enough to join them, if only to crush the deck that seemed to be the cause of this mess.

Searing Flesh, Maybe?
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Electrostatic Bolt
4 Magma Jet
4 Oxidize
4 Molder Slug
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Arc-Slogger
2 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
2 Fireball
2 Rude Awakening

11 Mountain
13 Forest

Sideboard
4 Viridian Shaman
4 Stone Rain
4 Creeping Mold
2 Mindblaze
1 Kodama's Reach

I'd like to point out that the Mindblazes and lone Kodama's Reach in the board were supposed to be Cranial Extractions, but since playing those would triple the cost of my deck, I said screw it, I'm only out to beat Affinity anyway. Having two random Mindblazes (my favorite card in Team Drafts; I've never missed) in my sideboard helped me name my deck, as I didn't want to use the generic name Freshmaker.

Two hours of sleep, some Andrew W.K. in the car, and lots of borrowing cards at the site later, the first Round started.

Round One - Affinity played by Guy With Funny Hat
Sadly, since I expected only to bash Affinity and end up X-2 fairly quickly, I did not write down the names of any of my opponents, nor the specific details of each match, but since this deck is all about blowing up crap then just playing a big guy, these matches were pretty easy to cover.

Playing Affinity first round was, for once, exactly what I wanted. I was going to ruin some kid's dream.

Game one, he only played one land. Easy enough.

Game two I kept a decent hand that did not pan out well, and was run over.

Game three is where I noticed the first of many weaknesses my deck had, and my first improper sideboarding, and also my first misplay. In other words, I lost.

My weakness was to Moriok Rigger. I could not kill that guy if he had either Atog or Ravager out. Game two he won on the shoulders of that monster, and I had to prevent him from seeing play at all. My improper sideboarding was taking out my Rude Awakenings, as strange as it seemed. Often I would kill stuff, play a big guy, and have him Terrored or Shrapnel Blasted, leaving me with no pressure. Rude Awakening gave me the ability to win the turn I drew it, but also could win through a Rigger that would normally hold off a fattie. My mistake during the match was misreading how many counters were on an Aether Vial. I have no excuse except my lack of sleep, which everyone there seemed to be suffering from.

My opponent had three lands out and a Vial. I was holding two Molder Slugs, but he did have a bit of pressure and I suspected Mana Leak from his plays, so I could not afford to tap out to play Slug, as if it was removed, I was going to be in trouble. I also feared Rigger. The right play was to destroy Aether Vial with a Viridian Shaman. Then if he wants to play Rigger, he would be unable to stop my Molder Slugs from eventually gaining a superior board position. However, in a moment of stupidity, I thought his Vial only had one counter on it, so I destroyed a Vault of Whispers, thinking that I could destroy the Vial next turn without fear of Rigger at all, unless he draws a Black source, which opens up Molder Slug like I intended all along. I felt very stupid when he played Rigger off his Vial on the next turn, and as a result, lost my first round to the only deck I was there to beat.

::sigh:: 0-1

Round Two - Big Red played by One Hearth Kami Guy
This match, truthfully was unexciting. I was in control most of the time, killing several Slith Firewalkers, Furnace Whelps, and Arc-Sloggers. The most interesting play of the match was my casting of Mindblaze in game two, with the following cards in his yard:

Slith Firewalker
Hearth Kami
Magma Jet
Electrostatic Bolt
Arc-Slogger

Here I chose Hearth Kami. It was a possibility that he was holding a Firewalker, as I had dudes to block it, he could have been holding Jet to kill my Slug, people play that Kumano fellow now, so the number of Arc-Sloggers in his deck seemed variable, and I didn't choose Electrostatic Bolt for the same reasons as Magma Jet. Hearth Kami was the only card that made no sense to be sitting in his hand.

I named three.

I missed, after searching his deck and finding none.

At least a few of my friends got to laugh. I sure didn't.

My next one hit, naming one Two-Headed Dragon, if that gives any indication of what kind of deck I was up against. I heart the losers bracket.

1-1

Round Three - Affinity played by Guy with too many lands
This guy kept a bad draw in the first game, drew into Thoughtcast, and drew more cards that weren't going to win him the game in time. Game two I managed to prevent him from playing a Rigger that I wasn't sure he had or not, and the match concluded quickly in my favor. I felt bad, because my opponent might have been the nicest Affinity player I've ever been paired against.

Still, he was playing Affinity, so I only felt a little bad.

After beating Affinity, I didn't feel so dumb anymore.

2-1

Round Four - Affinity played by Guy in Muscle Shirt
Ever have your opponent sit down and you know exactly what they are playing before you even start? This guy stank of Affinity, and I was right. This was a very tight match, and we split the first two games. He also played Rigger in the main deck. Very dirty.

Game three took a long time. His offense wasn't too hot, and I couldn't apply much pressure. I spent the entire game worrying about Moriok Rigger and how devastating it would be if he played it. He was lacking black mana and Aether Vial. I managed to stay alive for quite a while with my one Oxidize that I played a total of four times with Eternal Witness. The board position became my Eternal Witness against his one guy, and when I finally killed it, he decided to Shrapnel Blast me with it, bringing me to eight. A turn or two later, he drew two Aether Vial and I drew Arc-Slogger. You would think the game was over with him at ten life, and me with Slogger and two Witnesses, plus having three Mountains untapped against an empty board and an opponent at ten life. He had no creatures, but a Vial on one and another on two. For some reason, I feared he would use both Vials and prevent me from winning, and somehow win next turn with random topdeck, so I used my last Eternal Witness to bring back Oxidize yet again to remove whatever threat he had, tapping down to two Mountains and one Forest as I did so.

Can you see how stupid this play is? I sure did when I attacked and he Vialed in an Atog, blocking my Slogger. I ended up Slogging the Atog a whole bunch to keep it from being lethal, but just as I was paying the costs for the last Slog. Time was called. My plan of simply removing all his artifacts and slowly killing him with Witnesses was going to fail if he drew into anything, as I only had two attack phases left with him at six life.

Luckily, he drew into nothing and I drew Molder Slug to seal the deal in turn four of extra turns.

What a sack I am. I deserved to draw that match for my error.

3-1

Round Five - Big Red played by R.I.W. Guy
As it turns out, I beat Big Red most of the time. I had a better record against Big Red than I did against Affinity. This poor guy figured out how bad Furnace Whelp really is against me. He did play Arc-Slogger in both games on turn 3, to his credit. Game one it was Fireball/Bolted. Game two I kept a terribly slow hand of four land, Mindblaze, Arc-Slogger, and Molder Slug only to have him play Slogs on turn 3. Somehow, he had no gas except for the fattie, and after I played one Slogger, which he killed, then Molder Slug, which he also killed, my second Slogger finally traded with his. He had few cards left in his deck, and it was tough to decide what to Mindblaze him for, as he had a full hand somehow. After five minutes of thinking, I just threw it down, planning on just naming whatever came to mind. It promptly got Shunted at me, to which I said, "Okay, I name one thousand Mindblazes."

Damn, I missed. I was going to finish him off with my second one, but I drew Rude Awakening that turn, which seemed safer, as I thought he was waiting for a Seething Song to Fireball me for my remaining ten life.

No style points for me ::sigh::

4-1

Round Six - R/G Land Destruction played by Guy with no Sideboard

The moment I realized what I was up against, I thought I would probably lose the match, certainly the first game, particularly when he blew up one of my lands on turn 3 while he was on the play. I wasn't joking when I said the guy at 4-1 had no sideboard. In fact, his deck looked like how mine would post-sideboarding, with Electrostatic Bolt and Oxidize traded in for Stone Rain and Creeping Mold. He told me he wasn't paired against Affinity even once today.

At least I wasn't the only lucky bastard in the room.

I'm not sure if it was poor draws or whatever, but I managed to handle this guy easily. I blew up a number of lands in game two, and my Kodama's Reaches were great in this match, letting me get ahead of him no matter who was playing or drawing. It seemed that my deck had more resilience than I thought, as I wasn't too hot on playing against an LD deck. Highlights include our Kumanos killing each other, and my beating his face.

5-1

Round Seven - Big Red played by Jesse Caulkins
It had to happen sometime. There were way too many people I knew at 5-1 to not get paired with one of them. The games themselves were pretty straightforward. I stayed alive long enough to cast a giant spell and win game one. Game two Jesse was mana screwed, and my Stone Rains and Creeping Molds kept him from getting anything good going.

If I have to play a friend, that's one thing. But knocking him out of States by mana screw, that's just harsh. But what was I going to do? I bought him a soda to compensate for my being a sack yet again.

6-1

Round Eight - G/b Tooth and Nail played by Chet Brown
Again with the getting paired with a friend. In fact, both the friends I was paired against were in the same car as I was. Hell, Chet was the one who offered to drive me down here to play. The loser would not make Top 8. Could my luck be any worse?

Game one came down to his not drawing Tooth and Nail, or anything useful for that matter, and my Molder Slug was able to finish him. Game two was interesting, as there were several turns where key land destruction spells prevented him from going off. According to bystanders, Chet could have played Vernal Bloom on a particular turn and go off the next, but I am unable to verify that, as I was holding various spells that might have killed him had he played it earlier. Had I missed a single one of those spells, I would have lost the game, and since I didn't think I had a good matchup against Tooth and Nail, likely the match as well.

Still, I managed to win, although I felt bad beating two friends to get there. You know, friends who tested their decks before playing them.

7-1

What a comeback. So I was in the Top 8, seeded third after swiss, pairing me against Di Shi, playing what he called R.I.W. Tooth, after his local game store. I had a decent idea of what was in his deck, and didn't feel my matchup was that good.

Quarter-Finals: Di Shi playing R/G Tooth and Nail
My opening hand was crap, so I mulliganed on the play into four Forests and two Molder Slugs. Forced to keep, I only drew two more spells that game, another Molder Slug and an Oxidize. Despite drawing four spells, Di was a turn away from death when he won the game.

Game two, after another mulligan, I ramped up to about seven lands, and started to draw nothing again. Di, while having a slowish draw, eventually was able to set up the win in two turns. I had no cards in hand, and nine lands in play, with Di at fourteen life. My draw was Mindblaze. My next draw was Mindblaze, and since Di played Sundering Titan on the last turn, it and Fireball were my only outs there, as I only had seven mana entering my final turn.

Did I miss with either one?

Of course not. No one should ever miss with Mindblaze against anyone playing Green. Who the hell ever holds back Sakura-Tribe Elder? I thought so. Mindblaze really is a better Searing Flesh against any Green-based deck.

So I got lucky again. Not like it's never happened before.

Game three, my opening hand, on the draw, was something like, Mountain, Mountain, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Kodama's Reach, Kumano, Creeping Mold, and Rude Awakening. Since I didn't have a good matchup, and only a miracle got me my last win, I kept.

Didn't get the Forest. Ever.

Oh well. It's a decision I stand by, and would do again given the same situation in the future. That hand likely would have demolished Di if I drew a single Forest.

So that ended my run at States. I had fun, didn't "waste" any time testing before the event, placed 8th out of 240ish people, and at least was defeated by the guy who won the whole thing. Congratulations Di!

In closing, I'd like to extend my thanks to:

• Everyone who loaned me cards
• The cheering when they announced my name in the Top 8
• Chet for driving and being a good sport
• Mountain Dew for ruling the world
• PES for running a great event!
• Blue Dragon Games for providing somewhere local for me to play Magic after the Wizards Stores closed.
• Mindblaze for being so fun

Nigel Higdon, Team Blue Dragon Games

AIM: CptnPunkRawk

P.S.: Since you've read this far, you must take me at least a bit seriously. So I'd like to propose something for States in the future. As fun as States is because of its pointlessness, there should be an additional reward for winning States, like an automatic berth to Nationals, or an invite to a tournament where only the State Champions play, and Top 8 go to Nationals, or even byes at Regionals. Tell your local TO about my idea, if you want, and press for something more to come out of States than a plaque!