I've Got Games. Sub-Games.

In stark contrast to many report writers, I chose to get twelve hours sleep the night before the tournament. I think it served me well.

The format was Type I, five proxies allowed. Our players range in quality and collection depth. The tournaments must be somewhat casual to attract players (each player gets a booster pack from the $5 CDN entrance fee, leaving low prizes), but the competition can get fierce at the top. Nothing like big tournaments in big places though. I saw Dragon/Bazaar, MaskNought, FoodChain, and Sapphire Oath in addition to what I played against.

I chose to play White Weenie (splash Red) with Shahrazad (go ahead, read it. Then visit the Rulings files), though I spread some disinformation that I was playing Mindslaver. A decklist follows, discussion after the report.

Decklist:
2 Disenchant
4 Savannah Lions
4 Shahrazad
4 Silver Knight
4 Soltari Priest
2 Swords to Plowshares
4 Incinerate (Chain Lightning? in use. Afterwards, I'm not sure which would be better)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mogg Fanatic (Jackal Pups? in use. Pup/'zad is much better than Mogg/'zad)
3 Tormod's Crypt
R Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
R Black Lotus
R Mox Pearl
R Mox Ruby
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Plateau
1 City of Brass
8 Plains
0 Mountain (mistake #1: this mana base. Cut 2 Plains for Mountain/ City or 2 Mountain)

Sideboard:
3 Abeyance
2 Aura of Silence
3 Cursed Scroll
2 Disenchant
3 Honorable Passage
2 Swords to Plowshares

R1 Mike Peacock - Psychatog
Game 1: W Made a sub-sub-game, forced a concession through Tormod's Crypt. Maindeck Crypt is bad for 'tog.

Game 2: W Mana-screwed him via Wastelands and Disenchants (of Moxen). He may have made a poor Fact or Fiction choice here - takes Future Sight, Counterspell versus Force of Will, Brainstorm, Underground Sea with land, Sapphire, Sol Ring in play, no mana in hand. I guess it seems okay if you expect to have no land blown up.

R2 Alex King - Keeper (missing only off-color Moxen)
Game 1: W - I make sub-games, and enjoy his worsening mana situation (fetchlands).

Game 2: D - Made a sub-sub-sub-sub-game. I started winning the subgame chain (he had only nine cards in his library in the deepest one, with Black Lotus and a Volcanic Island as the only mana sources). When back to the subgame, he Mana Drained into Decree of Justice for two Angels. This seemed like a poor choice, but he was at six. I draw Shahrazad, cast it, win the sub-sub-game, then Bolt him. Unfortunately we are into extra turns at that point, and he has a Chalice set to one in the main game to protect him from Bolt. I am unable to kill him in time, but the match is still mine.

I board Abeyances and more Disenchants, Auras, while removing Swords and maybe Fanatics?

R3 Mike Rowe - GAT
Game 1: L I get the turn 1 Savannah Lion, turn 2 Shahrazad opening. In the sub-game, I commence an onslaught of Shadow attacks, and he stumbles on mana. Back to the main game, he has a lot of Smothers, making me temporarily regret the choice of Pro:Red guys. Not really though, as they were more useful against everybody else I think. He is able to stabilize at two life, and a Psychatog/Quirion Dryad combo kills me.

Game 2: W I drew four Mogg Fanatics, and used them to keep Quirion Dryad away and smash him up. Wastelands kept him on his toes.

Game 3: W I don't remember this game at all. I think I traded Mogg Fanatic with Dryads while Soltari Priest and Silver Knight pounded on him.

Sideboarding: 2 Disenchant out, 2 StP in.

R4 Kurt Fizzard - Kird Ape Sligh (Lotus / Ruby proxied)
Game 1: L I decide to ignore the"Who's the beatdown" lesson, and exchange Silver Knight blows with Kird Ape blows. He punishes me as I deserve for that by burning a hole in my head.

Game 2: W I side out three Shahrazads, as I'm uncertain they are effective against Sligh. A large number of Pro:Red guys is sufficient for victory, with some burn and Swords to keep his guys out of my face.

Game 3: L His opening is risky... Black Lotus, Slith Firewalker, Chain Lightning me. I am looking at Incinerate, but no Red mana. I drop Savannah Lions, he draws a Mountain and plays Lightning Bolt, and the Slith comes through. I play another Lions, but now Slith is 3/3. It hits me again, and he plays Grim Lavamancer. (Slith is now at 4/4), he plays Kird Ape, Reckless Charge, attacks with Slith, Ape, and Grim Lavamancer. I'm holding Incinerate and three Honorable Passage, but only have three land in play (Two Plains and a Battlefield Forge). What to do? I choose to Incinerate the Slith and block it. This was probably wrong, as I should block the Lavamancer, Incinerate the Ape. Then start trying to kill him with Passage. As it turns out, I draw nothing to stop his little guys, the Passages for one and two damage are not that useful.

Semifinal - Fergus Brown-O'Byrne - Landstill (missing nothing)
This round I remember playing around Stifle quite a lot (with Wastelands), and judicious Crypt use in subgames. He got game one.

Game 3 I keep a questionable hand (Plains, Shahrazad, two Savannah Lions, Swords to Plowshares, some WW guy, Wasteland), but I am lucky to draw a Plains on turn 2. Shahrazad resolves, he loses half his life in short order. He tries to keep a Mishra's Factory as a blocker and protect it with Standstill, but I Waste it and keep pounding. I make a terrible play at this point. I have two Plains out, and he has broken Standstill (in order to kill my creature). He is at three. I choose to Abeyance him before playing a land, planning to go Land, Bolt whether he counters or not. He Misdirects Abeyance! I spend the next several turns burning him until one of them finally resolves.

Final - Kurt again
Game 1: L - This game opens with Lotus, Jackal Pup, Reckless Charge, Chain Lightning, Mountain! I burn some Pups and Cadets to stay at twelve, then make some subgames. It's hard to remember the deep results, but he wins the subgame putting me at six. Then with four cards in his graveyard and two Barbarian Rings (and two Mountains or Taigas) in play, he Fireblasts me then Rings me. I don't see that I can use Crypt in response to Fireblast, so I Swords my creature to live, then Wasteland the other Ring. He doesn't need much to kill me here, and he finds it.

Game 2: W - This time I choose to leave the Shahrazads in, as he runs a lot of fetchlands. It's quite reasonable to run him out of mana in a sub-sub-game. I don't see any Shahrazads, but I do get Cursed Scroll going.

Game 3: W - Same as game 2. Cursed Scroll and many Pro:Red guys. Though it does take me a while to get the third mana for Scroll, once it gets going and I'm still at high life, there's no problem.

I boarded out Savannah Lions (only creature that is easy to burn) and Disenchant here, along with 1 Crypt and 1 Shahrazad, bringing in 3 Passage, 3 Scroll, 2 Swords.

Thoughts on the deck:
Well, it was better than I had expected (I had expected only top 4). With control decks using Fire / Ice, the Pro:Red guys keep getting better. A lot of decks get weaker in the subgames, either due to deck-thinning via fetchlands or due to needing their one-ofs. It is very easy to snowball the subgames too, especially the games when you have a Savannah Lion ready to attack after Shahrazad. That's twelve damage turn 2! Many other decks have problems with Crypt, either all the time (Dragon) or simply cannot afford to be Crypted in a subgame (many). (Current ruling on Shahrazad is that removed from game cards are not returned to the deck after a subgame). I have won subgames simply through Crypt, though my opponent had me dead (they concede before Crypt's ability resolves). In these ways, it is fairly easy for Shahrazad to read"WW. Sorcery. Each player shuffles their library, then your opponent loses half their life, rounded up." A Crypt in the main game might be a mulligan, so consider your opponent. In the subgame, it's often useful to Crypt before you have the game won. Then you can get the best of both worlds, removing cards and making him lose life.

In general, combo seems like a really bad matchup, and you have the problem that your best opening (without power) is worse than most other decks, and often too slow to kill before combo goes off (they're at eight, then six on turn 3. Double Lightning Bolt makes it doable). You do have the ideal first-turn kill hand: Lotus, Mox Pearl, Shahrazad (10), Shahrazad (5), land, Ruby, Bolt (2), Bolt (-1), but don't hold your breath. You have annoyances for Dragon (Swords, Disenchant on the big turn, Crypt in general, Abeyance in response to bringing Laquatus, ...), but a good build with a skilled pilot should beat you. Food Chain Goblins does not seem beatable without tremendous luck, though I have not tested that matchup.

The casting cost of Shahrazad is prohibitive for a lot of interesting decks that would like it, W1/RR/BB would be much better. Even GG/UU could be interesting. WW/r has been the only way I've gotten it to work so far, and control/mill decks have the problem that the opponent can concede subgames when you Crypt.

The sideboard definitely needs work, as the only part I was sure I liked was the extra Swords to Plowshares and Disenchants. Cursed Scrolls are in the board because:

a) You sometimes have trouble activating them, so only use them when they are game-breaking

b) I had forgotten to add my Crypts, so I had to move something to board at the last minute

c) Having no Disenchant targets main may enable you to surprise people, though this is much less relevant in these days of Wishes.

Often Honorable Passages seemed like they'd be at least as good if they were Circle of Protection: Red.

About me:
I prefer Type I (Weissman and Workshop decks), but I'll play anything. This is my first report, I want to spread the weirdness. I'd love to hear from anybody, especially if I've inspired you to play Shahrazad.

Rahul Chandra
matzhie {underscore} uw {at} yazhoo {dot} ca
There are no z's in my email address.