In the wake of Regionals, people don't care about the old hyped decks; they pay attention to the innovative, original decks that only had a few Top 8 showings but nobody had ever seen before. For the 2003 Regionals, I wrote an article on StarCityGames.com, helping to spark innovation on a U/W Astral Slide-based deck that was called "AquaLube." I ended up winning fifty dollars for it - and someone else was paid fifty dollars because they actually qualified for Nationals with the deck. I can remember the reaction that it got, which was basically "How did that pile actually do anything?"
Unfortunately, that seems to be the formula for a lot of my decks.
For the last month, I had been testing Mono Blue Urzatron, building a version which I thought was going to do really well. There are a lot of cards that a lot of players overlooked, especially in the Trinket Mage version. Unfortunately, the deck didn't seem strong at all against Tooth and Nail, a problem that was further exacerbated when I playtested against the Top Deck king of the world, John Blystone (who also got second place in the Ohio Valley Regionals, which was more deserved than my seventh-place finish - good job, John!).
Two days before the event, the worst possible thing happened: I was playing my final Type 2 before the event, and the deck went 0-3. I knew I had to make a drastic change.
Searching the Internet, I stumbled across Flores Red. I thought it was one of the easiest decks in the format to play - and with less than a day to go, I needed something easy. That night, I tested against my girlfriend casually just to see how the deck drew. I went 1-5 against Rats, which I had determined to be probably the third most popular deck in the format. I knew I couldn't run that, and was running out of time (t-minus 12 hours).
Tim Sprague, my longtime friend for ten years, said that he was going to Regionals, and he was thinking of playing an original deck. We sat down with the list which Adam Loring (another excellent player), he, and I developed, we determined it was going to be at least worth running.
It was a deck based around Affinity cards and Erayo, Soratami Ascendant. It had the potential to flip an Erayo on turn 2 frequently, and turn 3 confidently. With Tooth and Nail being the most popular deck, it seemed like a good idea, since this would slow them down enough to really get creatures on the board, then swing for massive damage.
Luckily for me, I play in one of the best stores in the world: The Dungeon in Lorain, Ohio, which is where Tim, Adam, and I ended up coming up with the decklist, and Al, the store owner ended up helping us out to finish getting the cards.
Here's the final version, which we developed:
I had nearly no playtest time - but at this point, it was going to be interesting. Tim ended up not being able to go, and another teammate ended up running Tim's copy, which was the same exact list as me (and going 6-3) and who also had zero playtest time.
Round 1: R/G Control
Unfortunately, I didn't take any names, nor did I take notes. As I said, I didn't exactly expect to be top 8ing with this deck, and the idea that I would've ever be writing this report would've been the last thing I would've imagined.
Game 1: Erayo flipped on turn 2, after I drew the God hand. It was unbelievable to see the reaction at my table - every single game stopped to see what just happened. The reaction from everyone was "Why would you possibly play that deck?" I ended up beating with a very large creature with Cranial Plating.
Game 2: Erayo didn't show up - but Genesis Chamber did, which ended up making his Molder Slug look a lot worse then it would have.
1-0
Round 2: Tooth and Nail
The deck is designed to beat Tooth and Nail, and that it did. I couldn't believe the deck has continued to do this well. Game 2, I held off casting a lot of spells on the second turn so that I could flip Erayo on turn 3, which was more than enough to prevent any chance of coming back.
2-0
Round 3: Rats
I was worried about this matchup, as Umezawa's Jitte really could've been trouble. Luckily for me, Pithing Needle is excellent in my deck - not only because it shuts down the worst offenders against my deck, but it's a one-mana trigger for Erayo. I lost game 1 only because of Jitte, while I barely pulled out game 2 with a Jitte on the board. Game 3 was a lot more comfortable.
3-0
Round 4: R/G Ten-Land Goblin Charbelcher
He could have easily won game one, but I had applied enough pressure that he either had to risk everyone on one final attack, or he had to Belch out my creature instead of me. He hit my Myr Servitor, which was swinging for eleven, and killed it with twenty-two damage - in retrospect, the Servitor was clearly the wrong target.
Game 2: Pithing Needle. Good game.
4-0
Round 5: Tooth and Nail
This was the match that finally started to really get things buzzing in the event hall. It went from "What is this pile at the top of the standings?" to "Do you have any extra Erayos for trade?" I ended up dispatching the Tooth and Nail in two games, and was pleased.
Round 6: Rats
My opponent took the time to tell me that he had been in a place called "The Dungeon" before, and it was an S&M club in Boston. Luckily for me, my deck was the one that delivered the beating this time.
Jitte did not appear at all until game 2 - which was lucky for me, which I had sided in Pithing Needles by then. I had flipped Erayo on turn 3 with no Aether Vial on the board. The amazing thing is how it happened: I ended up playing Ornithopter, Welding Jar, Frogmite, and then Annuled the Frogmite. The Frogmite had to take one for the team, but his sacrifice did not go unappreciated. He had to wait until he drew two Aether Vials before being able to get one online. I had already been forced to set the Pithing Needle on the Jitte, but ended up drawing a second one, which was promptly set to shut down the Vial.
Round 7: White Weenie
I ended up taking my first loss in this match. Unfortunately, I ended up getting what would be a great hand against T&N, but one that was inferior in the White Weenie matchup both games. The White Weenie deck only needed a few creatures and a pair of Swords of Fire and Ice both games to hand me my first loss.
6-1
Round 8: Mono Black Control
If I win, I'm in; if I lose, I'm out (barring spectacular tiebreakers and a lot of luck). I lose game 1 to a Horobi, Death's Wail - which is ironic, because my deck is naturally anti-Horobi because of the Scales.
Game 2 was a quick blowout by the deck, getting Erayo flipped quickly. Game 3 ended up being a very close matchup, with me being a sub-par hand, a blue mana and two Blinkmoth Nexus. I ended up casting a Cranial Plating and continuously using it on the Blinkmoth, which finished the game.
7-1
Round 9: Drew Into The Top 8.
The longest fifty minutes of my life was when we decided to draw. Places one through four all drew. I was sixth, and my opponent was fifth, and most of my opponents were still playing at the top table. I knew it was going to be close, but I decided to gamble. It ended up being the correct play.
7-1-1
Quarterfinals: Tooth and Nail
I ended up losing to two God hands - one in game 1 and one in game 3.
I made a questionable play game 3 which a lot of players have asked me about - but I still insist that if he didn't have the hand that he did, it would've been good enough. I knew I could flip Erayo without much of a problem, and had a Pithing Needle in hand... So I set the Pithing Needle to Sensei's Divining Top, instead of setting it to Oblivion Stone. It ended up costing me the match, but that match was already gone thanks to the strength of my opponent's hand.
One of his friends did say immediately after the match that the deck that I was playing needed to "go back to the Casual Room." It was good to see people were opinionated enough that they were able to comment on the deck playing in the top 8 while watching the top 8 from the sidelines themselves (some have even gone so far as to bash the deck on other forums). Of course, I didn't believe much in the deck, either - it was only after getting in to the top 8 that I finally started to believe.
Honestly, I still only believe that the deck is merely a metagame deck, and basically not going to have a significant impact on the long-term metagame. The deck is potentially too easy to disrupt should opponents see it coming; a few sideboard cards switched for the Tooth and Nail match, and they are prepared. Tim believes that it is most comparable to Zvi's list from Tokyo, The Solution. While you could probably show up and win random tournaments with it, don't expect success repeatedly with the deck in the same place.
Some of the changes that I have seen people make already to the deck are illogical:
Umezawa's Jitte
Jitte essentially has a four in the upper right hand corner for this deck. That's a large, heavy mana investment for this deck, and one that might be worse on the deck.
Aether Vial
The cost on every creature is zero, one, two, four, and seven. There are just not enough creatures that have a good cost for Aether Vial.
Upping The Land Count
Seventeen land is plenty for an Affinity deck. While I can see someone justifying going to eighteen, any more and you are drawing too much land.
Chrome Mox
Count the blue spells that you would play maindeck, please. The better choice here would be Paradise Mantle, which is something we are looking into with this deck.
Pithing Needle
I sided it in almost every single matchup. In our current version, we have just decided to maindeck it and get it over with, since every card that beats this deck is shut down by this card, and it helps Affinity counts.
Here's Tim's current version (I haven't taken mine out of the box since leaving Columbus):
This would be for a broader metagame - when we designed this deck, keep in mind our thinking was "I hope I play Tooth all day," since Tooth is unarguably the best deck in the format. This newer version isn't based off that thought as much (although playing Tooth is still not a bad thing with this deck).
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