Before I do a round-by-round description of my Champs experience, I thought it would be good to explain how my deck works. First let me get a few things out in the open. I played a rogue deck. I don't mean I took a ‘Net' deck, slapped a few of my own touches on it, and said, “I am playing rogue.” I mean I played a “created-myself, haven't-seen-anything-like-it, honest-to-goodness” rogue creation.
Here is the deck. I chose the creative and oh so clever title of “Morph.dec”
Breaking down my sideboard...
2 Rewind (Dragonstorm)
3 COP: Red (Dragonstorm, Zoo, Burn)
3 Sacred Ground (Vore, Random land destruction)
2 Hail Storm (Weenie Swarm)
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir (Control)
3 Krosan Grip (Random Artifact or Enchantments)
Now I know what your thinking... it looks like a random pile. Fair enough. If you have made up your mind that the deck is a pile and shouldn't be played, then hit the back button.
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Still around? Good.
Let me tell you one more thing. There were around 130 people at Ontario Champs, and I finished in the Top 8.
Here is how the deck works...
Early Game: The early game, meaning the first four or five turns, is about holding down the fort and not taking too much damage. Condemn, Wall of Roots, Voidslime, and Wrath of God are all helpful in this regard. Fathom Seer can also help if the rush contains 2/X's. Unless the opponent is playing a lot of burn and has emptied most of it at your head, you should enter the midgame with a life total above ten, which is just fine for this deck.
Condemn is definitely the MVP of the early game, as it sends Call of the Herd Tokens, Hypnotic Specters, and even Plague Sliver to the bottom of the opponents library.
Wall of Roots also does a fine job of pressuring an opponent into over-committing before a Wrath of God hits.
Mid-Game: The mid game, consisting roughly of turns 5-10, is where the fun begins. Mid game is all about Willbender. On fifth turn you play a morphed Willbender with the mana open to unmorph it. How do you consistently get a fifth-turn Willbender you ask? Easy! You're playing fourteen of them. That's right, fourteen.
Fathom Seer is a Willbender.
Thelonite Druid? Willbender.
Vesuvan Shapeshifter... he sometimes really is a Willbender.
And of course, there's the real Willbender.
You see, every time you play a morph creature and have two mana available, with at least one of it being blue, you have a Willbender. Your opponent really has no choice but to consider it a possibility, and play around it accordingly. The psychological impact of a morphed creature and mana open is as strong, or stronger, than having UU open back in the days of Counterspell, particularly if they know you are playing Willbender. With Counterspell, the worst that could happen is your spell would not resolve. With Willbender, that Lightning Helix may take out their Watchwolf instead of the morphed creature; Char to your opponent's head may mean they eat six damage; and do they really want to blow up their own land with Avalanche Rider?
It's during the midgame that Vesuvan Shapeshifter shenanigans start rolling too. Vesuvan Shapeshifter plus Willbender is a Deflection (or better, even) every turn. Vesuvan Shapeshifter with Fathom Seer is two cards per turn, and Vesuvan Shapeshifter with Thelonite Hermit is... well, it's wrong, that's what it is.
Late Game: If there is a late game, then it's time for Triple S to come out and play. Simic Sky Swallower sometimes just wins games. When backed up with a little counter protection he can go all the way all by himself. Of course, he works well with Vesuvan Shapeshifter too. You see, that is one of the many cool things about Vesuvan Shapeshifter, he doesn't target... so he can become a Simic Sky Swallower and join the aerial assault.
Four of us head up in my van, Josh and I to play in the tournament and Mike and Jay to trade. Nothing really eventful or unusual happens on the ride up. There is a brief argument amongst my friends about whether I'll go 0-3 and drop, or 1-3 and drop. I just ignore them and keep on driving.
The head judge at the tournament is Allen. Allen has a last name (Pengalli?), but I am getting old and can't remember it. They post the pairings and announce how many people are playing in the tournament.
Note: I am doing all of this from memory, so if it's not perfect then... Old. Okay, truth is I am 37... in real-life terms I am not that old, but in terms of Magic players... let's just say I gain a lot of life from Granny's Payback
Game 1: There are a few highlights that I remember from this game. Willbender caused an Angel of Despair to suicide when she came into play, and Vesuvan Shapeshifter — Fathom Seer outdrew Phyrexian Arena — Firemane Angel. We finally reached a creature standstill, with two Firemane Angels staring down a Simic Sky Swallower. My opponent had managed to work his way back up to 24 life before he resolved a Wrath of God. On my turn I put two morph creatures into play, and he brought back a Firemane. At the end of his turn I permanently swung the tide of the game. Thelonite Hermit unmorphs, and then Vesuvan Shapeshifter unmorphs, becoming a Hermit, bringing eight saproling tokens spring into play. My turn, and the Vesuvan morphs and unmorphs, becoming a Thelonite Hermit yet again. Eight 3/3 saprolings don't quite kill him, but he doesn't see a Wrath of God and I am sitting on a Voidslime.
Game 2: My morph creatures hide and Angel of Despair resolves. A Condemn solves that angel problem, but soon he is recurring Firemane Angels and my Wraths are not enough to save me.
Game 3: My morph creatures hide yet again, but this time a couple of Signets allow for a fifth turn Simic Sky Swallower, and my opponent is on a quick clock. Two Firemanes finally come down to hold the fort with my opponent at six life. I Wrath away all the creatures, and then drop down my other Simic Sky Swallower. He has no answers.
Games 2-1
Matches 1-0.
Round 2: Zoo
Game 1: Giant Solifuge gets blocked by Fathom Seer, and one Call of the Herd token gets sent to the bottom of his library via Condemn. The second Herd token suffers the same fate as his predecessor, but two more Giant Solifuges run me down low, and burn finishes me off while I top deck land and Condemn.
Out comes 1 Simic Sky Swallower, 1 Condemn, and in goes two Circle of Protection: Red.
Game 2: An early COP: Red is answered by not one, but two Burning-Tree Shaman. Wrath of God clears that problem, and then Willbender and Vesuvan Shapeshifter cause my opponent to Char and then Shock himself. Wall of Roots holds down his attackers, COP: Red hold down his burn, and then Wrath of God clears the board for Simic Sky Swallower to finish him off.
Out comes two Rewind. Simic Sky Swallower and the third Circle of Protection: Red join the deck.
Game 3: My opening seven is Plains, COP: Red X 2, Wall of Roots, Simic Signet, Fathom Seer and Vesuvan Shapeshifter. This hand is a mulligan - I tested before the tournament, and one-land hands are not acceptable. Blinded by the prospect of what this hand could do with a second land, I keep it. Do I even have to explain what happened? I never see a second land, and it takes him eight turns to kill me. Stupid land screw! At least that's what I would have said two years ago. I know much better now. This loss was due to player error. I tested, and I knew not to keep a one-land hand. I made a mistake, and paid for it. I deserved to lose this match.
Games 3-3
Matches 1-1
Round 3: Firemane Control
Game 1: This deck is a little different to the one from the first match, as he drops two early Giant Solifuges. Wall of Roots stops one, and then Wrath of God clears the table. This game was a really good demonstration of what the deck is capable of as Willbender, Vesuvan Shapeshifter, and Fathom Seer kept my hand full and his burn from doing anything but damaging himself. I finally played a Simic Sky Swallower, and sent in Triple S and a Vesuvan Shapeshifted version of him to finish off my opponent.
Game 2: Two Wall of Roots allowed me too quickly unmorph a Thelonite Hermit and then Vesuvan Shapeshifter. Voidslime and Rewind protected the Hermit and his twin, allowing the Saprolings to beat for the win.
Games 5-3
Matches 2-1
Game 1: On the play he started out with a Forest then Birds of Paradise. I played Hallowed Fountain, and he played second turn Blood Moon. Ouch. My hand consisted of Breeding Pool, two Wall of Roots, and a Plains as mana sources. Without the Breeding Pool to produce Green I was in trouble, as my deck only had two Forests and two Simic Signets. For this game, however, the mana gods heard my call and served up a Forest off the top of my deck. This allowed me to play a Wall of Roots and work my way through his land destruction to finally get down Willbenders and have him start to kill his own land. Eventually I was able to unmorph a Thelonite Druid for the kill. My two Walls of Roots had four counters each when the game ended.
Out comes: 2 Simic Sky Swallower, 1 Wrath of God, 1 Condemn, 2 Rewind. In goes: 2 COP: Red, 2 Sacred Ground, and 2 Krosan Grip.
Game 2: He came out hard and fast this game, and my Wall of Roots was not around to clog up the ground. Elves and Avalanche Riders helped him get me to three life before a Wrath and COP: Red stabilized me. Sacred Ground followed COP: Red and then Vesuvan Shapeshifter, Fathom Seer, and Willbender slowly ate his life total. Thelonite Hermit made an appearance to finish him off.
Games 7-3
Matches 3-1
Lifetime feature match result: 2-0
Between rounds I had a chance to catch up with a few of my friends. Josh is 1-3 with his Booby Trap Deck (featuring Lotus Bloom, Mishra, Artificer Prodigy, Mishra's Bauble and Academy Ruins*.). Ray, another friend who was there is at 3-1 with his UW control deck, asks me what this Dragonstorm deck people are talking about is like, and I give him a basic description. He is not sure his deck is ready for it; I tell him mine is ready, but I haven't seen it and knowing my luck probably won't.
Round 5: Dragonstorm
Game 1: My opponent isn't playing Gigadrowse. I get out a Willbender and a Fathom Seer and beat him down with 2/2 Morphed creatures for a few turns, all the time having at least four mana, a Rewind, and a Voidslime ready. He finally goes off and is surprised that I don't counter anything. I then Voidslime the storm trigger and he gets one Bogardan Hellkite and since I had previously unmorphed a Fathom Seer, he decides to do all 5 damage to my only morphed creature. To add insult to injury I flip over the targeted Willbender and kill the Bogardan Hellkite. I play Simic Sky Swallower on my turn, and then come in for the win.
Out comes: 4 Wall of Roots and 1 Condemn.
In goes: 2 Rewind and 3 Circle of Protection: Red.
Game 2: My opponent, presumably, is still not playing Gigadrowse. I see an early Circle of Protection: Red and no Voidslime. He goes off around sixth turn, with me having lots of man open, and he fetches three Bogardan Hellkites and 1 Hunted Dragon. He correctly assigns the Hellkite damage to multiple creatures and wipes out my side of the board without me able to Willbender. I untap Wrath of God and pass the turn. With most of his cards gone, he just plays land and passes. On my turn I play two morph creatures and end the turn. Next turn I do nothing until his end of turn, when I unmorph Thelonite Druid and Vesuvan Doppelganger. 24 points of saproling damage for the win on my turn.
Games 9-3
Matches 4-1
Round 6 : B/w Discard
Game 1: I don't remember much about this match except that my opponent was playing very slowly - not “stalling” slowly, just meticulously and carefully. The problem was I had to go to the bathroom really bad, and I spent most of the match bouncing around in my seat. He ended up Last Gasping one of his creatures thanks to a Willbender. Simic Sky Swallower eventually hit the table with a few friends to save him from Cruel Edict.
Game 2: I mulled to six in this game, and I remember that my opponent cast a third turn Persecute for Green and grabbed three of the four cards left in my hand. The card I had left was a Fathom Seer, with two Islands and a Simic Signet in play. I was able to Gush into a Vesuvan Shapeshifter and then draw cards faster than he could get rid of them, even with Dark Confident help. Thelonite Hermit came out to play, and Vesuvan stopped drawing me cards and started making Saprolings.
My opponent this game was more than gracious and really hoped I did well because he thought the deck was innovative. I thanked him, and then darted off to the bathroom.
Games 11-3
Matches: 5-1
The winner of this should be able to draw into the Top 8.
Game 1: He is playing Gigadrowse. I get an excellent opening grip that contains mana a Rewind and a Voidslime, and as soon as I see what he is playing (that would be third turn when he transmuted the Grozoth into a Dragonstorm) I keep four mana open at all times. He tries to go off on about the sixth turn when he Gigadrowses all my land at the end of my turn. I respond by Rewinding the original Gigadrowse and have four land untapped. He proceeds to cast a five-copy Dragonstorm on his turn... but the storm does not resolve and he only gets one Bogardan Hellkite that successfully does 5 to me. I Wrath away the Hellkite on my turn, and then he casts a Hunted Dragon on his turn, but Condemn gains him 6 life and me three knights. Voidslime (and his drawing Lotus Blooms and Seething Songs) lets the knights and a morphed Fathom Seer go all the way.
Out comes 4 Wall of Roots and 1 Condemn. In goes 2 Rewind and 3 Circle of Protection: Red.
Game 2: I had this game under control from the word go. Circle of Protection: Red, double Rewind in my opening seven. I start out with threats and start beating him down... he casts Pyroclasm, but suddenly my two morph creatures are both 1/3 Fathom Seers (one real, one Vesuvan Shapeshifter). On my turn I add a Willbender to the fray, but this time his Pyroclasm is followed by another Pyroclasm. I have Rewinds in my hand, but there is no way I am casting them on anything short of Gigadrowse. Eventually he resolves a Dragonstorm for four, but I have four lands untapped thanks to Rewind. He doesn't even bother trying to point the damage at me, he just kills off my creatures. This game ends similar to the other Dragonstorm match, where Wrath is followed by Thelonite Hermit FTW.
Games: 13-3
Matches: 6-1
Lifetime feature match result: 3-0
They post the results after round 7, and the Top 8 is a lock unless someone decides to play it out. Positions 1-2 have 19 points and a 6-0-1 record. Position 3-8 have 18 points with a 6-1 record. Position 9 has 15 points with a 5-2 Record. If everyone draws the Top 8 is locked.
I was really excited about the Top 8 and was hoping that I wouldn't let the deck down. I wasn't really worried about the deck letting me down.
Top 8: U/G Aggro
Game 1: My first seven shows me only one land, so I send it back for six more... again, I see only one land, so I mull down to five. This hand shows me two land so I keep. My opponent comes out fast with Llanowar Elf first turn and Call of the Herd second turn. I am still at two land and I attempt to Condemn the Elephant that is now wearing a Moldervine Cloak. Plaxmanta makes sure the Cloaked elephant keeps on coming, and I die before seeing another land or spell I could cast.
Out comes 1 Simic Sky Swallower and 1 Rewind. In goes 2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir.
Game 2: I keep a hand with two land. My opponent sees a decent start again and I die on the seventh turn, with two land and four Signets in play. I was able to cast a Fathom Seer and a Willbender both face up to chump block a Cloaked elephant, but that was it.
Final position: Seventh or eighth.
I earned eighteen packs (plus one for each feature match I won), the Champs playmat and the shiny Serra Avenger. The deck pulled me through to Top 8, and it hasn't even been fully tweaked. If I had to do it again I would definitely lose the Vitu-Ghazis and probably add two Temple Gardens. The deck also needs another Thelonite Hermit. The only cards I never sideboarded in were the two Hail Storms.
Not only was I successful with my deck, but everybody who went with me was also successful. Josh had many people talking about his Booby Trap deck — unfortunately, it tended to die with twenty damage to the opponent on the stack, as the called Char or Sudden Shock took him out. Jay and Mike were also successful at trading. Jay managed to trade four Shivan Reefs for four Savannahs, and then turn around and trade the four Savannahs for four Shivan Reefs, three Wrath of God, and a Yosei, the Morning Star. Mike made similar trades, and both came home extremely happy.
For anyone interested, here are some cards that I tried in the deck but couldn't get to work (or just didn't have room for).
Voidmage Prodigy
Prodigal Sorcerer
Brine Elemental
Krosan Cloudscraper
Of these, Brine Elemental almost made the cut... but his seven-mana morph cost put him in the same range as Simic Sky Swallower, and Simic Sky Swallower can win on his own. Brine Elemental needs Vesuvan Shapeshifter help.
I hope that somebody can take this deck even further, as it has great potential.
Here's hoping Planar Chaos has more Morph cards.
Wayne Alward.
A.k.a. Doublestrike Dude.
I can be reached at waynealward@NOSPAMyahoo.com (Remove NOSPAM when sending)
* While I was writing this I was IM'd a link to Mark Gottlieb's feature article that has this combo in it. Josh's version of the deck can, and has (on occasion) done 20 damage on turn 4, and it is really fun to play. (Turn 1: Land, suspend Lotus Bloom. Turn 2: Land, Signet, Turn 3: Land, Mishra, Artificer Prodigy, Mishra's Bauble, Turn 5: Lotus Bloom, get a Lotus Bloom from the Library, Booby Trap get a Booby Trap from the Library. Sac the Mishra's Bauble. Call that card with both traps. BOOOOOOM.)
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