I didn't feel confident going into this year's County Championships, as due to a number of reasons, I decided to cut back on the cards.
As such I don't own much Mirrodin and didn't get the chance to playtest much. Most of my preparation consisted of reading articles and skimming through forums on the net! Although I did build up what I thought would be the gauntlet, I only played a few games with each of them and hardly played any sideboarded.
*disclaimer*
I am not saying that this is a good way to prepare for an event; in fact, I'd strongly advise putting more work in if you have the time. If you do decide to try it, though, I cannot be held liable for your results in the tournament!
I figured the following decks would probably be popular choices:
Goblins/Goblin Bidding (this deck was very successful in block so looked like a solid choice for an undefined field)
Affinity (This deck is insane and, rather worryingly, is almost entirely made up of Mirrodin cards)
U/W Control (another successful Block deck which gets significantly better with cards like Wrath of God and Mana Leak)
MBC (I don't like the deck personally, but it has been very popular in the past so it seemed reasonable to expect it)
Aggro Black (Kibler's been talking about it and it's a solid deck with some nice tricks like turn 3 Persecute)
So I fiddled about with these decks a bit and came to the conclusion that Aggro Black was probably what I would go with. While not necessarily being the strongest deck in the field it seemed solid and since I'd played Aggro Black at Nationals, Euros, and Worlds this year, I figured that sticking to what I knew was a good plan given how little testing I'd done.
However, it wasn't to be as the day before the event arrived and I couldn't find anyone with Chrome Moxes to spare. I felt that they were important enough that I couldn't play the deck without them...
So it's the night before the event, and fortunately my friend had come through for the competition so we sat up and playtested for a few hours. I remembered a R/G block deck that made the finals at Grand Prix: London played by Yann Hamon, a French player who had just won Grand Prix: Lyon; it looked a bit like this.
The deck is definitely unusual and is obviously geared up for the block format with main deck Gempalm Incinerator, which is here due to the popularity of Goblins in Block Constructed. Cabal Conditioning was also an unusual choice, but it seems like it's probably good in control matchups. I made quite a few changes to my list for Standard, and my deck looked like this:
4 Break Asunder
1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
4 Krosan Tusker
4 Lightning Rift
2 Obliterate
4 Ravenous Baloth
2 Rorix Bladewing
1 Silklash Spider
4 Slice and Dice
4 Spark Spray
4 Starstorm
4 Forgotten Cave
3 Shivan Oasis
4 Tranquil Thicket
8 Forest
7 Mountain
Sideboard:
2 Grab the Reins
1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
2 Lay Waste
4 Naturalize
3 Pyroclasm
3 Silklash Spider
So the deck is still mostly Block, with two Mirrodin cards in the board, and Obliterate making the main deck from 8th Edition with Pyroclasm in the sideboard.
There are a few strange and/or unusual card choices in the deck, so I'll skim over a few of them:
4 Break Asunder
I upped these to four from the block deck's three as I expected (correctly) a high number of artifacts and enchantments and these were useful in all my matches (and not just to cycle).
1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
I can hear cries of"Random!!!" already, but this guy is a huge threat for most decks, in particular control. If he is allowed to live until I untap, there is a very good chance it will be almost a one-sided Armageddon thanks to the Slice and Dice and Starstorms in the deck.
2 Obliterate
I'm a big fan of this card and it seems amazing against decks like U/W Control that use Eternal Dragon to strip the plains out of their deck, although the element of surprise is quite important.
4 Ravenous Baloth
I dropped the Wall of Mulch's that the block deck played in favour of these guys as they're serious phat and a serious threat on turn 4, while the life gain is a nice bonus.
1 Silklash Spider
This is a bit on the random side, too, but its three friends are waiting in the sideboard. The Spider causes real problems for a lot of decks in Standard that use Eternal Dragon and Exalted Angel, and it pretty much has to be killed for U/W Control to win.
4 Spark Spray, Slice and Dice, and Starstorms
These are all about creature control. Goblin Sledder is very bad, as it reduces the effectiveness of both Slice and Dice and Starstorm, which can be crucial against a fast goblin start. Sparkspraying their turn 1 Goblin Sledder can be very nice, and it's always a nice one-mana cycler. Slice and Dice and Starstorm are both fairly obvious, although Slice and Dice is a very nice response to a huge cycled Decree of Justice.
I also altered the mana base a bit, dropping Wooded Foothills in favour of Shivan Oasis, as I didn't really want to be thinning the deck of land and then casting Obliterate. Temple of the False God was also out, as I felt getting double coloured mana in both colours was quite important.
Sideboard-wise, there's not a lot that isn't obvious. Grab the Reins was a bit of random tech that I decided upon at the last minute, as my deck couldn't really deal with a huge creature. The Lay Wastes can come in against control or any deck that seems to have a shaky mana base.
So onto the tournament itself:
Round 1: Matt Hay - Goblins
My deck is very well geared-up for this match up, as Lightning Rift backed up by all the other removal in the deck is very difficult to overcome. In game 2 he brings in Ensnaring Bridge, which stops my Ravenous Baloth, but I cycle things and eventually win with Lightning Rift.
Round 2: Julian Haigh-Olde School.dec
I saw Joules' decklist earlier in the week and knew to expect an interesting match. Game 1 started with Joules casting a turn 4 Bribery on my Rorix Bladewing, which proceeded to slap me about until, at four life, I resolved the only Silklash Spider in my deck. This caused Joules a lot of problems, and after a short tussle later Lightning Rift won it.
Game 2: I board out my Rorix Bladewings and bring in Silklash Spiders. Joules Briberies' a Krosan Tusker on turn 4 this time, followed by an Exalted Angel the turn after! A combination of Ravenous Baloth, Starstorm, and Silklash Spider somehow pull this one back for me.
Round 3: Graeme McIntyre - U/W Control
These games drag on for ages. I lose to a hard-cast Decree of Justice and then win after an Obliterate in game 2. Game 3, we get timed out.
Round 4: Chris Llewellyn - Affinity
Game 1, Chris got a great draw and I died in seconds, and game 2 I mulliganed to six and took a two-land hand and failed to draw another for the rest of the game. 'Nuff said.
Round 5: Mark - Clerics
I died to a lack of land again in game 1, and then proceeded to kill all his creatures in games 2 and 3 without too much trouble.
Top 8: Bradley Barclay - B/W control
Game 1 Bradley struggles for land and I draw both Rorix Bladewings and take advantage of them when he's tapped out. I get decked in game 2 after casting Obliterate floating enough mana to follow it up with Rorix, I instead have to cycle a Slice and Dice after Bradley floats fourteen mana for a decree of justice.
Game 3 and we get timed out so it goes to life totals and a turn 4 Ravenous Baloth steals me a match that I maybe shouldn't have won (more on that later).
Onto the semifinals and once again it's Matt Hay again playing Goblins; once again, I win this one without any real bother.
Finals: Stevie Galbraith - Mono Black Control
I win game 1 as Stevie can't deal with my Lightning Rifts, and game 2 is much the same as I bring in my four Naturalize and destroy every artifact and enchantment that he plays.
So I got me a rather nice trophy, and will hopefully recover some of the points I lost at Worlds this year! Most importantly, though, I had a lot of fun playing the deck as it was diverse enough to be able to adapt strategy to suit most matchups. There were eight different decks in the top 8, which is an encouraging indication of how the new Standard may be.
There are a few changes that I would make though, particularly to the sideboard:
Grab the Reins was terrible and frankly I was embarrassed the one time that I cast it!
I would also drop Kamahl, Fist of Krosa from the board and one Pyroclasm and add in two more Lay Wastes and two Flashfires. This is because the deck can already deal with creatures easily and I struggled against black/white control after sideboarding as winning becomes very difficult with all the answers that they have. Flashfires will help a lot in this match up though as the black/white deck is very mana intensive so they will have to put down a lot of lands, and playing four Lay Waste and two Flashfires should probably make the matchups quite a lot easier.
I can't really give win percentages against decks as I haven't done enough testing for them to be accurate, but I will try and give some indication of how I think the matchup will go:
Goblins
As I said before this matchup is very easy, in the four games that I played against it at the weekend the lowest life total I had at the end of any game was nine. Goblin Bidding is slightly trickier, and stopping the Patriarch's Bidding can be crucial, so I would probably bring in Lay Waste in this matchup; once you have control, target their black sources since they don't run many.
U/W Control
This is a very tough and long match up. Flashfires is a must-counter for them and resolving one followed up by an Obliterate should probably be game over, but it's by no means easy. It's quite important to try and keep a Slice and Dice in hand at least late game, as a cycled Decree of Justice can be very bad without one. Silklash Spider also comes in here, as they can't really win while it's on the table, be wary about attacking with it, though, as they will probably Wing Shards it, just having it sit there should be enough as it will draw out a wrath.
Affinity
This is a horrible matchup; bring in the four Naturalizes, but if they get a great start it's pretty much unwinnable. You pretty much have to just hope your opponent gets an inconsistent draw. Fortunately, there are other decks in the field that it struggles against, such as U/W control.
Mono Black Control
Going into the finals, I thought this would be a difficult match. Lightning Rift is huge in this game, as you simply won't win with the few creatures in the deck. A lucky Rorix Bladewing might get a hit or two in, but otherwise they'll just die. The only way they can shift the Lightning Rift is with Oblivion Stone, so bring in four Naturalizes and destroy all their stuff, as MBC packs a lot of artifacts and enchantments.
B/W Control
This is a tough game, too; Rorix can be good in this match up and Lightning Rift, too, particularly before sideboarding. Bringing in Lay Waste and Flashfires should probably help.
The great thing about this deck is that you will always have cards in hand; cycling is huge with cards like Krosan Tusker and Slice and Dice. When a card does more than one thing, it's usually a good thing: searching for a land and drawing a card off a Tusker is good, doing two damage with a Rift as well is great, and the Tusker can always be hard cast as a fat creature. Most of the other cards in the deck are similarly effective, and this is part of what makes the deck good. Be careful about playing more than one Lightning Rift - particularly if you know your opponent is playing some form of mass destruction like Oblivion Stone - and you should be laughing.
The deck definitely needs some work, though; I'm certain that I don't have the best possible build here, as there are probably some Mirrodin cards that would be good in the deck, and there must also be a way to improve the Affinity matchup. So if you have any ideas, I'd be very interested to hear them; drop me an email.
Lyndon Veale
L_veale@hotmail.com
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