BBS Primer

[Anonymous]

You feel that playing 2 AK's, to draw up three cards, for a net gain of one card is better than playing two Impulses, which essentially read 'look at the next 8 cards in your library, put the best 2 in your hand and the worst at the bottom of your library'?  I think Impulse will net you a better hand than AK IMO.

[Anonymous]

Quote Who says Intuition is for AKs?  Intuition in this deck reads "Fetch 2 power cards with Recall at the end of your opponents turn, and either regrow one or both of them next turn, or play one of them next turn".  [segue]Recall r0x0rs, btw[/segue].

If you Intuition for a Recall and two power cards you are loosing extreme card advantage.  Intuition just does not belong in this deck.  It will never get you out of a tight situation.  What do you do late game when you only have a few cards in your hand and draw Intuition?  Any card where the opponent controls the outcome is a difficult choice to place in any deck.  This card works best in combo decks Dragon or 'Tog or Trix.  Not BBS.  Merchant Scroll is a much better option.  And cheaper and more efficient, etc...Why don't you test this out before defending Intuition?

Quote The reason I don't have the mana to cast it is because I am wasting my opponents lands, attacking with Man-Lands, and playing spells - and if you have UU open, chances are your opponent will think twice about playing their bomb, meh?  This is a thinking man's deck, and mind games are what it is all about.  Blue sources aren't a problem; luring out a Drainable spell is.  Most of the time I only net 2 mana; yay, I get a free Powder Keg.

Quote Also, don't casually dismiss Gush; I have only 3 things to say:
Force of Will
Misdirection
Foil

I you say that your having trouble reaching UU in some cases, how do you cast an early Gush?  If you are saying that you are discarding Gush to any of these cards than it seems like a waste of a spot.  This is where a card like Impulse or Standstill would be at much greater use to you.  


My words may sound like bashing, but that's not my intentions.  I just think you really need to play test the ideas that have been discussed through-out this thread.  There have been many excellent suggestions, but instead of testing them you defend your own decisions.  The expirence and knowledge in the forum comes from heavy testing and play of this deck in many environments.  No-one is saying that you are wrong!!!  Just take it like a man and accept some good advice instead of trying to prove yourself.

[Anonymous]

Worst cards?  They're all good, darnit  

That 2nd AK is more than enough to sell me; if Words of Wisdom didn't give your opponents a stinking card, I would play it over Impulse, too.  Card advantage is what gives this deck its come-from-behind wins.  Playing Impulse in a deck where you're not trying to stitch together a win combo is sub-par to playing for control.  Impulse is a brainless card; it doesn't have the versatility of Brainstorm (which is 1 mana less to dig almost as deep), and like I said, that 3rd and 4th AK (and 3rd or 4th again potentially with Recall or even Cunning Wish) make Impulse look like just another Obsessive Search.

Don't get me wrong; I played Impulse in my Fruity Pebbles, Trix, and Palinchron/High Tide decks where it was perfectly suited, but I just don't think its the best card in its class for BBS.

[Anonymous]

Quote (Guest @ Mar. 28 2003,07:08)

Quote Also, don't casually dismiss Gush; I have only 3 things to say:
Force of Will
Misdirection
Foil

I you say that your having trouble reaching UU in some cases, how do you cast an early Gush?  If you are saying that you are discarding Gush to any of these cards than it seems like a waste of a spot.  This is where a card like Impulse or Standstill would be at much greater use to you.

What I meant by this was that Gush provides perfect fodder for pitch counters by using it's alternate cost to instantly up your hand tally by 3, and if it is a dead card, it can also be pitched itself.

I rarely have any mana problems with this deck, and when I play more than 24 sources, if I ever get in a topdecking position, a mana glut loses games.  I'd rather mulligan to get a decent amount of starting mana than run way too many sources main, simply because 18 drawing cards usually gets me out a deficit pretty quickly.

Also, I am not saying that this is the god build of all BBS, just that it's Tier 1 in my meta - MBC, Oath, Ponza, Sligh, Gro (how can I have forgotten to mention Gro?) and the stray TnT, Keeper, and Suicide Black.  Gush is golden versus Ponza; this would definitely be a losing matchup for me without them, and in fact my deck would almost always fold before heavy LD until I included them.

Other decks I have played recently include OSE, Contamination/Nether Spirit, Black Weenie, and The Rock, just as an FYI.  Contamination is a bitch - thank god for Mishra's Factory and Powder Keg.

[diearzte2]

Put your deck through a gauntlet with someone who knows what they are doing on the other end. You will see that all of our suggestions come from experience. Many, many people have tested this deck, and have found the optimal cards to use. We are merely suggesting these cards, yet everytime, you defend your original choices. This thread should not be labeled a primer, because a primer has an optimal decklist with optimal card choices, and the discussion that follows further explain these choices.
Please get back to us when you have done further testing to prove your choices.

[Anonymous]

You are right on that point; I went and posted a deck that isn't cookie cutter and smacked "primer" on it - which is probably a sure-fire way to become a flame magnet.

The main thing I wanted to accomplish was get some feedback; such as main reasons/how to include cards like Ophidian, Masticore, Control Magic, Impulse, etc., which are the typical mono-blue staples I am foregoing, simply because they are suboptimal in my meta (I don't think I will ever understand people's love of Impulse in BBS; I find AK far superior).  Another point I wanted to get across is that a lot of blue cards that catch a lot of flak for being "sub-par" are actually situational gems in BBS - notably Foil+Gush, Intuition+Recall (I know some people consider this a bad play, but my personal experience is that it's a FoF/DT).

Yes, I know I use a lot of parenthetical statements.

[Anonymous]

Quote Plus, how protected is a turn 3-4 Morphling, really?

Are you joking?  The little bastard protects himself.  And even if you're tapped out, you run 6-8 'free' spells for protection.  And if you're not tapped out, the untapped lands provide a hopeless (for your opponent) situation, as he can become untargetable without aid, and you gain access to the good counters -- Mana Drain, Mana Leak, and in some decks, the vanilla Counterspell.

You defended the need to play mind games with your opponent, yet you run Future Sight so they can know the contents of your hand?  This is clearly a suboptimal card in the deck, and should be cut for pretty much anything.  A Drain could fit in this slot, or more draw..  Impulse comes to mind.  Impulse is so good because it does a lot of very basic things to help you.  It finds another land if you need it, it finds a counter if you're running low, and it finds a business/draw card.  All at the same time, it pushes other useless crap to the bottom of your deck so you don't have to see it.  All this comes at instant speed for 1U, and it can even throw the scales in your favor during a counterwar for that reason.

Your Intuition/Recall "Engine" is far flimsier than just a few more Impulse and a stronger counterbase.  Impulse costs 1U and generally finds a card useful at this stage of the game.  Your engine has the potential to cost you 6UUUUU and a card, just to get Future Sight, which sucks in comparison to other proven slots, such as, and I say it once again, Impulse.

Your counterbase is very weak.  Arcane Denial is a flashing beacon of awfulness.  It wishes it was as cool as Mana Leak.  Cut it, please, and spare my eyes.  Arcane Denial should really never ever be used for anything.  If you're trying to counter your opponents threats, the last thing you want to do is hand them two more.  Mana Leak is also incredibly supported when you run off color Moxen.  Add them.  Foil isn't THAT bad, but it's bad enough to the point where a superior card could be put in its place.  Mana Leak, more Drains, perhaps even another Misdirection.  The Drain count is inexcusable, as pretty much everyone has stated.  Increase to four.  The suicide morphling tactic is actually rather strong, and unless you intend to counter 4x Abeyance, 4x Argivian Find, 2x Sacred Mesa, and 1-2x Replenish, you'll lose to Parfait, which isn't even a good deck right now.  Power Sink has always been a funsie card with me, so I can't in good conscience tell you to cut it.  But I'm sure everyone else can recommend something superior.

The Zuran Orb does have to go.  Like right away.  You don't need the life gain slot, and if you do, there's a one in a million chance that killing your own land will permit you to remain in a controlling position.

Your land base is, and I apologize for having to say so, quite hideous.  DROP THE MAN LANDS.  Tying up mana and providing Wasteland with targets is AWFUL, and it's just another card that weakens when Back to Basics is on the table.  Speaking of Back to Basics, one of BBS' great advantages is that you don't need nonbasics to win.  So really, maindeck them.  Three of them.  They really hurt lots of decks, and you could always side them out if you're paired against something like Ankh Sligh.  Also, as I mentioned, put in the extra moxen.  They allow much faster countering, with first turn Mana Leaks and whatnot.  Up your Island and Wasteland count as well, Wasteland has a target against almost every deck.  The Sol Ring seems unnecessary though, as the double colorless is rarely of any use except an early Morphling.  Lastly, I must ask if the Dustbowl is really necessary after adding the generally requisite Wastelands.  Dustbowl can't hit early, and Wastelands can.  What extra benefit are you really getting from the bowl?

And your draw tutor system, hurts.  Really.  Cut the AKs, they are, contrary to popular belief, never really as good as Impulse.  They never will be unless you've already burned two, but then to give Impulse the benefit of the doubt, here're the numbers.
3xAK - -3 cards, +6 cards, net = +3
3xImpulse - -3 cards, +3 cards, digs 12 cards, net = same, but much higher quality
Cut Intuition and Recall.  The engine is neat, but inferior to the tried and true methods of better counters and better drawing.  Brainstorm is inferior to Impulse, just like pretty much everything in this category...  Lastly, if you've been having luck with the Cunning Wish, I won't argue to change it due to it not belonging in the maindeck...  However it does necessitate your sideboard being a little, shall we say, different.  If you ran the much its superior Merchant Scroll in the maindeck, you could run Stroke maindeck as well, which is extremely helpful after a hard fought counterwar.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Yes Pest from Savannah.  

You should run atleast 3 impulse. The Masticore really isn't necessary.  It is good but not that great in BBS.

[Anonymous]

There's no need to explain cardboard Jesus to me - and he dies to Diabolic Edict as quickly as any other creature.  Play him early without enough backup such as a sacrificial man-land and enough counters to outlast a Duress/Edict, and he deserves to die.  The fact he is the best creature in the game notwithstanding, him hitting the table is not a guaranteed win, and I have lost games because I couldn't counter a Duress then an Edict, or that frigging Cursed Totem.

As for Impulse, I'm glad to see you can do your math, but your reasoning skills leave something to be desired.  How in Hades can cantripping be considered better than netting +3 cards in a control deck?  You are also making the following flawed assumption; every Impulse will show you 1 and only 1 card that will make it's cantripping worthwhile without burying a card you might need on the bottom of your deck.  As for Impulse > Brainstorm; even in combo since the advent of fetch lands this is no longer true?  In what world can fishing and cantripping for a card 4 cards deep for 1U at instant speed be better than:

a) Tutoring 3 cards deep and cantripping at instant speed for U.
b) Saving your hand from discard.
c) Controlling your next 2 draws unless -
d) A shuffling effect rids your hand and draw of the worst 2 cards of your hand.

Other than that, you've said nothing I haven't heard before; my prior reasoning stands as I have already explained.  Running 4 x Mana Drain, 5 x Moxen, and dropping Intution, Recall, AK, and man-lands are changes that are all viable suggestions, but I have my reasons for not doing so.

Don't knock Zorb; its a game winner.

Don't diss Future Sight either; if you don't have enchantment removal that can get around my now unemptiable hand, you lose.  When I land Future Sight, heck, you can look at my hand, library, sideboard, and crotch, but you will still lose.  Future Sight = I win.

[hulk3rules]

Oh well, I can't remain silent for ever, so here is what I have to say to you thanks mostly to the movie, Billy Madison:

Videogameboy, what you have been saying are some of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent posts were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this fourm is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

[Anonymous]

Quote (hulk3rules @ Mar. 30 2003,14:12)Oh well, I can't remain silent for ever, so here is what I have to say to you thanks mostly to the movie, Billy Madison:

Videogameboy, what you have been saying are some of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent posts were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this fourm is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

He is from essential magic. Have you read the t1 garbage they spew out there? I credit him for trying to defend his deck, but his deck is just bad. It has many many problems. You can never convince some people their deck is bad, just let them think it is awesome and smile. You know what will happen if he tries to go to a real tournament with that deck...

[Anonymous]

Yes, I'm V.G.B. from EssentialMagic - and it's one of the best newbie jumpstation sites there is; I go there to give help on rules questions and keep an online inventory of my collection and decks.

[Anonymous]

I have at least accomplished my intended main goal with this thread; with the exception of a few flames, I honestly believe that this thread (outside of my bickering in defense of my unorthodox pile  ) will serve to educate people about mono-blue control decks.

WhiteTrash's decklists can give people the overall status of the current archetype, and mine can give a glimpse into metagame strategy and sideboard construction; I believe WhiteTrash's decks will serve better in a Sligh/Aggro/Control environment, whereas my lists provide a Swiss-Army knife approach to mono-blue that prevails mostly against other Control decks.  It also plays less straightforward than most other blue-bullshit decks, and provides an almost Keeper-esque approach to playing.

By the way (completely off topic here  ); anybody else catch the Library of Alexandria innuendo on the top 50 card drawers article at Wizards?  Check out some information here.

[Anonymous]

According to Dictionary.com --

Quote ed·u·cate    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (j-kt)
v. ed·u·cat·ed, ed·u·cat·ing, ed·u·cates
v. tr.
To develop the innate capacities of, especially by schooling or instruction. See Synonyms at teach.
To provide with knowledge or training in a particular area or for a particular purpose
To stimulate or develop the mental or moral growth of.
To develop or refine (one's taste or appreciation, for example).

There is no knowledge being provided here.  Your post therefore does not educate anyone, and does nothing but spread bad ideas to the poor newbies that know no better and follow your horrible example.  It's one thing to post a truly awful decklist and write off people trying to help as flames, but when you slap the word "primer" on it, you really cross the threshold of ignorance.  I would highly suggest you start over, with a post entitled "Please help me with my BBS."  and actually take the suggestions from the people that know what they're doing.

[Anonymous]

Quote (Guest @ Mar. 30 2003,20:58)According to Dictionary.com --

Quote ed·u·cate    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (j-kt)
v. ed·u·cat·ed, ed·u·cat·ing, ed·u·cates
v. tr.
To develop the innate capacities of, especially by schooling or instruction. See Synonyms at teach.
To provide with knowledge or training in a particular area or for a particular purpose
To stimulate or develop the mental or moral growth of.
To develop or refine (one's taste or appreciation, for example).

There is no knowledge being provided here.  Your post therefore does not educate anyone, and does nothing but spread bad ideas to the poor newbies that know no better and follow your horrible example.  It's one thing to post a truly awful decklist and write off people trying to help as flames, but when you slap the word "primer" on it, you really cross the threshold of ignorance.  I would highly suggest you start over, with a post entitled "Please help me with my BBS."  and actually take the suggestions from the people that know what they're doing.

Agreed. At least he isn't flat out flameing people or using bad grammar. He also realizes a lot of stuff like force of will is god. With a little work, I think he is salvageable into a good type 1 player. Just please don’t fall into the trap of “My deck wins at the local card store so it is awesome.” I have several decks that can win at the local card store that I would be ashamed to post online.

[Smmenen]

Omigawd.  

The BD primer even though over a year out of date is MUCH better than VGB's.  

http://www.themanadrain.com/cgi-bin....;t=1943

A slightly out of date mini primer.


http://www.themanadrain.com/cgi-bin....no+blue

About Thomas Elgert's Duelmen top 9ing mono blue.

http://www.themanadrain.com/cgi-bin....no+blue

Adjusting to Fetchlands in mono blue.

http://www.themanadrain.com/cgi-bin....no+blue

A debate with Brian Cox who got 2nd at Gencon with mono blue.


http://www.themanadrain.com/cgi-bin....;t=1874

The huge thread about sbing with mono blue.

That is a good start.

Steve Menendian
Here are some threads that will help set you straight:\n\n

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the links; a lot of those threads were very helpful - and I am glad to see that I'm not the only person who snubs fetchlands in BBS.

In fact, these are the main reasons not to run fetches:

1) Deck thinning is preposterous when a deck has 10-15 draw sources:

4 x Ophidian
4 x Impulse/AK/Brainstorm (or not at all :/)
1 x Fact or Fiction
1 x Time Walk
1 x Stroke of Genius/Future Sight/Braingeyser
1 x Merchant Scroll
1 x Mystical Tutor
1 x Library of Alexandria
1 x Ancestral Recall

This seems to be the omnipresent BBS draw configuration.

2) The slot is better occupied by a basic Island, which is the only thing a fetch can grab in BBS anyways.  You are taking a hit to reduce the overrall number of lands in your deck, and lands are rarely a dead draw anyways, because the more mana you have in BBS, the more cards you are drawing.

3) Deck thinning is an "oops, I win" aggro tactic used to ensure drawing threats instead of land early.  Control is about card advantage, and plays into aggro's tendency of dropping its entire hand 3rd or 4th turn by wasting multiple cards with a well-timed Force of Will or Powder Keg, and then drawing extra cards each turn while the opponent resorts to topdecking.

Additional notes:

Ophidian is a weak choice in a meta with a ton of creature hate, agrro, and disruption, but when it works, it works great; but note how when Fact or Fiction was legal, BBS ran 4 x FoF and no Ophidian.

Standstill can win games, but its entirely too chancy for my liking; I have played it with a lot of success in T2 though, but T2 is much, much slower and better suited to Standstill tricks.

Impulse will always be a crutch for inconsistent decks, in my opinion.  I guess I just find AK to be more my pet card than Impulse.  Sure, that first AK sucks, but every one after that is well worth it, and if you are forced to discard an AK, it's not completely forgotten.

One other thing I have observed here is that people will provide links to other threads that cover similar topics, but first they have to bolster their sense of superiority with inane comments like:

"Just wait until he enters a real tourney, and sees how sucky his pile is..."

There is no beat-em-all deck, and I am not saying this is.  What I am stating is that I have in fact won 2 type one card shop tournaments (garnering a Time Vault and Ancestral Recall) with my BBS deck, so this statement is completely bogus.  I regret to say I don't have any notes or detailed match reports, because these took place before I had ever visited The Mana Drain.

"You have no idea what you are talking about since you are not playing in a powered metagame"

It's not heavily powered, but I'd say a quarter of the T1 decks around here have P9, drains, Libraries, and other top 20 cards in them.  A lot of lower-end T1 decks make appearances, such as Gro, Sligh, Monoblack Control, and OSE, and they are generally cookie-cutter and powered.  Nonetheless, a finely-tuned powered deck in the hands of the inexperienced is no better than a pile, and I am by no means without considerable play experience myself.   I play Magic almost every day; in fact, tonight is FNM at Medieval Starship in O'Fallon, although it is purely block and T2 (yeah, they have FNM Mondays because that is the only day the organizer can make it).

[Anonymous]

VGB your decklist and commentary isn't really a primer. A primer is written about a thoroughly tested build. It also tends to be pretty generic and lacking tech. You have so many rogue substitutions that you deck is no longer BBS.  You mentioned that some of your card chioces were made for personal interest and fun, but a primer should use the most effective version of a deck.  The fact that you have mis-labeled your post isn't a huge deal (not in the unregistered forum) .

One reason for a lot of the flack that your getting comes from primers being written by experts.  Most magic players could win a tourney with a deck and still not be an expert with it. There are few objections to a Nethervoid primer written by someone who has played it for many years and is one of the best void players in the world.  I'm not saying that your not good with your BBS, but I am saying that a lot of the people here don't like being told how to build a deck by someone who is unproven to them.  Writing a primer is, in a way, talking down to people- like in a teacher-pupil situation.

TMD is much more scrutinizing than other boards. People here are prepared for about one unusual card choice per deck- two and you've got a lot of explaining to do. You have a whole host of rogue choices, so you have had a lot to argue.

Another result of TMD being more scrutinizing than other boards is that we're right. The standard for posting here is higher. TMD, and BD before it, is a serious study of T1 for those who really want to understand the optimal decks and plays. The deck posted by Whitetrash is better than yours.  In a varied field of legitamte T1 decks his will win more often than yours.  My point is not propelled by a us-versus-them attitude or we-are-star-bellied-sneeches. It just is true : like it or not- regardless if it makes me sound like a snob.

By saying that "we're right", I, of course, did not mean so suggest that every member and poster agrees with each other- just that the general consensus of deckbuilding and play is much better than the average group of players and discussion groups.  It is the methodical, logical, and statistical manner in which people here debate with each other that makes it good.

VGB, you have argued your points very well.  Now you should make sure that you were right. With an unbiased attitde try the suggestions. You will probably find out that they were right.

Good Luck.

Post Script: I don't consider myslef, necessarily, as one of the "we" that make-up TMD. I'm just an unregistered lurker and infrequent poster.

[Anonymous]

Lord Baltimore;

Exellent, well-written post.  I salute you.


Here's a tourney report, to wet your tastebuds, albeit it is T2:

FNM at Medieval Starship, O'Fallon, IL 3/31/03

Format - 2 x Onslaught, 1 x Legions Booster draft, 3 rounds of Swiss

Entry fee - $12

Prizes:
1st - 5 x Booster Packs, 1 x DCI foil Capsize
2nd - 4 x Booster Packs
3rd - 2 x Booster Packs
Attendance (best attendance record without a prior win) - 1 x DCI foil Capsize
Door Prize - 1 x DCI foil Capsize

Number of players:  8

Draft

I draft an R/G Goblin/Beast/Elf deck, and raredraft a Grinning Demon and foil Wheel and Deal.  My final draft deck was:

2 x Sparksmith
1 x Skirk Prospector
1 x Goblin Sledder
1 x Flamewave Invoker
1 x Shaleskin Plower
1 x Lay Waste
1 x Timberwatch Elf
1 x Treespring Lorian
1 x Taunting Elf
1 x Wirewood Elf
1 x Wirewood Savage
1 x Skirk Marauder
2 x Chain of Plasma (1 x Foil)
1 x Nantuko Vigilante
1 x Centaur Glade
1 x Needleshot Gourna
1 x Spurred Wolverine
2 x Hundroog
2 x Krosan Tusker
2 x Tranquil Thicket (1 x Foil, hehe)
1 x Forest (foil Onslaught Booby tree, my favorite)
1 x Forgotten Cave

I add:
7 x Mountain
6 x Forest

for a total of 17 land, 21 creatures, and 4 spells.

Round 1 vs Loki with R/G beasts (similar to mine):

Game 1: He wins the roll and goes first; he gets an early Wirewood Elf and starts landing a fewbeasts of ever increasing size, but I never miss a land drop and follow the mana curve each turn unstill I starting pumping out humongous beasts every turn for 5 turns straight; I purposefully kept a Krosan Tusker from my opening hand due to excellent mana flow, and although he managed to pinpoint avalance a couple, it was too much red zone for him and he concedes.  Record 1/0.

Game 2:  Loki is obviously distraught about a no-mana hand (with him choosing to go second), so I let him mull without decreasing hand count.  He keeps his new hand, and proceeds to beat my face in by burning away all my creatures and topdecking land, beast, land, beast, burn, etc...  I played a Centaur Glade and managed to make a couple of tokens before he nails it with his S/B in Naturalize.  Record 1/1

Game 3: I let Loki go first since drawing the extra card seemed to be the better play in both previous matches.  I get a first turn Goblin Prospector, and a turn 2 Wirewood Elf, and he does nothing but play lands and morph a creature turn 3.  He starts smacking with his morph, and I take the hits and patiently increase my mana base; he starts missing land drops, and then I play Centaur Glade, which I had in my hand from the start.  After that, I just pray for no naturalize to surface, and pretty soon I have an army of Centaurs facing off against his 4 lands and several morphs and Wirewood Elf.  He concedes with 5 minutes remaining in the match, and shows me a hand with 3 x Pinpoint Avalanche, which he had been unable to cast for several turns, due to having only 1 x Mountain in play.  Record 2/1

Round 2 vs Jon Sanchez with W/B Zombie/Cleric

These 2 games are a sweep for me; my mana base is pure gold throughout both games, and the first game I beat him into submission with a board full of beasts; he plays Akroma with me at 8 life, but then concedes because I can simply rush him next turn, and have a Needleshot Gourna on the board anyways.  He even managed a couple of Skinthinner/Cruel Revial Tricks, but to no avail.  The second game I use Lay Waste and Shaleskin Plower to deprive him of white mana, and sure enough, after the game he shows me Akroma in his hand.  Poor Jon   ; he's still beaten me in T2 more than I him, so I consider myself a lucky sumbitch.  Record 4/1

Final Round vs Mike Campbell (?) with W/G Weenie

Game 1:  Just like the prior match was a sweep for me, this match was a sweep for him.  First game he plays a turn 2 Cloudreach Cavalry, then a turn 3 Gustcloak Harrier, and then a turn 4 Aven Redeemer.  My deck plods along; I am pulling all the tricks out my sphincter that I can, like Chain of Plasma, Krosan Tusker, and manage to hang on until I can land Needleshot Gourna, but then I get a glimpse of why he splashes green when he Primal Boosts a Cloudreach Cavalrly and slurps my Needleshot.  Bye-bye to the only chance I had.  Record 4/2

Game 2:  I get off to a hella start; I manage to kill a couple of his early creatures and get a Centaur Glade on the table, but while I am pumping out Centaurs for dear life he stabilized and starts a near carbon-copy repeat of game 1, pumping out his little flying bastages.  I topdeck a Needleshot and play the bastard - and lo and behold, Mike plays Primal Boost next turn on - you guessed it - Cloudreach Cavalry.  He smacks me with flyers I can do nothing about, and even though I get a late Sparksmith on the table, it can only seal the game faster for him.  My last turn I balls to the wall attack just to give a good show, and manage to wipe out half of his force with Sparksmith, Goblin Sledder, Timberwatch Elf, and Skirk Marauder tricks, but he has the game won, so I concede, shake hands, and chat while we wait for the rest of the games to finish.  He has only a few green cards in the deck, including Primal Boost (which single-handedly won both games for him), Taunting Elf, and Mythic Proportions.  He was doing some great tricks with Deftblade Elite, but he made a few sub-optimal plays; I told him how he could have used it to tie up my only flying blocker (Needleshot Gourna), but since he had the game well in hand anyways, the point was probably moot.  He had the superior deck, and it showed from his perfect 6/0 record.

I get 4 Onslaught booster packs for second place, and still get my grubby hands on a foil Capsize for winning the random drawing   .  My trades for the night were OK also; about 30 random commons/uncommons for 21 foil lands from Invasion, 7th, Odyssey, and Onslaught, and a Tormod's Crypt from The Dark.

Props:  Jon for playing professionally and keeping his cool - losing like a pro is better than winning like an ass, IMHO  (you're not fooling me with your doom-and-gloom muttering though - you always act like you are losing right before you play something ungodly  ); the organizer, Mike (not Mike C.) for hosting another great draft; and finally to Mike C. - I underestimated your playing, and you made the better deck and played civilly and well - congratulations.  Props also to the best mana flow I have ever gotten in my life; I didn't mulligan a single game and never got mana-flooded thanks to Onslaught cycling lands and my MVP, Krosan Tusker.

Slops:  Slight slops to Loki for taking the game way to damn seriously.  Lighten up, and stop chewing out people who are new to the game when they make mistakes.  Inform them politely they are violating floor/game rules, and grab Mike if it warrants it, but no one likes to hear you yelling all the time.  Slops to me, too; I made a boneheaded play in the final round involving a failed Chain of Plasma targeting Cloudreach Cavalry with Aven Redeemer at the ready - read the friggin' card, dammit!  It's not like I would have won the game anyways, but I wouldn't have been kicking myself in the ass.

Oh yeah, these are the rares/neat cards from the 4 Onslaught boosters:

1 x Flooded Strand  
1 x Jareth, Leonine Titan
1 x Mana Echoes
1 x Tribal Golem  
1 x Crowd Favorites foil

[Anonymous]

[edit]Make that 17 lands, 19 creatures, and 4 spells[/edit]

I shoulda checked my math 1 last time; it's always been my weakest subject.  

[Smmenen]

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