It's monday morning and I am at work . How bad is t...

It's monday morning and I am at work . How bad is that? So I'll do this instead of... you know... actually working...

And since Richard (shock_wave) didn't bother including me in his list of mana drainers attending , and I can't chastize him in the tourney forum, I gotta do it here!

Anyhow, I decided (as per last tournament), to try something a little bit more oomphy, so I revamped the Stax/MUD deck from the last tournament. Here's the list, as well as I can remember it:

4 Smokestack
4 Tangle Wire
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Goblin Welder
3 Mind's Eye
3 Karn, Silver Golem
3 Metalworker
5 Mox
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mana Vault
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Timetwister
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Memory Jar
1 Tinker
1 Platinum Angel (I originally miscounted the deck, and only had 59 cards, so added this last second, then counted again, and had 61... so blah!!!!)

4 Mishra's Workshops
4 Volcanic Island
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Great Furnaces (didn't own 4 wastelands then, do now)
2 Wastelands
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
1 City of Traitors (I think so... I might have forgotten another card)

Sideboard:

3 Chalice of the Void
3 REB
3 Blood Moon
3 Stifle
2 Rack and Ruin
1 Triskelion

Anyhow, the deck is pretty solid, and capable of VERY broken starts.

Moridar loaned me most of the power, so I am good to go (including his only Lotus, about 10 minutes before the start).

BTW: I mispelled Moridar. I can't believe I am so incompetent.

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Round 1: Craig (not sure about mana drain name), playing Void Black

Craig's a nice guy, and very physically intimidating. And that's saying a lot... He wins the die-roll, and proceeds to play.

Game 1: I keep a Volcanic/Ancestral + 5 other non-mana cards hand, thinking that I should be good to go. He plays swamp, then Duress, taking the Ancestral. Okay, there goes the game.

I don't draw a land for a few more turns, at which point Craig proceeds to drop 2 Hypnotic Specters. Then, being even more mean, drops a Nether Void, all while I am stuck on a single land. Um... I am supposed to be the broken deck, dammit!

I also came totally unprepared for what to sideboard. I side in the Chalices and the Triskelion. I forgot what I take out. I think 1 Stax, 1 Tangle Wire, and 2 other.

Game 2: I look at my hand and mulligan disgustedly. (MULLIGAN COUNT: 1). My next hand is a shade better, but my first turn play is Workshop, Sphere of Resistance, Mox Pearl. However, this is enough to slow him down enough not to be able to use his potent discard against me. I then play a Chalice for x=2, which essentially kills all of his attack, from Demonic, Sinkhole, Hymn... At some point, I drop Mind's Eye, then Karn, and it's over.

Game 3: I mulligan again (MULLIGAN COUNT: 2). He plays swamp, but has no Duress. My 6-card hand is simply broken, with all the broken goodness. Karn hits the table, and fast, followed by a horde of artifacts and land destruction. Yipes. It was over fast.

1-0 (2-1)

Round 2: Peter (diceman_x) playing red-blue fish equivalent

Peter is one of the most pleasant opponents I have ever faced, and also one of the most talented. I sit down for a very hard game, especially against a very potent deck that can simply screw mine like no other. He wins the die-roll, and proceeds to play.

Game 1:

I look at my glorious hand, and then, decide to mulligan. (MULLIGAN COUNT: 3). My next hand isn't much better, but decide to go ahead anyhow. I proceed to draw a few good artifact accelerators (Pearl, Metalworker, Sol Ring), so I think I am good to go for next turn. So Peter drops a Null Rod and a Standstill. Again, I am stuck on one Volcanic Island, and once a few guys show up on his side of the table, I know I am in deep, deep, oh so deep trouble. Needless to say, I get my clock cleaned thoroughly.

Game 2:

I look at my hand. (MULLIGAN COUNT: 4). I look at my next hand again, no land. (MULLIGAN COUNT: 5). I keep a hand with Black Lotus, Bloodstained Mire, Random Mox, Karn and Mind's eye. I cast Karn, then win in 5 turns. I think Peter gets stuck on 2 land, and no business spells to take care of the Karn.

Game 3:

(MULLIGAN COUNT: 6) into an almost broken hand. I don't even remember it, except my first (and only land) is a Bloodstained Mire, which I am afraid Peter will Stifle, but doesn't. Then Metalworker comes down on turn 2, and artifact goodness comes down on turn 3. Karn, Jar, Tangle Wire, if I remember correctly.

Note to self: I haven't actually killed anyone all day, except game 2 against Peter. This decks seems to win on turn 2 or 3, if it wins at all, and then, it's often just academical what happens. The deck Peter was playing in very very strong, and, as he said, attack the mana base so viciously that the opponent needs a broken start just to come even. Heck, he even forwent some of the power cards (like moxen), in order to make better use of the Null Rod. That card is simply sick.

2-0 (4-2)

Round 3: Shawn, playing MUD

He wins the die-roll.

Game 1:

(MULLIGAN COUNT: 7) . Yep. He opens with mountain, Welder, I open with Volcanic, Welder. Then he drops a Metalworker, and I can't. Essentially, that's the game. He uses Memory Jar 6 times, and weld's it back into play. I drop Karn, and sort of mess around with my Welder, but after the 6th Jar, he finally gets the Triskelion, and I concede. I couldn't get anything going, and his deck wasn't helping him much either. It was a really strange setup. I was stuck on one land the whole game (minus a few Stripmine-effects), and that land was Tolarian Academy, with nothing other than Karn in play. I drew no other land, no mana acceleration. His Jar can really mess with the game, and while he didn't get much out of it until use #6, he definately used it to millstone my library out of anything useful.

Jar is a very offensive weapon, it seems.

Game 2:

I draw my 7: 3 Workshops, 3 Welders, 1 Mox Pearl. (MULLIGAN COUNT: 8). What the bloody hell? I draw into a tame hand, and he drops Metalworker on turn 1. I ask him to show me his hand, he does, and I congratulate him. We briefly discuss how nothing in our sideboards (besides Rack and Ruin) is usable, then proceed to de-sideboard and play a few fast and furious games (in addition to the first 2). I think we play 5 more, and I win 3-2. Shawn is a really nice guy, with a VERY pimp deck. All Alpha/Beta/Antiquities, or foil. It's sick. And he's good.

2-1 (4-4)

Not looking good, I am in a gigantic pile of 2-1's, and I need to win my next game in order to get anything done. And lo and behold, I am facing Arend, special K.

Game 4: Arend (specialK), playing Keeper-Ophidian, with no black

Despite a very short history, Arend owns me. I never won against him. We trash-talk, comparing our deck-size (DECK size). I am 61, he's 64. At this point, I almost concede (some sort of inside joke), but we play anyhow.

Game 1:

I mulligan (MULLIGAN COUNT: 9). Good gravy. I look at my hand: Sphere, Welder, Volcanic, Sol Ring, Workshop, some random mox. I drop Volcanic, then ask him if he has a Force of Will. He sais no, I drop Welder, he Force of Wills it.

"But you said you had no Force of Will!"
"You believed me?"
"No, but I wanted this more than the welder:"

Drop the mox, Sol Ring, Sphere of Resistance.

I then proceed to draw a Mind's Eye, then memory Jar. I drop a few utility artifacts, including another Sphere, and then Ancestral Recall (yes, first time ever in a tournament). Arend concedes.

I bring in the Blood Moons and the REB's. I was briefly considering Chalices, but not yet.

Game 2:

(MULLIGAN COUNT: 10). Will these ever end?

I keep an interesting hand. I drop Volcanic, Sol Ring, then Great Furnace. I play Blood Moon (when he has 2 non-basic lands), he Force of Wills it, I REB it back. Then he shows me the 2? Blood Moon in his sideboard. Great Caesar's Ghost! I bang head on the table.

I then joke how all it takes for Arend to win is for you to make any mistakes against him. I drop Smokestack, then next turn add a counter. I think a bit, and decide to drop another Smokestack. He Rack and Ruins both. I made a mistake, and I almost concede, while we both draw nothing but land.

He gets 3 Ophidians on the table, and starts discarding cards. Aya! At some point, I see his Mox Pearl, ask him to show me his Decree of Justice and a Mana Drain. He does, and I play an artifact if he promises to make as many soldiers as possible. He does, and that's that.

I take out the Blood Moons and put in the Chalices.

Game 3:

(MULLIGAN COUNT: 11). Wohou! new record, I think. I keep a very bizarre hand. Workshop, Mox Pearl, Mox Emerald, Karn, Ancestral Recall and Time Walk.

I drop Karn first turn (unhindered, as it is), but against 4 Swords and 4 more (at least) artifact destruction, it ain't gonna hold. I draw Sphere, which I play, another, which gets countered, and nothing else. No blue. He kills Karn. Still no blue. I get 4 mana in play (some insipid, non-blue lands), then finall get Volcanic. So 5 mana, one Sphere. I decide to Time Walk. He Mana Leaks it. F**k. That was the second mistake. I should have Ancestralled instead, saving 3 mana for the Leak. He then forces the Ancestral Next turn, and I draw into 5 straight land, and an useless Tangle Wire. The end is predictable.

I gambled for Karn to go all the way, but he didn't. Bummer. I guess that was the second mistake.

2-2 (5-6)

I end up tenth. A bit disappointed, especially since I should have done better against Arend. I don't think I ever had him, but the game 2 error was unforgivable. Anyhow, I end up playing some games against Lam (who's 9th)'s Dragon deck. It was pretty even, fun games. Both our decks got broken so many times, it was amusing. He almost set up once one turn away, and I cast Timetwister, then dropped about 10-12 permanents . Hm... yes, the deck is broken.

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Anyhow, the tourney was fun, and so were the people that showed up. I really did play as well as was expected in the morning (minus Arend's 2nd game). What would I change about the deck?

Well, the deck is strong. It's a bit better than straight Stax, a bit less consistent than straight Mud. I definately like the 3 Karn's in there, it makes it a lot less likely you'll get screwed, if both Karn's in the normal versions die. I think the Angel is a lost cause, and it's coming out like a bat out of hell! I would either leave it at 60 cards then, or add the Triskelion main-deck, or maybe the Windfall. I really think Windfall would be good in that deck. It's so broken, it's like a Draw-7 or Draw-6 a lot of times when I tried it.